Mysteries of God

A question I had recently was, "What do the scriptures call mysteries? When the scriptures talk about the mysteries of God, what topics are discussed in that context?" I felt like if I did a survey of the scriptures that referred to "mysteries of God" I might get an idea of what those things are and also how to obtain them.

What follows are notes I made from investigating the scriptures. I think you'll find them illuminating.

Mysteries of the kingdom (Matt 13:11) (given to the disciples to know these)
Mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1)
Mysteries of God (1 Nephi 2:16 (in context of Nephi wanting to know his father was right or not)
Mysteries of God (1 Nephi 10:19) in context of Nephi asking about Lehi’s dream of the tree of life
Mysteries of God (Mosiah 1:3) associated with the things already written in the scriptures
Mysteries of God (Mosiah 2:9) associated with the vision Mosiah had of an angel that gave him a message about the Messiah
Mysteries of God (Alma 10:5) associated with preserving the lives of the Nephites
Mysteries of God (Alma 12:9) about the resurrection from the dead and the judgment
Mysteries of God (Alma 26:22) associated with revealing new things and bringing people to repentance
Mysteries (Alma 37:4) in the scriptures
Mysteries (Alma 37:11) about how the hardened Nephites will be brought to repentance
Mysteries (of God) and secret works of darkness (Alma 37:21) associated with the 24 Jaredite plates
Mysteries  (Alma 40:3) concerning what happens to the soul between death and resurrection
Mysteries of God (D&C 6:7) that will make rich and give eternal life
Mysteries (D&C 6:11) great and marvelous, to bring many to know the truth, to convince others of their error.
Mysteries (D&C 28:7) given to the prophet
Mysteries (D&C 42:61 peaceable things, which bring joy, which bring life eternal
Mysteries (D&C 43:13) to be given because of charitable giving
Mysteries of my kingdom (D&C 63:23) as a well of living water, spring up unto everlasting life
Mysteries out of the scriptures (D&C 71:1)
Hidden mysteries of my will (D&C 76:7-10) from days of old, for ages to come, good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom. Wonders of eternity. Things to come. Things of many generations. Understanding reach to heaven. Secrets of my will. Things eye has not see, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.
Mysteries (D&C 77:6) associated with the book sealed with 7 seals. Revealed will, mysteries, works of god. Hidden things of his economy.
Mysteries of the kingdom (D&C 84:19) key of the knowledge of God, associated with the power of godliness in the ordinances of the church.
Mysteries of the kingdom (D&C 107:19) of heaven, having the heavens opened to them. Enjoying the presence of the Father and Jesus.
God revealeth secrets (Dan 2:28) in association with Daniel telling the dream of the king and interpreting it.  What shall come to pass (v29)
Secrets (Amos 3:7) revealed to the prophets before they happen.

Fascinating, huh?

Insanely great blessings to those who fear and serve the Lord

5 For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.

6 Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.

7 And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.

8 Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.

9 And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught.

10 For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man. (D&C 76:5-10)

I love these verses. I get the sense that Heavenly Father aches for us to know just how much He can bless us if we will serve Him in righteousness to the end.

He promises mercy, grace (enabling power), and honor from God (not necessarily honors of men), and great revelations, even about things to come. 

When you look carefully, four of those verses are spent just talking about the revelations God promises:

--all mysteries

--hidden mysteries of God’s kingdom from days of old and for ages to come

--the good pleasure of God’s will about all the things of God’s kingdom

--wonders of eternity

--things to come

--things of many generations

--great wisdom

--understanding even heaven itself

--enlightenment by the Spirit

--secrets of God’s will

--things no one has seen, heard, or conceived

The rest of D& 76 is an example of this because of how it reveals the principle of the three degrees of glory and explains the status of those who inherit the various degrees.

I get the sense that if we were to be blessed how v7-10 were described  it would probably be pretty evident that it wasn’t the kind of thing we could go blabbing around.  We’d have to keep it to ourselves.  Thus, you probably wouldn’t hear anything about other Saints being blessed this way either.  So if we were blessed, we would simply have to have faith that there were others that had those blessings too, rather than thinking we were the only ones. (That “I’m the special one” attitude gets us in trouble eventually.)

I have faith that it doesn’t matter what office a Saint holds in the church or how lowly their station. God is no respecter of persons, so if any of us are faithful, those blessing can be ours, whether we’re in leadership or not.

What do you think it means when it says, “before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught”?

Some Mysteries of Godliness for Ending Error

And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways. (D&C 6:11)

This verse intrigued me recently, and I noticed that along with the promise of knowing and finding out mysteries if we inquire, it also states that the purpose of finding out mysteries is to bring people to know the truth and convince them of where they’ve erred. I think that’s really interesting, since it implies there are mysteries of God’s kingdom that help us forsake our errors and overcome certain stumbling blocks in our lives that come out of ignorance or the prevalence of the traditions of men.  Mysteries can be useful and practical, instead of speculative, as we often think.

In fact, I’ve been noticing how many principles of revelation are in D&C 6. Since it was given to a world with no authoritative guidance on how to prepare for revelation or how to discern revelation, D&C 6 is itself full of mysteries.

Another thing I notice in this verse is the statement “thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou shalt find out mysteries.”  It makes me ask, “How do I exercise my gift?” From the perspective of a church member, I immediately think the gift referred to is the gift of the Holy Ghost, but I don’t know if I exercise that gift as much as I hope that it exercises me.  What do you think? How do we exercise the gift?  Do you think of exercise here in terms of just using the gift, or in terms of trying to build a muscle?