Hi Mike,
What are the mysteries of the kingdom of God? Thanks for all the wonderful things on the site. May God continue to bless all.
S____

Hi S____,
Thank you for your question. You ask:

What are the mysteries of the kingdom of God?

It must be pointed out for the purpose of being perfectly clear, that the phrase “the kingdom of God” and the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” are one and the same. Here are two of many verses which make this clear:

Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mar 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

Now let’s first look at the verses in which this phrase is found in Mat 13.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 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.

Christ has just spoken to the multitudes of thousands of people who had come to Him to hear Him speak to them in parables. His disciples want to know why Christ is speaking to the multitudes who come to Him in parables, and His answer is that He is speaking in parables “because… it is not given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”
Here is how Mark puts it:

Mar 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:

What Matthew calls “the kingdom of heaven,” Mark calls “the kingdom of God”. They are one and the same.
From these statements we can deduce that the parables are, one and all, concerned with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and those mysteries are presented to us in parable form to keep those mysteries hidden from the multitudes who, to this very day, cannot see the secrets of the kingdom of heaven which are hidden in Christ’s parables.
One of those mysteries or secrets which is hidden from the natural man is this very plain truth:

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

As it turns out all that is in the law and in psalms and in the prophets, are all parables concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of God which is first and primarily “within you”. So we are told by our Lord Himself:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The holy spirit inspired the apostle Paul to add this:

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them [ The people of ancient Israel] for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The word ‘ensamples’ is translated from the Greek word ‘tupos’ and it mean that all these things that happened to Israel in the Old Testament, are types of us, and typify us because the entire Old Testament, is but a parable of the mysteries of the kingdom of God within you and within me.
As you can see, this is a very broad subject which entails “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,” so when we realize that the truth of God’s Word is in its sum, then we can see why we all must “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Psa 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV, Darby, ESV, LITV, NASB nrs, nsn, REV, rsv)

Here is this same message as it is found in the book of Revelation. It is so crucial to understanding God’s Words that is placed at the very beginning and then again at the very end of this Revelation of Jesus Christ:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

… again at the end of this book:

Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Paul explains this phenomenon for the benefit of those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear:

1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The natural man cannot see the things of the spirit, but God has revealed them to us by His spirit. Since we are told that Christ’s words “ are spirit,” it only follows that the scriptures must interpret themselves, and we must never “think above that which is written”. Otherwise we have no way to “try the spirits to see whether they are of God.”

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
1Co 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and [ to] Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think [ of men] above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

This does not mean that God’s anointed who have come to understand the things of the spirit are incapable of ever falling from grace. The stories of Judas and of King Saul, demonstrate that even God’s anointed, who do have much spiritual understanding can, and do fall from grace. But if it is “written in His book” they also are restored to repentance and are stronger than ever before, and go on to “endure to the end.” Here is a little more of the mysteries of the kingdom of God within us. It is a secret which the natural man cannot receive:

Psa 139:1 <To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.> O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Psa 139:2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Psa 139:3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted [ with] all my ways.
Psa 139:4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Psa 139:5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Psa 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Psa 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Psa 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou [ art] there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [ art there].
Psa 139:9 [ If] I take the wings of the morning, [ and] dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Psa 139:11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: t he darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Psa 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
Psa 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [ and] wonderfully made: marvellous [ are] thy works; and [ that] my soul knoweth right well.
Psa 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, [ and] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

“You possess my reins.” Obviously there is no such thing as ‘free will.’

We are “curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.” This is not speaking of either a physical pit or a physical womb. It is a reference to the fact that it is God who creates evil and who causes us all to err from His ways so as to call forth light out of darkness and to bring life out of death, as only He is capable of doing. “The lowest parts of the earth” is our very lowest deeds in this life. It is there that God “curiously wrought… all things after the counsel of His own will.” And He has had it all figured out to the smallest detail “before the world began.”

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, [ and] hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil [ Hebrew, rah – same word translated as “tree of… good and evil]: I the LORD do all these things.

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

This verse too, (Pro 16:4) is itself a parable about the man of sin sitting on the throne of God within the kingdom of God within us. God is working it all, and it was all written in His book before there were any of our days. Actually it was all written in His book before the world began.

2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

What had Paul told these Thessalonians? He told them the same thing he told the Corinthians:

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

We all worship that beast within us. The worst enemy you will ever face in all of your life stares you in the face every time you look in a mirror. It is all by God’s design.
Here is the very next verse of Psa 139:

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

So here is the sum of one of the greatest of the mysteries of the kingdom of God:

Rom 9:11 (For [ the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? [ Is there] unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then [ it is] not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will [ have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed [ it], Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

But the final outcome of the mysteries of the kingdom of God is the salvation of even the vessels which God has created for temporary dishonor:

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

I hope this helps you to see that the mysteries of the kingdom of God, are the spirit which is behind the letters of “ every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike