Today we are going to look at some verses in the Bible that speak about secrets. The Bible talks a lot about secrets and a lot about things that are hidden and things that are concealed and things that are covered up. Then it talks about the revelation of secrets and how God takes off the cover and opens up people’s eyes to truth. So the Bible talks about how God has secrets and that He reveals these secrets to His people in His timing and according to His will and that it is up to Him to open our eyes to His truth.
The Bible also talks about the secrets of men, the secrets that we all have. A lot of us have secret sins, but God sees it all. God is all-seeing and all-knowing, and He will bring judgment upon those sins; but we can pray to God to help us to see our sins, these secret sins that we might have.
Let us go Isaiah 45 where we see that God says that He is a God who hides Himself. In Isaiah 45:15, we read:
Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
So the Saviour hides Himself, and is this not true that God really does hide Himself? Look around right now. We cannot see God. Even for the last 2,000 years, God has not brought anymore supernatural physical miracles in the world today. He still is, of course, performing the miracle of salvation in people’s lives. But for the last 2,000 years, God has really been hidden. He has really not shown Himself in these supernatural ways that we all would expect from a supernatural God.
Why does God do this? It is a mystery as to why God would keep Himself hidden from us. What the problem is though is that it is because of our sin. The Bible tells us that our sins have hidden Him from us. This same word for “hidest” is found in Isaiah 59, so let us turn to Isaiah 59 where we will read that it is our sins that cause God to hide His face from us. We read in Isaiah 59:1:
Behold, JEHOVAH’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
God can do whatever He wants. He is all-powerful. He can save anyone, but then verse 2 says, Isaiah 59:2-3:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
What a good description for us. We are all filthy, dirty, rotten sinners, and this is the problem. This is because when God created Adam and Eve, they were perfect and, therefore, God was not hidden from them. But this was only for a short period of time; because once sin came, then that separated us from God.
If we go back to Isaiah 45, even though God hides Himself from mankind in many ways, He has not spoken in secret. It is not like He says things and nobody knows about it. It is not like He does things in a corner so that people will not notice. No. He tells us in Isaiah 45 that He does not speak in secret. We read in Isaiah 45:18-19:
For thus saith JEHOVAH that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am JEHOVAH; and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I JEHOVAH speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Also in Isaiah 48:16, we read:
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord JEHOVAH, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
In the Old Testament times, God was hidden even more than He is today. Today we have the whole Bible, which is going out into all the world. Yet even from the beginning, God has not spoken in secret. Even in the Old Testament, God made many prophecies where He would say that something was going to happen and then it would come to pass. This has always been from the beginning that He has not spoken in secret. However, when Jesus came, He even revealed more about the Kingdom of God.
Let us turn to John 18:19-21 where we read of Jesus before the high priest. It says:
The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.
You see, God has witnesses. God has revealed things to His people. He has not spoken in secret. He has declared things in the Word of God. Then His people take His message and declare what He says and it, therefore, has the full authority of God. It is the full authority of God because it is truly what He has said in the Bible. Therefore, when we declare things, especially now—for instance, the return of Christ on May 21, 2011—this has the full authority of God, because this is coming from God and not from man. This is because this comes right from the Bible, from the mouth of God.
So when Jesus came, He said things with great multitudes of people surrounding Him. He declared things about the Kingdom of God. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like this” and “The Kingdom of Heaven is like that.” So when the high priest asked Him, He said, “I have not said anything in secret.” He did not do something in a corner or all hush-hush. He openly and boldly proclaimed the truth. So today as His witnesses are in the world, they, too, are openly declaring the truth of the Word of God. But we want God to show Himself on our terms, and this is the problem.
Let us go to John 7. In John 7, do you remember Jesus’ brothers? They also wanted Jesus to make Himself known in their timing and in their ways. However, God has own His timing and His own ways. We read in John 7:1-6:
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
You see, it was not the time yet for Jesus to do this. Then when they do go to the feast, we read in verse 10, John 7:10-11:
But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
Then we read in verse 14 that in the midst of the feast, Jesus goes up into the temple and teaches.
So, you see, things are done in God’s timing. This is God’s revelation to man. He could keep Himself hidden from us until we die. We would die and that would be it. But by God’s mercy, He is, especially today, really revealing so much of Himself through the Word of God and through His prophecies that are about to come to pass. So we must wait upon God. In His timing, He will show us things if it is His will.
