God's secret wisdom

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6–8)

Wisdom is supreme

The Bible speaks a lot about wisdom. The word is used fifty-one times in the Book of Proverbs alone, with six of the first nine chapters devoted to extolling its virtues.

It's also used twenty-seven times in the Book of Ecclesiastes. With only ten chapters in the book, that's an average of almost three times per chapter.

Proverbs 4:7 says:

Wisdom is supreme, therefore get wisdom.

Wisdom is supreme: the Hebrew word means 'the head; the first as to place, time, order or rank'. Wisdom is the first and most important thing that man should have, but what is it?

Wisdom can be defined as the ability to make a decision, or to pursue a course of action, that will benefit oneself or someone else.

In 2 Samuel 20 a wise woman advised a course of action that saved her city from destruction: her wisdom benefited many. Similarly, if we have wisdom it will benefit us (Proverbs 4:6–9).

The Bible speaks of three types of wisdom.

Man's wisdom

As you would expect, the Bible has a low opinion of man's wisdom. It says that man's wisdom is foolishness in God's sight (1 Corinthians 3:19), and that God's foolishness is wiser than man's wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:25). Can God be foolish? Only in the eyes of man.

1 Corinthians 1:18 says that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. God's Son, hanging on a tree, is foolishness to those who can't understand it. They can't understand it because they haven't the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

What natural man regards as foolish—the truth that can make him wise for salvation (2 Timothy 3:15)—is far wiser than any wisdom of his own. So, if anyone thinks he is wise, he should become a fool so he can become wise (1 Corinthians 3:18).

Have you become a fool for Christ (1 Corinthians 4:10)? Have you believed the foolishness of the gospel—that Jesus died on the cross for your sins?

I have, and I hope that you have. If you have, then you've become truly wise—wise in the sight of God, but not wise in the sight of men.

Divine wisdom

This is the wisdom that Solomon asked for. God appeared to Solomon in a dream and told him to ask for whatever he wanted.

Solomon asked for wisdom so he could govern his people wisely (1 Kings 3:4–9). God gave him what he asked for and made him wiser than anyone who had ever lived (1 Kings 3:10–12). Only Jesus was wiser than Solomon (Luke 11:31).

This divine wisdom is what James tells us to ask for (James 1:5–8). It's the ability from God to be able to make wise decisions in life. God gives such wisdom to those who ask him.

Wisdom is so important to us that a message of wisdom is one of the nine spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:8). It's an inspired utterance, through a believer, that reveals God's wisdom to an individual or church. Acts 13:1–3 gives an example of the gift in operation.

Secret wisdom

This is by far the most important type of wisdom in the Bible and is the theme of our study. We touched on it when we looked at man's wisdom.

If I asked you what the first thing was that God brought into existence, what would you say? If you said it was the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1) you'd be wrong. The first thing that God brought forth was wisdom.

The Lord brought me [wisdom] forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.

When there were no oceans, I [wisdom] was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I [wisdom] was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. (Proverbs 8:22–26)

But why should wisdom be the first of God's works? Because the wisdom that Paul was writing about in our opening text was the gospel: the good news that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world (1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5).

That decision—that Jesus should die for man's sins; a wise decision that has benefited many—was made by God before time began.

Revelation 13:8 confirms this truth:

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

The decision that Jesus Christ would be slain for the sins of the world was made before the world was created (1 Peter 1:18–20). Think about that. It puts the whole of creation into perspective and shows how important God dying on the cross for our sins was. It was the first decision he made.

The gospel in Proverbs

The fact that the wisdom described in the early chapters of Proverbs is God's secret wisdom i.e. the gospel, can be understood from passages such as the following:

Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: 'How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?' (Proverbs 1:20–22a)

The Hebrew word translated 'simple' in the Book of Proverbs means 'to be naive, easily deceived or enticed'. It refers to those who have been led into sin by the deceiver (Genesis 3:13).

The above describes the public preaching of the gospel: 'How long will you sinners love your sinful ways?'

Blessed is the man who listens to me [wisdom], watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favour from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death. (Proverbs 8:34–36)

Whoever finds me (God's secret wisdom i.e. the gospel) finds life (eternal life), and receives favour from the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says that the day of salvation is the time of God's favour.

But all who fail to find God's secret wisdom (the gospel) will suffer harm (eternal punishment), and all who hate the gospel love death (the second death, Revelation 20:14–15).

The tree of life

She [wisdom] is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. (Proverbs 3:18)

Wisdom (the gospel) is a tree of life. The tree of life imparts eternal life to all who eat from it (Genesis 3:22). The gospel imparts eternal life to all who believe it (John 3:14–15). Can you think of a better blessing than that?

When God planted a garden in Eden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden (Genesis 2:8–9).

