Some things in this life are a mystery. Most of the things yet to come are most certainly a mystery. Agreed?
But have you ever thought about what a mystery really is? A mystery is something that absolutely cannot be understood without being revealed. You can’t figure it out. You can’t manage or measure it. It is either revealed to be known, or it is not revealed and it’s left in the unknown. Some mysteries are revealed by God – other mysteries are intentionally left in the unknown.
In Revelation chapter 10, there’s a part of what John sees and hears in visions of the Tribulation to come that he is told, “Keep this secret and do not write it down.” Well, isn’t that just a humdinger? There are absolutely certain things in alignment, however we are NOT to know them. It is to remain an unknown mystery. This is the part where God says, “You’re going to have to trust me here.”
An angel speaks to John and says in verses 6-7, “There will be no more delay. When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets.”
It’s a mystery, but it’s a plan, and it’s God’s plan. God isn’t just making this up as he goes. It has been laid out since before the beginning of time. The delay of fulfilling this plan has been for one purpose – saving me and saving you. Saving more souls from the Tribulation to come. He’s been giving us time to come to him, time to get it right, time to surrender our lives fully to him.
2 Peter 3:9-10, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. (This is when Jesus comes to get his believers. The rapture, when we are snatched up and saved from all that is to come. This is the fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then, we will be with the Lord forever.”) – Now, back to 2 Peter 3, verse 10 – Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.” (And that’s the coming of the great Tribulation we’ve been reading about in Revelation.)
Verse 11, “Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live. (Now, we bring it back to how we’re living right now. We can’t stay stuck in this extreme fear of the Tribulation or in an inactive faith where we just watch the sky for Jesus to come get us. Now, we must be LIVING. We’ve been told enough of what is to come and now we’re expected to be living accordingly.)
Verse 14, “While you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.”
Our job is not to figure it all out – our job is to live lives that are pleasing to God as his plan unfolds.
What we see in chapter 10 is God has a plan, it is a mysterious plan which we have no way of knowing unless it is divinely revealed to us, and some parts of that plan are simply NOT revealed. Without our understanding and without our knowing, God is going to fulfill his plan perfectly and it will happen exactly as he has said.
Now, chapter 11 shows us something about God’s pl...