Did Jesus Know 'the Mystery'?

Years ago at an annual summer ‘mid-Acts’ ‘grace’ bible conference in Illinois (when I was a ‘mid-Acts-er’ myself), I heard another ‘mid-Acts’ preacher say that Jesus did not know ‘the mystery’ when He lived as a man on earth. It stirred my curiosity, and I requested that the issue be presented at the conference I sponsored the following spring in Tennessee. Little did I realize at the time, but that message started a wildfire of controversy on the subject.
Now that I am no longer a ‘mid-Acts-er’ and I think for myself without the chart, but with verses and a clear head .... I do not accept things I was told then. Any doctrines that I held then need to be re-examined now.

If Jesus did not know ‘the mystery’ .... how could He have fulfilled the prophecy from Psalm 78:2 and 49:4, by uttering dark sayings of old?

Matt 13:34-35 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
35 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.

Jesus had ‘other knowledge’ before the foundation of the world. He knew that God His Father loved Him before then. Why could He not have known ‘the mystery’ then also?

John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus knew that the righteous sheep had a kingdom waiting for them that was fixed from the foundation of the world. Why could He not have known ‘the mystery’ then as well?

Matt 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God:

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world:

Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Jesus knew all things (John 21:17). He knew what He came to do, but He told the Pharisees to search it out:

Matt 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus knew His pre-arranged assignment:

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

What was the Father’s will? That Jesus die to save sinners, as it was foreordained before the foundation of the world:

Matt 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Jesus did not question what it was. He knew it; but He agonized to do it:

Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

He didn’t wonder about His mission. He submitted to it. Just as PAUL said:

Phil 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Surely if John discerned Jesus’ purpose .... Christ knew His own purpose:

John 9:39-41 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world,
that they which see not might see;
and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin:
but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Jesus spoke about the same judgment to the Pharisees (John 9:1,22) .... as the prophetic scripture that PAUL taught to the saints at Rome:

Rom 11:7-10 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

Jesus revealed things to His disciples before they happened:

John 13:19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.

Isaiah prophesied and Jesus fulfilled prophecy by foretelling future events to His disciples:

Isa 42:9 Behold, the former things are come to pass,
and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Jesus communicated to the unbelievers through parables (like we read in Matt 13:35), but to His disciples (which were His apostles, His servants, the prophets), 'but now' He explained the meanings of the mystery (Amos 3:7, Rev 10:7):

Matt 13:10-11 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
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. (FYI, the Greek word [musterion] translated ‘mysteries’ in the plural is the same as ‘mystery’ in the singular.)

John 16:28-30 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

Peter realized that Jesus Christ was known before the foundation of the world as the Lamb of God .... ‘but now’ He was made visible as such:

1 Peter 1:18-21 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you,
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

That is basically the same thing as PAUL explained about Jesus Christ. His name was concealed in the OLD testament. His death and resurrection were ‘according to the scriptures’ (1 Cor 15:3-4), but they were not understood then, as they are clearly seen ‘but now’:

Rom 16:25-26 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
26 But now is made manifest,
and by the scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

James testified that God knew everything. Jesus Christ was God (Matt 16:16) come in the flesh (1 John 4:2-3, 2 John 1:7), thus there is no logical reason to think that HE did not know likewise:

Acts 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

God through John made it a point to show that Jesus, in His earthly ministry, WAS God:

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

When God wrote through PAUL .... since Jesus was in the beginning, then He would have known what God knew, when all things were created and redemption’s plan was made:

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

A reason that ‘mid-Acts-ers’ believe that Jesus did not know ‘the mystery’ is because they make 2 Jesus’
.... 1) an ‘earthly’ Jesus
and .... 2) a ‘heavenly’ Jesus, they call ‘the risen, glorified Lord’.

Jesus Christ cannot be separated from 'Who He was'.
'Mid-Acts-ers' divide WAY too much.

Jesus’ works were securely planned before the foundation of the world:

Heb 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Did Jesus know ‘the mystery’?
‘Mid-Acts-ers’ say He didn’t.
‘But now’ I believe He did.

Let’s re-read:

Matt 13:35 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.

This is David Dowell, saying, "Think about it!"
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