For Us & For Our Salvation

The world is full of mysteries. People are drawn to stories about the unexplainable, and the strange.
There is the story of the Roanoke Colony in VA – the first colony established with settlers from England. The whole colony vanished. To this day no one knows what happened.

There is the mystery of the "ghost ship" Mary Celeste, an American merchant ship found mysteriously deserted at sea in 1872. The ship was perfectly fine but there was no sign of the crew, nor captain.
Whole passenger flights have vanished in the Bermuda triangle.
And we still don’t know what became of Amelia Earhart...

About these mysteries, well...every so often someone comes along who says they have the answer. They have solved the mystery. But, we know they haven’t. What they’ve done is provide an explanation.
Because a mystery is more than something you can simply explain. It’s something meant to be explored. What makes a mystery a mystery is that it draws you in, like a good story. Maybe even like a Creed.

It seems odd, but the Nicene Creed - this statement of faith with precise theological language - actually houses some of the deepest mysteries at the heart of the Christian faith.
Like how the Word that spoke creation into being, becomes itself a part of the creation (Hebrews 1:1); or how the radiance of the glory of God winds up as a sacrifice for the ugly stain of human sin (Hebrews 1:3)
Or how THE faithful priest - who resisted every temptation in perfect holiness - is merciful toward spiritual dropouts and failures like us. (Heb. 2: 17). But perhaps the greatest mystery of all is why The Son of God is born, crucified, died, buried and raised again.

The creed doesn’t leave us guessing as to the reason why - it’s because Jesus doesn’t come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. He takes on flesh & blood, because we have flesh & blood. It’s for us. And for our salvation.
And that might be the greatest mystery of all.

Matthew Burns
Senior Pastor, Pleasant Street Christian Reformed Church