I once saw a powerful drawing that has stayed with me for many years.
It showed an Old Testament prophet standing on the edge of a vast, deep canyon. He was staring intently across to the other side — much like a person standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon, looking at the breathtaking view opposite him.
On that far side, the prophet saw clearly the glorious scene God had revealed to him in prophecy: the Messiah reigning in Jerusalem, Israel fully restored as a nation, the earth filled with peace and righteousness, and the Kingdom age in all its splendor.
What the prophet could not see was the massive canyon a deep chasm that separated where he stood from the glorious future he was beholding.
That hidden canyon represents the Mystery — this present Age of Grace, the Church which is the Body of Christ. It was a truth that God kept secret from the Old Testament prophets.
The prophets saw Israel’s suffering and judgment… and then their eyes jumped straight across to Israel’s future glory in the Kingdom. They never saw the “canyon” of this present dispensation of grace that would come in between.
This simple drawing beautifully illustrates one of the most important principles in rightly dividing the Word of Truth: the difference between prophecy and the mystery.
In the coming posts in this series, we will look at:
- Why God hid this mystery
- What the prophets actually saw (and what they didn’t)
- How the Apostle Paul was given the revelation of this mystery
- What all of this means for us today
- First Coming
- Isaiah 53
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Second Coming
- Zechariah 14
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Millennium
- Isaiah 11
in the valley:
- Ephesians 3:2–9
- Colossians 1:26
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