Assurance in the Mystery

I like a good mystery. The mystery of a movie, a book, the anticipation of the masked ghost to be revealed in a Scooby Doo episode. With a mystery you wait in suspense to see the inevitable outcome. Sometimes practicable, some times, a good shocker, but we can not rest assured until the end. We need the assurance that everything will work out for the best of the character by the end of the movie or book.

I think as people we need a lot of reassurance and affirmation in our lives to know that things will work out for the best and that God is in control of our lives. It seems our faith needs to be affirmed daily. I speak from experience, as I wait on outcomes, decisions and life to move in a planned, comfortable direction. Then those detours come and the security of my faith is wavered.

If there was only one thing that we can always count on.

The Bible speaks of full assurance in a mysterious plan, of all things. It tells us to have complete confidence in a mystery set forth by God in a plan for all mankind, for those who will believe and obey his plan.

"I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have full assurance that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:2-3

If there is anything that we can rest assured in, it would be in the saving power of God's mysterious plan. This plan was revealed in Ephesians 3:6 when Paul tells the church there about God's plan for to save not only the Jews, but the Gentiles as well, those who were not of Jewish heritage. "And this is God's plan, Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel." But the plan was in place even before the world was formed. "Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure." Ephesians 1:4-5

He says further down in verse 9-12, "I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith in him,we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence."

What a revelation! What joy, peace and confidence we can find through this arrangement that God had made for all people. This is the good news of the gospel plan.

We have a guarantee that this plan is true and trustworthy through the Holy Spirit. "For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true." 1 Thessalonians 1:5

Once again I refer to Paul's words in Colossians 2:2-3. "I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Mystery solved. Christ is the plan, in Christ the mystery is revealed. It's better than the end of any Scooby Doo episode where the masked villain is revealed. Instead of the mask Jesus removes the curtain, the veil, and by his death, he opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place (Heb. 10:20).

In him we can we can draw near with full confidence, full assurance of faith. Because of Jesus, his death and sacrifice, "we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. We are able to go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him." (Heb. 10:19,22).

We as Christians have to keep moving on, like the characters in the mystery novels. We don't know what's going to hit us. We don't know who or what may jump out from behind the wall and try to attack us, but we just have to keep trusting and being assured of the hope set before us through Christ. "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Hebrews 6:11-12)

We may flee, we may run from the ghosts of the past that haunts us, the demons that try to scare us and pull us down. We may scream and have a few good jump scares in life, but we, as Christians, have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. "Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us." Hebrews 6:18-20.

Mystery Solved. That is some blessed assurance.