Let us go to Matthew 13. We know that Jesus did not speak in secret, just like we read in Isaiah and in John 18; but He did say things in parables. When He would declare the Word of God many times, it was with a parable. It was, therefore, hard to understand. In Matthew 13:10-15, we read:
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
So it is not God’s will that everyone understand. It is not God’s will that all of our eyes are going to be open to the truth, and this is God’s business. So this is why these things have been done in parables. If you are truly one of His, what a blessing, as we read in Matthew 13:11:
He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
What a blessing from God that we are living in a day when we can understand many of the things about the Kingdom of Heaven, because look at Matthew 13:16-17. As we keep going, it says:
But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
The children of God from past generations wanted to know these things. Do you remember what Daniel asked? He asked, “How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?” He was told, “I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation.” Others have desired to know about these things, and yet it was not God’s timing. God told Daniel, “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”
What a blessing for us today that we can actually learn these things. We thank God if He has opened our eyes to these things and given us this warning. Now we can really examine our lives and turn from our sins and cry to God for mercy before it is too late.
Go to 1 Peter 1 where we will find another similar statement about how the saints of old were searching these things out but they could not come to the truth because it was not God’s time yet. In 1 Peter 1:10-12, it says:
Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
People wanted to know about the timing of all of these things that were being talked about concerning the end times or Christ’s first coming or His second coming. Notice that it refers to “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” They wanted to know about all of the things that were to come concerning Christ’s coming, and yet it was revealed to them that it was not for them. It was not for them. It is for us today as God has revealed to us the timing and the judgment, “time and judgment.”
Go back to Matthew 13 where Jesus will be quoting from the Old Testament. He is going to speak about things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. We read in Matthew 13:34-35:
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
There are many things that “have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” For example, what Christ did in the Atonement before the foundation of the world. He spoke all of these things in parables, and now it is God’s timing to reveal all of these things from the Word of God.
Go to Luke 18 where we will see about how God can even say things to us plainly but we will not understand it because of our sin-tainted minds. We desperately need God to open our minds. Whenever we read or study the Bible, it is not like, “Oh, I am going to study this so hard and then I am going to figure this out.” No way. We have to be begging God, “O God, please show me what is true. Show me what You mean by this,” because He could say things directly to us and it would go right over our heads. So Luke 18:31-33 says:
Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
All of these things physically took place. Then Luke 18:34 says:
And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
God could say things very plainly. Of course, what all of this meant was still parabolic and still very deep and spiritual and difficult to understand. But just even concerning these physical things, the disciples did not understand what He was saying. They did not understand it because it was “hid from them.” This is why we need to be praying to God to open our eyes.
Go to Proverbs 25. There is a good Proverb there about how God has concealed the Word of God. He has hidden it. He has written it in parables and in deep, dark sayings, and it is an honor and a privilege to read the Bible. It is a great privilege to study the Bible that we have. This is the mercy of God. So in Proverbs 25:2, it says:
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
As we know, the words “thing” and “matter” are the Hebrew word dabar, which is the word for “word.” This is talking about the Word of God.
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing [the Word]: but the honour of kings…
Which are the true believers.
…is to search out a matter [the Word].
Let us go to Deuteronomy 29:29. This is another familiar verse. The same word for “conceal” is translated as “secret” in Deuteronomy 29:29. It says:
The secret things belong unto JEHOVAH 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.
This is why God will open up our eyes to anything. It is not so that we can get all puffed up and say, “Look at me! I know all of this stuff about the end. I know all this stuff about God’s salvation so I can tell you what the Bible says. Look at how smart I am!” No, that is just being fleshly puffed up and that is not the wisdom of God.
Look at why these things are being revealed to us:
…that we may do all the words of this law.
This is the purpose for this knowledge. We want to learn from the Bible so that we know how to act and so that we know what we should be doing and how we can be serving God. If we are to truly know God, God must reveal Himself to us. The way that He reveals Himself to us is through the Bible. You read the Bible if you want to get to know who God is.
