Serving the Hiding God: I. His temperament & His work throughout the ages

9 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑜𝑑, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠,
10 𝐼𝑛 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ… (𝐸𝑝ℎ. 3:9-10)

In the book of Ephesians, Paul gives us a very high revelation of the church. But in chapter three, there is an important perspective regarding the mystery that is given as a backdrop to this revelation. There are two specific words that Paul uses, repeated throughout the chapter: “𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲” 𝐚𝐧𝐝 “𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧” (or “hiding”). Something in Ephesians is so mysterious, so hidden. The words “mystery” and “hidden” also bring to our attention another phrase in this chapter, which is “𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦.” All these words spoken by Paul are instruments to usher in the revelation of the church, the main burden of this chapter and book.

So why does Paul specifically use these phrases to convey his understanding? Answering this question is fundamental for every believer in the church life today because there is a struggle that keeps us from reaching the very high revelation of the church: while we all want to mature, to be useful, and to serve, how can we truly come out of our iniquity and be transformed? The answer lies in God’s disposition and how He communicates with His people. 𝐈𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐚𝐡 𝟒𝟓:𝟏𝟓 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐝’𝐬 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: “𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝐻𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝑂 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝐼𝑠𝑟𝑎𝑒𝑙, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑟.” In the Bible, whenever God interacts with people, especially with His chosen race, He likes to hide Himself. In other words, 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭—𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 

When you look at God’s creation—the trees, the beautiful mountains and rivers, the animals and flowers—you see that God likes to hide behind those things. After creating heaven and the earth, He hid Himself. The New Testament also records that after He became Jesus, He hid Himself repeatedly from men (Luke 24: 13-16). In all these interactions, including in the early days of the church life, God was hiding Himself. Until today, this very God chooses to hide Himself in humble human beings. Sometimes, we may be frustrated at His hiding, saying, “God, why don’t You come out to administer justice?” Yet God still remains hidden. Sometimes, we may ask, “Where is God?” We try so hard to figure out who God is. Yet God still remains hidden. In our failures, in the experience of being broken, we pray, “God, show Yourself to me to make my life easier.” Yet through all these experiences, God still upholds His temperament to remain hidden. Why?

In Ephesians chapter three, we see Paul’s understanding: God hides Himself behind His multifarious wisdom—that is His temperament, or His disposition. When we come to this matter of the Lord’s intrinsic arrangement, or His multifarious wisdom, God often allows very sinful things to happen among us. He allows failures to happen in our life, and He even allows Satan to be among us, instigating all kinds of sins, fornication and division in the church life, just like we see Paul dealing with in 1 Corinthians. The Lord allows that to happen because it is a necessary process to exhibit all the facets of His wisdom—which is all that Christ is—through the church. Out of our fallen nature, the Lord touches us to lead us to that hidden place—to the spirit, to the place where He hides. 

When we deal with sin, the first reaction occurs in our conscience. The conscience has a purpose, and can be very useful when used in the proper way. When we preach the gospel to someone, we might try to prick their conscience, or when we discipline our children, we might try to revive their conscience. When we ourselves realize that something is right or wrong, then our conscience is active. But even after we have recognized our wrongdoings and want wholeheartedly to be right before God, why do we still fall again and again into our sinful life? Because touching the conscience isn’t equal to being saved. While many people mix the conscience and the spirit together, actually, they are distinct. 𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭. There is a difference between our conscience starting to work and our inner person starting to live—between knowing in our conscience and having the subjective reality of living in the spirit. 

Some people think being a spiritual man is something extraordinary—overcoming, victorious, otherworldly. But 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞. When God made Adam, Adam didn’t need a conscience because he had a spirit. God loves to mingle with man in his spirit. After the first fall of man, God allowed the function of the conscience to become active in human souls—in between soul and spirit—in the hope that it could bring human beings back to their spirit. That is how human beings were made to exist—in our spirit! A human being is meant to be saved, and to be saved is simply to be in the spirit. Dwelling in our good conscience is not enough; we can only be changed and transformed by knowing the Spirit and being in the Spirit.

God likes to hide Himself in us. He likes to hide Himself deeper than our conscience—in our spirit. When we see God’s creation, how can we not think it is beautiful? It is. But even that kind of appreciation can be only soulish—only from our conscience. That does not necessarily help you to be saved. God gives us all the signs and wonders, yet He still wants us to know that we have an inner person—a spirit! We cannot know God without reaching into the depths of our being to our spirit. There is no shortcut. In the spirit, we can be truly transformed from someone to whom God is hidden to someone who has been initiated into the mystery of Christ and the Church.

1 Peter 1:8 says: 

1:8 𝑊ℎ𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒; 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑗𝑜𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑦…

Peter himself saw the Lord as a human being in the flesh, but in this epistle he was talking to believers who lived after the era of the Lord’s time on earth; they had not seen Him. But to have the Lord, to love the Lord, to exult with joy unspeakable and full of glory—it doesn’t require seeing Him with our physical eyes. When we go beyond our conscience to our spirit, there is simply an unspeakable, overcoming condition through our inner man—through our spirit. 

And there are many other believers throughout history just like those whom Peter was addressing. If we look at our own spiritual genealogy, many saints have given their lives to the Lord. 𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝. Have you ever wondered why these people can live lives in such an exulting, joyful, unspeakable, and full-of-glory condition? Actually, there are millions of unknown believers living in this same mystery. 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟, 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐘𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐲. Why is today’s church life so sinful? Because people are fleshly. People never experience something at the level of the spirit. We like to see physical evidence, not something hidden. This mystery is hidden not only from us personally when we are fleshly, but “throughout the ages.” 

Today, the pandemic and the current, chaotic world situation are full of God’s hidden fingerprints. Actually, the Lord is speaking to us—not in a superstitious way, but in a hidden way. For 6,000 years, the Lord has been executing His will on the earth in His own disposition, His own temperament. That’s who He is. He is all over, hidden from the ages yet so intimately near to His believers. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬. No matter where we go, we see God. Even when we breathe, the air is Him, is this very pneumatic Christ. We open our eyes and He is there; we sing something and He is there; even when we are sinful, He is there. He is hidden, yet so available. It only requires us to know and live in our spirit. 

Isaiah 45:15 begins with “surely.” Amen, surely. “Surely” is “Amen.” We can say “Amen. You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. Amen. Lord, thank You for You hiding in me. Today, I can see You, my hiding God, hiding in me, hiding in my spirit. Amen.”

(𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 11/20/2020, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟.)