Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever… The fact that there are some mysteries which are insoluble is attested — 1. By the long and painful experience of mankind. 2. By the teaching of the materialistic thinkers of the day.The text recognises alike the spirit of unenquiring reverence and of rational freedom. I. SOME MEN SAY, "WE CANNOT ACCEPT REVELATION. We accept the excellent moral teachings of the Bible, because they commend themselves to our reason and to the reason of the race; but what we cannot accept are these mysteries which are revealed in the New Testament." In answer to this we reply, A mystery is not a revelation. It is the very opposite of a revelation. We freely admit that there are mysteries confronting us in the Old and New Testaments. Truths are intimated, suggested, pointed at, dimly outlined, like a mountain castle scarce seen through the mists of evening which fill the valley; but, inasmuch as they are not clear, to that extent they cannot be said to be revealed. These things are beyond us. They are Divine mysteries, which it is reverent for us to place with the secret things which belong unto the Lord God. II. THERE ARE THOSE WHO SAY THEY CANNOT RECEIVE A REVELATION ON THE GROUND THAT IT IS SUPERNATURAL, THAT THEY ONLY KNOW THAT WHICH COMES THROUGH THE MIND OF MAN AND IS CAPABLE OF JUSTIFYING ITSELF TO THE HUMAN REASON. Now we affirm that the Bible revelations have come through the mind of man. They were convictions, certainties, in some man's mind, which he declared to his fellows. A truth of inspiration is no truer than a truth of induction or demonstration. Truth is simply truth, wherever it may come from, or however it may be demonstrated. Revelation is natural and at the same time supernatural. It comes from the mind of man; it comes according to the mind and demonstration of God. III. THE ONE EVER-SPEAKING REVELATION OF THE MIND OF GOD IS THE HISTORY OF MAN. If we miss the truth, says Jeremy Taylor, it is because we will not find it, for certain it is that all the truth which God hath made necessary He hath also made-legible and plain; and if we will open our eyes we shall see the sun, and if we will walk in the light we shall rejoice in the light." (W. Page Roberts, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. |
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