I remember before I even read the Bible or even knew anything about God, I remember praying to God, “God, if you are real, show Yourself to me. Help me out here because I am in trouble.” But this is not how knowledge is going to come. If you want God to come to you in some supernatural way so that you can really have assurance, “Now I know that He really is what He says He is,” this is not the way that He does it. He reveals Himself by the Word of God.
Let us go to 1 Samuel 3. In 1 Samuel 3, we read of Samuel and Eli, and notice verse 1, 1 Samuel 3:1:
And the child Samuel ministered unto JEHOVAH before Eli. And the word of JEHOVAH was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
So in those days, God was really hidden. “There was no open vision.” The Word of God was precious or rare.
Then we read in verse 7, 1 Samuel 3:7:
Now Samuel did not yet know JEHOVAH, neither was the word of JEHOVAH yet revealed unto him.
Then God calls him, “Samuel, Samuel,” but he thinks that it is Eli. He goes to Eli a couple of times. Finally, Eli tells him, “Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD.” This is what Samuel does, and then we read in verse 19, 1 Samuel 3:19-20:
And Samuel grew, and JEHOVAH was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of JEHOVAH.
Then notice verse 21, 1 Samuel 3:21:
And JEHOVAH appeared again in Shiloh: for JEHOVAH revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of JEHOVAH.
Notice that this is how God revealed Himself. He revealed Himself, “by the word of JEHOVAH.” This is how He reveals Himself to us.
There is a similar idea to this in Luke 24. Go to Luke 24 where we read of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus actually came up and started walking with them, and then we read in Luke 24:16:
But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
They did not recognize that it was Him. This was after His death and resurrection, but they did not know Him. Notice what Jesus asks them in Luke 24:17
And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
Then we read in Luke 24:18-19:
And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things?…
As if Jesus did not know. Of course Jesus knew. It was all about Him and about what He had just done, and yet He asks them, “What things?,” like He does not know.
Is that not very interesting? We will see this throughout the Bible. God will ask a question to us. Is this because He does not know? Is it because He is trying to find out what the answer is? No, of course not. God knows. Jesus knew what it was all about, and yet He asks for our benefit. He asks a question to test us, but not to test us to find out what our hearts are like. He already knows this. He already knows what is in our hearts. He tests us to show us ourselves what is in our hearts, to show us.
So they tell Jesus about what happen, and then He rebukes them in Luke 24:25:
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Then He “expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Then in Luke 24:30-31, we read:
And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him…
So now, boom! Their eyes are opened and now they know that He is Jesus. Then notice what He does:
…and he vanished out of their sight.
You know, God hides Himself. Here they are. They are walking along with Jesus. He asks them, “What things?,” as if He does not know. Then when they are breaking and eating the bread, they are made aware that it is Him and—boom!—He is gone! This is very, very mysterious, because God’s ways are not our ways.
Then we read in Luke 24:32:
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
So notice what has happened. Now they are examining their hearts, “Did not our heart burn within us?” You see, He does these things to help us to examine ourselves. He is teaching us in this way. This is how He does this many times. He is very mysterious. He is hidden in many ways. He speaks parabolically. He tests us with questions in the Bible. It is all for the purpose of getting us to examine our hearts. “Did not our heart burn within us” as He “opened to us the scriptures?”
So now their minds are starting to think and they are starting to learn. Then we read in Luke 24-33:35:
And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Notice that, “He was known of them in breaking of bread.” Remember that God told us, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This “breaking of bread” is spiritually pointing to the Word of God. As we partake of the Word of God, Christ is made known to us. So we can pray to God that as we read the Bible and break the “bread of life” and look into the Scriptures that God would open our eyes.
Now let us go to Psalm 119 where we see a beautiful prayer to God to open our eyes. Psalm 119:18-19 says:
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
So we can pray this to God. Notice what it says, “Hide not thy commandments from me.” God could keep us in the dark very easily. He could close our minds very easily. We are completely at His mercy to open our eyes so that we might “behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
Let us go to Matthew 10 where God tells us that there is nothing that is hidden that is not going to be revealed. Everything will be revealed finally. In the end, everything will come to light. In Matthew 10:24-27, Jesus says:
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness…
You see, the Word of God is “dark sayings”; it is parabolic.
…that speak ye in light…
This is because we can explain what the Bible says to others as God opens our eyes.
…and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
This is referring to bringing the Gospel to the world.
