THE SECRET THINGS?

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 forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” NKJV

OBSERVATION: What are the secret things? This is the natural question that arises when you read this verse in the book of Deuteronomy. It is the same question you ask when you read many parts of the New Testament, especially when you read the book of Revelation.

What about the third and fourth heaven that Paul speaks about in his letter to the Corinthians? Or, the day and time when Jesus will establish the Kingdom? All of these are the things that grab our curiosity and they are also the things that can keep us from fulfilling the will of God in our lives.

Moses, as Paul, and the Apostle John, were very clear. There are certain things that we do not understand and are not meant for us to understand. God has sealed them up from our discovery for a reason. Yet, there is an untold ocean of revelation that God has given us that is for us to know. This is what we are called to seek after, to understand, and to do.

“…But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

They are there not only for our benefit but for the benefit of our children. The revealed Word of God is given to us because God wants to bless us and give us success in our lives. He has given us His Holy Spirit to be our teacher and His very Word to be our guide. Our call is to stay on the path of the revealed and to stay away from the things that belong to the Lord.

As you read the entire Bible it is clear that both the Old Testament saints and the New Testament church struggled to stay on the course of the revealed. It was their curiosity about the secret that led them to worship false gods and the doctrines and commandments of men. The revealed, although it is the source of life, is not as flashy as the secret. This is how the enemy tempts us to go off course.

Recently I was approached by a man in church who was excited about the secret things he was discovering as he read the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha are books that were never received by the church at large as authentic letters from God through His apostles. They make great and spurious claims about events outside of the revelation of the canon of Scripture. They are exciting and titillating but are not based on fact or divine revelation.

As I listened to the stories he shared with me I cautioned him about what he was reading. I did not focus on the obvious errors of the information he was reading but on the vast unmined truths he was leaving behind in the inspired canon of Scripture. I asked him –

“If you had the choice of digging for fools’ gold or mining for real diamonds, what would you do?”

The answer is obvious. To discover the things that are revealed to us from God is a lifetime pursuit. It is a pursuit that requires focus and dedication. It requires discipline to stay on the pathway and avoid the temptation to take the shortcut on “Secret Avenue.” The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. He will never lead us to try and discover the secret things that alone belong to God!

In the New Testament, the sect of false teachers who purported to understand the secret things of God were known as the Gnostics. They taught that the goal of the Christian life was to attain the secret knowledge. It was only those who held this secret knowledge that were truly saved and would overcome the world. They viewed the physical as the false reality and only the higher plain of spiritual truth as the true reality.

Gnosticism still pervades the church today. It is the essence of New Age thinking and Eastern Mysticism. It attracts large followings and sells thousands and thousands of books. The secret is exciting. The revealed is steady and proven. The exciting leads people into error and to follow personalities and the next great thing.

The revealed leads people to the cross and the Lordship of Jesus Christ!

Paul may have visited the third and fourth heaven – but he was never allowed to write about it. It was sealed. It was not revealed for us to seek out and follow. The Bible contains 66 books of that which is revealed. It is a book that takes a lifetime to explore and discover those things that are revealed for our benefit. Each day I have the choice to dig for true diamonds or to waste my time on fool’s gold.

Lord, grant me the grace to dig for the diamonds of that which You have revealed and to teach them to my children so that they can teach them to their children as we await Your Kingdom.

In Jesus’ Name!