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.
Most of us who read the Bible regularly find there are things we do not understand fully. Or we think we do until something suddenly becomes clearer than it ever has before. Sometimes a verse we have not taken much note of can shout at us with a deep message.
This verse is a prayer that most of us could use, not just because we are giving sermons, speaking in churches, teaching groups, or leading youth. But in ALL our conversations. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak…. We need God to keep a hand on what we say.
The word mystery is used 4 times in the first few verses of this chapter of Ephesians. The same word appears 7 times in this short epistle. We can get the impression that Paul was feeling that he did not know how to explain everything when he wrote this letter.
On saying that the wisdom of God was a mystery, Paul was saying that nothing was obvious, and only those who searched the scriptures for the truth would understand. In fact, once converted, Paul had discovered that the plan of God was hidden all the way through the Old Testament.
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