In the Valley of the GREAT "Mystery"

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Greetings to All,

In the Valley of the GREAT "Mystery".

Pss.23

[4] Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Pss.65

[13] The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.

Pss.104

[8] They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.

[10] He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.

Today we walk through a valley between two great mountains. The first mountain is our Lord's suffering... the second mountain is our Lord's glory.

We are told, in 1 Peter 1:10-12, that the prophets of old searched "what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you... with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven."

This "time" refers to the "unsearchable riches of Christ". They could not then be traced. Even angels desire to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12).

They wrote of the sufferings, and they wrote of the glory that should follow; but there was nothing to tell them about the times or seasons. Whether the glory was to follow immediately on the sufferings, or whether there was to be an interval, and whether that interval was to be short or long, no hint was given. They searched as to "what manner of time was signified". See 1 Peter 1:11; 3:18; 4:13; 5:1. In the OT the glory is enlarged with hardly no mention of the suffering.

"Now" all is revealed. It is ministered unto us, in the Scriptures of truth, on earth; and God is making known, by means of the Church, something of His manifold wisdom to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:9,10).

What laid in the valley could neither be seen or known. The secret "hid in God" has been made known; and we can understand, a little, the answer to the question of Christ to the two disciples: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" (Luke 24:26).

To the sufferings there was to be an end, and that end was to be revealed in glory. The Lord makes the first mention of His sufferings in Matt. 16:21, He at once proceeded to speak of the time when He "shall come in the glory of His Father" (vs 27), and to add that some of those who were standing there should see it. And then, after six days, three of them saw the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and were eye-witnesses of His majesty, when they were with Him in the holy mount (2 Peter 1:16-18; John 1:14).

Having heard of His sufferings the disciples were not left to conclude that all was to end there. They were at once given the most wonderful exhibition of the glory which was to follow.... see Matt. 17:1-9 the transfiguration.

Here we are in the valley of the "mystery"... to our past we see the mountain of Christ's suffering... before us another mountain... in the not to distant future... the haze about His future coming will be made clear. Between the two mountains is the gathering of His body... that we should also partake in His glory. (Eph. 1:13,14; Gal. 3:26-28; 1 Cor. 12:12-31 (13,27).

Eve