"...To the intent
that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the
church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places..."
(Eph. 3:10).
"We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but no
the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming
to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has
been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is
written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him - but God has revealed
it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the
deep things of God... But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor.
2:6-10,16b).
"For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and
whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open"
(Mark 4:22).
"To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden
manna..." (Revelation 2:17a)
"...to you who do
not hold to her [Jezebel's] teaching and have not learned Satan's
so-called deep secrets..." (Rev. 2:24b)
Isn't it interesting how
people like to know things that other's don't? People love gossip,
especially spreading it. And that's understandable... People become
interested in what we have to say... We appear knowledgeable or
well-connected... Well, people also have a curiosity and fascination
for hidden and secret things. Look at the recent interest in
The Secret. Have you heard people
like Oprah talk about it? "It was an incredibly savvy move to call
it 'The Secret'," says Donavin Bennes, a buyer who specializes in
metaphysics for Borders Books. "We all want to be in on a secret.
But to present it as the secret, that was brilliant." Their
official
website really plays on this curiosity/fascination. Do
you know what
The Secret is? In one sentence,
what you think about attracts those things to you. That's it. It is
a lie, a twisted truth. It's based on Rosicrucian teachings (not the
Bible or any of Jesus' teachings) and is new age.
Some hidden and secret things
are from the Spirit of God and some of them are from Satan. One of
the jobs of the Holy Spirit in our life is to "reveal it to us by
his Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:10). We are NOT supposed to search out hidden
and secret things. In fact, we are commanded to "Live as children of
light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness,
righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have
nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather
expose them. For it is shameful to even mention what the disobedient
do in secret." (Eph. 5:8-12). It is clear that the Lord has hidden a
lot of things from us, and I think it is clear that the enemy has
some of this "knowledge," but God will reveal what we need to know by
his Spirit on a need-to-know basis.
God does very clearly
reveal hidden things to His saints. This can range from
understanding the ways He works which is often a mystery, to
understanding something in the physical, to having supernatural
understanding like what we call a "word of knowledge" or "word of
wisdom." A word of knowledge is knowing something that could only be
revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. A word of wisdom is when the
Holy Spirit reveals to you the application, or how to do something.
The key is that this is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
May we one day eat of "the
hidden manna" when God reveals everything to us in heaven!