Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

Daniel spoke in prophecy of nations to come after Babylon, which history has revealed to be the Medo-Persian, the Greek and finally the Roman empire that ruled Israel during the time of Christ. But as the prophecy continues, God reveals that He would establish a kingdom that would crush and put an end to all of those kingdoms and that His kingdom would endure forever (Daniel 2:44-45). When John the Baptist came crying in the wilderness that "…the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15). Paul explains this time by inspiration of God:

Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of time came, God sent His son, born of a woman, born under the

Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive adoptions as sons.

And so, Jesus did come into the world , in the flesh, born of a woman, a virgin at that, and grew up like a tender shoot, disbelieved by the those who put Him to death between evil men (Isaiah 53). He fulfilled every stroke of the Old Law (Matthew 5:17-18) learning obedience to the Father (Hebrews 5:8) by even humbling Himself to the cross (Philippians 2:8). When Jesus spoke of being lifted off this earth in death, many of those following Him thought the Christ was to remain forever, and therefore did not follow Him anymore, which again fulfilled prophecy (John 12:30-38). Earlier, the multitudes tried to make Him a physical king (John 6:15) and even His disciples thought that He would be with them in a final battle with the Roman empire, even if it were to their untimely death (John 11:7-16) (Matthew 16:21-23 & 20:17-23). When Jesus is finally taken to the cross and killed, His disciples are perplexed about their next steps, if any for Him as Peter says, "I am going fishing" (John 21:3) as if to say, "Let's get back to our jobs as times have changed."

But little did they comprehend what was in store for them. The Jewish leaders, on the other hand, believe they have buried their problem, so to speak, as they think they do not have to worry about loosing their nation and their place (John 11:47-48) (Matthew 27:1-10), only to find out that trouble was already rising (Matthew 28:11-15)!

So, to answer our question of "When was the mystery revealed?", we start our search by turning to:

Colossians 2:1-3 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who

are in Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be

encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full

assurance of understanding, resulting in the true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself.

There is no doubt that the "mystery" is Jesus Christ Himself, who was hidden for the past generations, even though they desired to see Him (Colossians 1:25-27). But as we have seen, Jesus was a mystery to many as He walked upon this earth, as many who once believed in Him could not accept some of His sayings which were difficult to comprehend (John 6:53-66). When Jesus said He must die and be lifted up, they were also confused about this saying. As they believed the Old Law taught that the Christ was to remain forever (John 12:34). So, when was the mystery made fully known? To find our answer we turn to:

Ephesians 3:1-5 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles if

indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; that by

revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote to you in brief. By referring to this, when

you read you can understand my insight into they mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not

made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and Prophets in the

Spirit.

So, there we have the answer to our question. The "mystery" is fully revealed to us by the writings of the apostles, the gospel of our Lord, "…the author and perfecter of faith." (Hebrews 12:2). Yes, our faith comes by the hearing (Romans 10:17)of these words of truth (John 17:17), and as believers we are to be obedient to Him for life (John 3:16 & 3:36). May we too learn obedience to the word of God, as our Lord did to the Father (Hebrews 5:8) so we can please Him in all things.