So we learn from the “dark sayings” of the Bible. We learn as He opens up our spiritual ears so that we can hear what He is really saying, and then we can declare this to the world.
Notice what He said in verse 26, Matthew 10:26:
…for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed…
The Greek word for “covered” is kalupto and the word “revealed” is apokalupto. So the word kalupto is the word for “covering,” like in Matthew 8 where we read that “the ship was covered with the waves.” It is something that is covered over; it is concealed. Apokalupto is the same word with the prefix apo, which means “away from” or “take it off.” So God is going to take off the cover. There is nothing covered that God is not going to take the cover off of.
This is what is going to happen at the end, and He has done this in many ways as He is revealing all of this end-time truth. Also in the end, everything is going to be exposed. We are all going to be exposed on May 21, 2011 as to whether we were really saved or not and what the truth really was.
Go to Matthew 11 and we will see how God reveals Himself to whomever He wants, because this is God’s business. Of course, He is perfect and righteous. None of us deserves to have Him reveal Himself to us, and yet God has this marvelous salvation plan where He will reveal Himself to people, to His elect. We read in Matthew 11:25-26:
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
In this world, as we come with this end-time teaching, many of “the wise and prudent,” those who think that they know a lot, those who think that they are the Bible scholars and that they are the theologians, cannot seen any of this. Yet here we are and we are nobodies. We do not know anything, and yet here we can see things pretty clearly from the Bible.
Why is that? It is so “no flesh should glory in his presence.” This is because God should receive all of the glory. This is why He has revealed these things “unto babes.”
Notice verse 27, Matthew 11:27:
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
In our King James translation, we kind of miss something here. It says, “whomsoever the Son will reveal,” and we think that this is in the future tense, that He is going to reveal this to certain people. But this word for “will” is really a word that means that He “intends to,” that He “purposes.” It is His will that He “will reveal.” It means if He wants to or if He desires to, so it is “to whomsoever the Son [wants to or purposes to] reveal him.” This is all according to God’s election plan.
Go to 2 Thessalonians 2 where we see that God will reveal the end-time truth, which is what He has done for us in our day. In 2 Thessalonians 2 we read about how God is going to reveal that Satan would be ruling in the church during the Great Tribulation. Remember that 2 Thessalonians 2 starts out by saying, “That ye be not soon shaken in mind…that the day of Christ is at hand,” because something has to come first and it has come. We read in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5:
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first…
“Falling away” is the Greek word apostasia, which is the great apostasy that has occurred in the churches. It continues:
…except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
This was all written about in the Bible two thousand years earlier. This has all been told before, and yet this is going to be revealed in “his time.” Notice verse 6, 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8:
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way [or midst]. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Notice that Satan in the church is going to be “revealed in his time,” at the appropriate time, even though “the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” Satan was already working in the churches all throughout the church age. When you read Revelation 2 and 3, you see his workings in the churches and yet it was a “mystery.” God’s people did not really understand the full effect of this. This is why God says that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” But once He who is restraining him, once the Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit is taken out of the midst, “then shall that Wicked be revealed.” This is when God is going to show His people that Satan is in the churches.
Is this not what happened? Right? Once Christ left the church in 1988 and then when the “latter rain” began in 1994, Christ was “out of the way [midst].” During our day, “then shall that Wicked be revealed.” Now we can see this, because God, the restrainer, has left. At that point, it was God’s time to reveal who was there and it is Satan. It is Satan who is being worshipped today in the church as God has appointed him to rule there.
Go to Amos 3, that familiar verse that we know now about how God does not do anything without revealing it to His people. Go through your Bible and look at all of the judgments of God. He would always reveal it to His people beforehand so that they could warn the people: Noah in the days of the flood, Jonah in Nineveh, and many other examples. We read in Amos 3:7-8:
Surely the Lord JEHOVAH will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord JEHOVAH hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
This is what we have today. God is roaring. God is really warning the world of Judgment Day. So His people who have learned this, “who can but prophecy”? We have to declare it. We have to say what He has revealed to us.
This word for “secret” is also used in Psalm 25:14:
The secret of JEHOVAH is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.
God shows us. God shows and reveals His secret to His people.
