My experience as a speaker in many different churches is that one of the greatest dividers in Christian communities is the use of the gift of tongues. There are believers who say that those who do not speak in tongues and operate in the spiritual gifts are not real Christians.
From conception Jesus was a mystery! When Mary had her first angelic visitation, her question to Gabriel was How will this be? It was a mystery to her. Paul was constantly trying to make his readers and listeners understand all that Mary had understood, that Jesus was no ordinary child.
The first part of what Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream was encouraging. It showed the king that God saw him and had blessed him, but after the encouragement came the bad news and Nebuchadnezzar behaved like an animal for a long time! It all sounds strange, but it happened!
Much of what the followers of Jesus believed was true. He was the real king, and would take His throne. But not by force or argument, but by submission to the plan of His Father God. How Jesus succeeded in this is one of the greatest mysteries in the world.
This verse makes us think that the seventh angel does not get the chance to blow his trumpet because just before he does, all is accomplished. The world as we know comes to an end. There have always been people who speculated that the end of the world was near!
One of the mysteries that we probably will not understand until we get to Heaven, is why God likes the number 7 so much! The Bible is full of sevens. I have heard people say that 7 is the perfect number, but why? What does that mean? Only God knows!
Paul tells Timothy what he must look for as he chooses elders and deacons to help in the things that are getting too much for this young pastor. Most leaders go through times when they feel the work is too much for them. They wonder where to go for help.
As we read this verse today we could say that faith and love are two unfathomable mysteries. Both are quite difficult to understand and also to explain. For people who have never been in love with someone, they cannot fully understand what love feels like. So it is with faith.
All of us can think of people who have prayed for a long time before receiving the answer to their pleading. For some the answer is No! That can be hard to bear, but eventually, circumstances help us to understand that God had a much bigger plan than we imagined.
We have here a definition of the mystery we have been thinking about. No matter how long we have experienced or known about this mystery, there is always something new, something deeper to understand about Holy Spirit living in us and being our guide minute by minute through the day.