He did that because they were the most important of the trees. One symbolized sin—that which was forbidden and brings death. The other symbolized the cross—that which brings forgiveness and life.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus died on a cross? It's his blood that cleanses us from sin. For him to have been slain in any way would have been sufficient for our salvation, but they nailed him to a tree.

For Adam and Eve to have received eternal life after they had sinned, they would have had to have eaten from the tree of life or, more precisely, from what was hanging on that tree (Genesis 3:22).

God was showing, through this, that one day sinful man would receive eternal life from what was hanging on a tree—even from his Son, Jesus Christ.

Many people watched Jesus die that day, including his disciples. I'm sure none of them realized they were looking at the real tree of life, of which the one in the Garden of Eden had been but a type and a shadow.

Have you eaten from the tree of life? Jesus said that whoever feeds on him will live for ever (John 6:57–58).

If you haven't received Jesus Christ as your Saviour and your Lord, then do so now. He is the way and the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through him (John 14:6).

Rulers of this age

Why is the gospel described as God's secret wisdom? Because, as our opening text tells us, the understanding of it was kept hidden from the rulers of this age. If they'd understood it, they would not have crucified Jesus.

Who were the rulers? The traditional view is that they were the human rulers of the day—the chief priests, Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas—those who conspired to put Jesus to death (Acts 4:27).

If they had known he was the Son of God (the argument goes) they would not have crucified him. That may be true, but I don't think that is what is meant.

Satan is described as the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4) and his demons (not people) are the true rulers of this age.

They are the authorities, the powers, the spiritual forces of evil in this dark world (Ephesians 6:12)—a world that has rebelled against God and is following Satan (Ephesians 2:1–2). These spiritual forces influence and control the behaviour of individuals and nations.

Who entered into Judas Iscariot after the last supper? It was Satan (John 13:27). Judas, under Satan's influence, then went out and betrayed Jesus, which led to his death.

Who stirred up the crowd to demand that Jesus be crucified (Matthew 27:22–23)? Again it was Satan.

Jesus knew beforehand that some of the Jews wanted to kill him (John 8:37). He told them that their father was the devil and that they wanted to carry out their father's desire, for he was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). And they did carry out his desire.

Satan was the instigator of Christ's death. Did he have a motive for killing Jesus? Yes he did. Jesus was plundering his kingdom: he was driving out demons and releasing people from his power. However, if Satan had known what would happen, spiritually, at the cross, he would not have plotted to kill him.

Redemption

We tend to think of the cross only in terms of it providing forgiveness for sins, but more than that was achieved when Jesus died.

And they sang a new song:

'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.' (Revelation 5:9)

Redemption is an important subject in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament it referred to the buying back, usually by a sum of money, of what once belonged to someone—either a piece of land or something they'd dedicated to God.

God created man to have fellowship with him; man originally belonged to God. But Satan, by deception, stole him away from God.

The moment Adam obeyed Satan he became subject to Satan's dominion (Colossians 1:13–14). The Greek word used means 'authority, power, the right to govern or control'.

When Jesus shed his blood on the cross, he bought man back for God. A price had to be paid for man's redemption, and Jesus paid it.

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18–19)

In the New Testament, the Greek words translated 'redemption' refer to the releasing of someone—either a prisoner or slave—by the paying of a ransom.

Have Christians ever been prisoners or slaves? Yes, we have! The Bible says that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19b), and that those in the world are prisoners of sin (Galatians 3:22a) and slaves to sin (John 8:34).

Jesus, by his blood, has paid the ransom to set us free so we can become slaves to God and to righteousness, the result of which is eternal life (Romans 6:18,22).

All that took place on the cross. If Satan had known what would happen when Jesus shed his blood, he would not have plotted his death—but the understanding of it was hidden from him.

God's purposes

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…. (Ephesians 1:11)

I find it fascinating how God used Satan to help bring about his plan of salvation. Satan is a powerful being, but God is all-powerful.

Acts 4:27 tells us that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Jews and the Gentiles met together to conspire against Jesus.

We know that Satan was behind the conspiracy, but the next verse says: 'They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen (v28).' Everything that took place had been planned in advance by God.

Satan rebelled against God and led man into rebellion—for sin is rebellion. Sin usually comes as the result of temptation. If Satan had not tempted man, would man ever have sinned? Probably not.

Man was created pure and innocent; he had no awareness of good or evil. It was Satan who put the thought of disobedience into his mind.

If man had not sinned, there would have been no need for our Lord to die, but then our Lord's death was planned before the foundation of the earth, so it had to happen.

That doesn't mean that God is the author of evil: he isn't. However, because he is sovereign, he can use the evil actions of others to fulfil his purposes.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. (Romans 11:33–36)

Our finite minds may not be able to grasp everything God has done, or is doing, or will do in the future—by his wisdom—but we know that he will fulfil his purposes on earth, because he is God. Let's give him thanks today for his wonderful salvation! Amen.

Michael Graham
April 2009
Revised March 2011

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