103 - God’s Hidden Wisdom

Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

Before God created the universe; before He breathed life into a human being; before the first man or woman rebelled against Him bringing death upon themselves and their descendants, there was already, hidden in God’s heart a plan to save us. He knew what we would do before we did it, and He knew what He must do in order to rescue us. But He didn’t tell anyone else exactly how He would accomplish His plan; not the angels, nor even the prophets to whom He dictated great portions of that plan. Listen to Peter:
“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquires, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of the Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look” (1Pe 1:10-12).

For God’s plan of salvation to work it had to remain a secret because He must trick the enemy, who desired to destroy humans, into doing the very thing that would result in their salvation. Listen to Paul:
“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden [wisdom] which God predestined before the ages to our glory; [the wisdom] which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory…” (1Co 2:6-8).

Have you ever wondered why the devil so viscously and gleefully attacked Jesus if by that very act of killing Him he was making salvation possible for all humans? You would think that the devil was smarter than that. Surely, if he had understood the power of the cross neither he nor the people under his control would have done anything to further that plan. Yet he did to Jesus exactly what the prophets said he would do, and by doing so insured that Jesus became our Savior. He did all of that because God’s wisdom was hidden from him.

God hid some of His plan from everyone until Jesus’ work on the cross was finished, but He revealed many of the basic principles of His plan from Adam and Eve onward. No sooner had our first parents sinned than God promised them that the “seed” of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head (Ge 3:15), and animal sacrifice to atone for sin was begun by their children (Ge 4:4, 26). Abraham entered into a profound covenant with God in which God symbolically swore to him, “So be it to Me if you [or your seed] should break My covenant” (Ge 15:18-21). Abraham nearly sacrificed his only son of promise at the very place where God would sacrifice His Son two-thousand years later (Ge 22:1-19), and Abraham named that place “Jehovah Jireh” (Ge 22:14) which means “the Lord will provide” because the Lord would someday provide His own sacrifice in that place: His Son. The essential truths of God’s plan continued to be taught over the centuries by such things as the covenant ceremony God made with the nation of Israel, the sacrificial system of the tabernacle and the temple, and the prophet’s repeated call to repent and trust in the forgiving mercy of God. Listen,
“‘Come now and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool’” (Isa 1:18).
“‘Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,’ declares the Lord God, ‘rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?’” (Eze 18:23).

So, the basic principles necessary to salvation have always been available, yet God explained those principles using words and symbols which would make sense only to a certain kind of person. To understand their meaning a person must first recognize their own sin and acknowledge that they need God’s mercy. Someone who is self-righteous would not understand because they would feel no need for such a sacrifice to be made on their behalf. Someone who is full of mental pride would find it foolish because it would not fit the image of God they had created for themselves. And someone who is rebellious would refuse to see it because such mercy would demand that they repent and surrender to the One who had been so kind to them. That’s why God didn’t need to hide His plan in a place where no one could see it. All He needed to do was present it in such a way that only the humble would understand it, which rules out the devil and his angels, ungodly religious leaders like Herod, Annas and Caiaphas, as well as everyone else who is unwilling to acknowledge the depth of their own sin or the greatness of God’s mercy.

Now that we know who Jesus is and what He did, we’re able to look back and see clues all through the Bible. We realize that God hid His plan in plain sight where everyone could see it, but because it came out of His own heart, because it expressed His character which is both just and merciful, and I think, because it required such a terrible sacrifice from Him personally, the devil simply couldn’t believe He would do it, and proud humans can’t believe their sin is so bad they would need it. To these it was and still is an incomprehensible mystery; from many God’s wisdom is still hidden.