We also find this word in Jeremiah 23:18 where this word is translated as “counsel,” because this word for “secret” is like a secret counsel, an intimate knowledge between two parties, and God has secret counsel with His people as they study His Word and He opens their eyes to the truth. In Jeremiah 23, I will start reading in verse 18. Jeremiah 23:18:
For who hath stood in the counsel…
That is the same word as “secret” in Amos 3:7. Jeremiah 23:18-22:
For who hath stood in the counsel of JEHOVAH, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of JEHOVAH is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of JEHOVAH shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel…
There is that word again.
…and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
Again, this stresses what happens when God shows His secret to His people. When He shows them the truth, it is so that they will turn from their sin. Then you will know that you truly understand if you are turning from your sin and turning to do things God’s way.
As we keep going, we will see that we cannot hide ourselves from God. As I said before, we also have secrets. Men have secrets that we try to hide from God. God has His secrets, which He can successfully hide from us. That is no problem for God. But when we try to hide things from God, it is not going to work.
We read in verse 23, Jeremiah 23:23-24:
Am I a God at hand, saith JEHOVAH, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith JEHOVAH. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith JEHOVAH.
God fills Heaven and earth. Think about this. God is so almighty and so infinite that He fills Heaven and earth. So where are you going to go to hide from God? Where are you going to go to try to hide your sin? Do you think that in the dark nighttime when many people go out to do wicked things—things that we used to do, too—do you think that God is not going to see it? Maybe you are younger and you are in your home and Mom and Dad are not around, so you do something that you know that they do not want you to do. Do you think that you are going to get away with it? Do you think that God does not see it? God fills Heaven and earth. In 1 Kings 8, there is another verse that says, “Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.” God is so infinite that we cannot even comprehend Him. He is just so powerful and He fills Heaven and earth.
Go to Genesis where Adam and Eve tried to hide. Amazingly there, too, God asked questions of them like He does not know. In Genesis 3, remember that they eat from the tree that they are not supposed to eat from as the serpent, Satan, beguiled them. Once they ate from “the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” we read in Genesis 3:7:
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…
So, boom! Once they ate from that tree, then they knew that they had a problem. They knew that they were naked. They knew that they had sinned. They knew that something was wrong. Then we read:
…and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
So they tried to cover themselves. This is pointing to those who try to cover themselves with their own works. We can try to be very good and try to do all of the right things and think that this is going to get me right with God, that all of my good deeds are going to outweigh the bad and then I will be okay. But this does not work.
Then verse 8, Genesis 3:8:
And they heard the voice of JEHOVAH God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of JEHOVAH God amongst the trees of the garden.
You know, when we sin, many times it troubles us. If we are truly a child of God, we feel terrible about sin because we feel a broken fellowship with God and then we have trouble sometimes going to God, but this is who we need to go to. Do not try to cover it up. Do not try to hide it. God tells us to confess it to Him. He knows about it already.
But here they tried to hide themselves from God’s presence. Then notice verse 9, Genesis 3:9:
And JEHOVAH God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Like He does not know, “Where are you Adam?” God knows. Again, He is testing Adam to show Adam what is going on, to show him what is in his heart. “Where are you Adam?”
Then in Genesis 3:10-12, we read:
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? …
Again, He is asking him a question.
Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
This is another way that we try to hide our sins. We try to point the finger at someone else. It was someone else’s fault, “It is not my fault, Lord. It is not my fault that I did that. It was the way that I was brought up. You understand?” But, no!
Genesis 3:13:
And JEHOVAH God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
She does the same thing. She points the finger at Satan.
Genesis 3:14:
And JEHOVAH God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Then God does bring a curse upon Adam and Eve as well.
So there is no use in trying to hide our sins. There is no use in this. If we have sins, confess them to the Lord. We do not have to tell anybody else. We do not have to tell our secret sins to somebody else. We tell them to God. We confess our sins to God and beg Him for His mercy, because God sees right through hypocrisy.
Turn to Luke 12. Me or you, if we are a big, fat hypocrite, we are trying to hide the real us. You are trying to hide the real you, and yet God knows the real you and God knows the real me. In Luke 12:1-3, we read:
In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
Notice the difference between this verse and the other verse we read from Matthew 10.
