“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, ”  1 Corinthians 2:7.  The wisdom of God was and is hidden in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is there at the Cross where Christ was revealed, it is on the Cross where the Lord chose to save us instead of Himself.  Satan’s defeat was handed to him as Jesus led captivity captive and led the saints out of sheol and into the gates of Heaven.  It is in fact, Jesus Christ’s resurrection that makes the gospel effective and if anyone does not believe in His resurrection, they cannot be saved.  ” And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” 1 Corinthians 5:17.  Jesus’ resurrection is the guarantee  for all others who believe.

In both Matthew chapter 4 and Luke chapter 4, satan tempts Jesus.  The devil goes so far as to quote Psalms 91:11-12 back to Jesus.  Satan will misquote and misapply the scripture to keep one in bondage.  He will never lead us to the next verse, Psalms 91:13 where it states he (satan) will trample under our feet.  The enemy knows if he can keep us busy trying to “figure out” God, we will never “know” God.  Rationalization of the scripture never produces revelation.  Faith in the Gospel of Jesus is when the mystery of God is revealed.

The fruit of rationalization is frustration.  As the enemy has us chasing down scripture to  misapply in our situation as he did with Jesus, we become overwhelmed with fear and dread; we have no peace.  We become frustrated as we hear about grace but don’t feel grace.  The condition of our heart doesn’t change because of the direction we are headed.  It in fact gets worse as we are being led further and further away from the grace of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ.  This is why it is so important to know the entire Word of God.  The entirety of the Old Testament points forward to Jesus.  The New Testament, from Matthew 1:1 to Revelations 22:21 is the covenant we are under.  This is the covenant Jesus made for us to lead a victorious life.  We certainly cannot dismiss the Old Testament in which Jesus was the fulfillment of and answer to.  The Old Testament shows us the Law in which we would have been under if not for Jesus.  However, while reading the Old Testament we must remember the New Testament and the promises of God we now have because of Jesus.  It is precisely these promises the enemy  wants us to forget.

Our heart is the evidence and pride our shield of misdirected faith due to deceit .  This misdirected faith can result in great humility and grace when redirected back to the Cross of Jesus.  The Cross of Jesus is the only place where peace is found and love abides.  Just as Jesus discerned the scripture satan misapplied to Him, we should also discern the application of scripture and from whom it was sent.  Is it revelation knowledge or rationalization knowledge?

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” 1 Corinthians 2:13.

-Donna Warren