Let us read Matthew 10:27 again:
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light…
But here in Luke 12:3, it says:
Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light…
Do you see the difference? If we try to hide, that is going to come to light as well, just like God’s Word is going to come to light; it is going to be shown to be true. But the sinful things that we have done are hypocrisy and these things are going to come to light and show us that we are still wicked sinners and that we are under God’s wrath.
Go to Romans 2 where God will tell us who the true Jew is, who the true child of God is. It is not someone who is one outwardly, but inwardly. In Romans 2:28-29, we read:
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
This word “outwardly” and “outward” in Romans 2:28 is the word that is translated many times as “manifest.” It means something that is apparent, what you see on the outside. It looks this way. It is manifested, so it is apparent. It looks like this is true, that you are really a child of God. Maybe you carry your Bible, you pray, you talk about God and you do the things that Christians do; yet if it is all outward, then it is not true.
And the word “inwardly” in Romans 2:29 is the word for “secret” or “in secret”:
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly [in secret]…
This is in the heart that man cannot see, “for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” So we want to be a true child of God, a true Jew, and we want to have that circumcision of our heart “in secret” in our soul and have our sins “cut off.”
Go to 1 Timothy 5 where we see that some men’s sins are open: the drunkard, the harlot, the drug addict. Their sins are very open. We all see this and we can look down our long noses at them and say, “Oh look at those people. How terrible!” But some men’s sins cannot be seen, and yet they are still going to follow them into Judgment Day. In 1 Timothy 5:24-25, we read:
Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
Again, God sees the good and the bad. We also see good and bad, and yet we do not see the whole picture. So we want to pray to God that we will see ourselves as we are, “Show me my sins,” so that we can turn from them.
Go to Leviticus 4. In Leviticus 4, we will see that some of our secret sins can also be ones that we do not know about, sins that we commit ignorantly and are not aware of and yet we are still guilty of them. Just because we do not know that we are doing wrong does not mean that we are not guilty. In Leviticus 4:13-14, we read:
And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of JEHOVAH concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty; When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.
Again, just because we are not aware of it, this does not mean that we are not guilty; and so we pray to God that He might show us our secret sins. For example, go to Psalm 19 where the prayer is to cleanse us from secret faults. In Psalm 19:12-13, we read:
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Jeremiah tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” We cannot know it until God shows us.
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Notice the two different kinds of sins here. We have secret ones, and we can pray to God to cleanse us from them, “Show us our sins so that we can turn.” But we also need to pray to God to keep us back from presumptuous ones, ones that we know about. We know sometimes that we should not do something, and yet we still do it. So we want to beg God to also keep us back from those. All of this is because, in the end, God will judge the secret sins of men and He will completely destroy the wicked and any of us if we are not saved.
We read in Ecclesiastes 12 how God is going to bring everything into judgment, even the secret things. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter…
Again, that word “matter” is the word for “word.”
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter [word]: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Go to Romans 2, which is another similar verse. In Romans 2:16, we read:
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
This is Judgment Day: May 21, 2011. In less than two years, God is going to judge all of our secrets if we are not saved. By God’s amazing mercy, if we have become born from above, all of those secret sins have all been paid for. So this should be our whole desire right now: to seek God’s salvation that we might not be exposed to that. If we see ourselves left behind, then the secret of us not being saved is going to be revealed.
Let us read 1 Corinthians 4:5. Since all is going to be fully revealed in the end, God tells us to judge nothing before the time. We are not to look out at somebody else and try to examine them, “I wonder if they are really saved?,” or make statements like, “Look at those people and what they are doing!,” and continually judge others for what they do, “That is terrible what they are doing!” Because then, “thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.” But God tells us not to do this at all. We read in 1 Corinthians 4:5:
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
So God will bring everything to light. We are not to worry about it. Our job is not to be the judge. Our job is not to look for secrets and try to expose people. No, not at all.
We read in the previous chapter, in 1 Corinthians 3:13:
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
God is “a consuming fire.” In His judgment and in His wrath, He is going to burn up this whole place. He is going to burn us up if we are not saved, and so let us pray to God. Let us go to God. He is the only one who can help us because “vain is the help of man.” So let us pray to God that we can turn from these secret sins and then pray that God would reveal His secrets to us from the Bible so that we might do the words of God, but no so that we can be puffed up with knowledge, which is a sin that does not help us at all, but that we might obey God and be pleasing to Him.