Let us first examine some verses from Holy Bible and on the basis of that we will learn in detail about this subject.

'And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 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.' [St. Matthew 13:10-11] These words were told to apostles who were the stewards of Christ, set apart from others.

I feel Syriac is a language, which is probably more intense in expressions. It is more similar to Greek also. If we translate the verse in Syriac it means 'the mysteries are given to you.' English [RSV] translation also is very near to this in meaning. However, Malayalam translation does not come up to the mark in actual meaning.

'And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all [these] things are done in parables:' [St. Mark 4:11] Here also as noted earlier, an emphatic expression is used to mean, 'it is given to you'.

'And his disciples asked him, saying, what might this parable be? And he said, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.' [St. Luke 8:9-10] Here also same commend as above is applicable.

'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, 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:' [Rom 16:24-26]

'And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.' [1 Timothy 3:16]

'Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.' [1 Corinth 4:1]

'Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself: ' [Ephesians 1:9]

'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: ' [Ephesians 3:9]

'And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.' [Revelation 10:6-7]

'Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:' [Colossians 1:26-27]

When we learn about the above-cited verses, we come across the word 'Mystery' every so often and repeatedly. While we try to analyze very intensive and abstruse matters, many mystical ideas go beyond human brain and imaginations. Normally it is difficult task to communicate and to explain such esoteric and enigmatic conceptions to others. Such connotations are referred in the Bible as mysteries.

In its root language of the Bible, Greek, the relevant word used synonymous to mystery is ‘musterion’ and this is the word used everywhere in Greek Bible. In Sub-Apostolic age of the early 3rd century, Syrian theologians translated the Greek word musterion as ‘Roso’ in Syriac. With this idea only the lyrics were composed of the prayer song sung during Monte Thursday while giving Holy Communion: ‘'Roso Li, Roso Li, Emar Moran'. Here the word mystery is metaphorical to the Holy Eucharist. [1 Corinth. 11:21]

How the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist get transfigured as the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ? It is only a mystery and it is beyond the knowledge and imagination of human brain. But it is an ardent faith and treasured experience of a believer. Similar mystical faith experience which is implausible to human mind is referred by this magic word. In the Holy Bible, we can see many enigmatic truths like this. One saint had explained it as, 'Spiritual truths are not against reason but they are beyond reason.'

Among the pre-Christian ancient Greeks, the word ‘musterion’ was used for identifying a mysterious group of people with a special spiritual order and with consecrated, restraint and unsullied life pattern. Only those who really agreed for an oath of loyalty with a pledge of acceptance for this special life pattern were enrolled to this mysterious group. The newly joined were tutored, trained and groomed for special pattern of life of the society. They believed that these mystic features were perceivable to minute viewers though they are not detectable by the external eyes. This community was well matured, disciplined and they were well respected by the external secular society.

Some intellectuals contemplate that the word Musterion had emerged from another word "Mustes" which means analyzing things more with self experience than by human knowledge. This can be insinuated as believe, experience, enjoy, taste etc. There are many things in this world like this which cannot be analyzed by our brain but we can taste or experience same. Scripture teach us 'Taste and see that the Lord is good.' This is also a realization of spiritual experience.

Human individual is constituted of immaterial soul together with material body. However, somebody ask where the soul is situated, we do not have a definite answer for the same. We only know that soul is innate in us. Though the soul is invisible to human eye, we experience its existence, involvement and gestures and it is our life experience or consciousness. Our Lord had demonstrated it by the saying, ‘The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ [St. John 3:8] We only feel a sense of wind and the spiritual dealing in human are similar. In this deficient world as we cannot analyze and prove everything, it is not wise to base our faith strictly on analytical evidences.

The reflections of body and soul are distinct. Thoughts of body are mortal and that of soul are heavenly. So the mortal body cannot comprehend the spiritual mysteries. God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. As the life of the man/woman on earth is the breath of God, he/she is heavenly. As he/she is living on this earth, he/she is worldly. So human is both earthly and celestial at the same time. Eventually he extends for the heavenly abode also. Is this not a mystery?

Adam did not even know what had happened. The author of Genesis elucidated same by the phrase, ‘Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam’. These all are beyond human range. The revelation of the account of the God’s creation itself is also a great mystery for the man as the creation is wholly a Godly event. Normally something is created out of something else. But God created everything out of nothing. O wise men, can you expose how this is possible and what clarification you can provide for these Godly actions?

We, Christians, believe in Triune God. Can human brain conceive or prove by laboratory hypothesis about this Godly attribute? But believers are convinced of this truth and they do not seek for any attestation.

Birth of Jesus Christ was from a virgin. It was as per the proclamation of the prophets and every Christian believer undeniably accepts this truth as the innate tenet of their faith life. Do anybody can give an explanation for this? Let me ask a simple question: Can you decipher how the water changed as wine during the marriage at Cana?

Do any one is able to explicate the miracles Jesus had done during His life on this earth? If anybody can give an account of any of those miracles in terms of human logics, it un-becomes a miracle. Miracles are not magic and they are not analyzable. Dead ones were raised to life. What logic we can correlate to this? Lazarus was raised from the dead. son of the widow of Nain was raised from the dead? Daughter of Jairus was raised from the dead. Were not these truths?

Rebirth is being taken place of water and the Spirit. [St. John 3:3-5] The Spirit of God descended by anointment with oil. [1 Samuel 10:1,2,9; 16:13] Spirit of God came upon Saul. Spirit of God came upon David. Were it not? During His Last Supper, Jesus took the bread, and after blessing He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said; take it, this is My body and He took the cup and gave to them saying, drink from this, for this is My blood. That happened in the same way. [St. Luke 22:19-20] Jesus breathed on the disciples and gave authority to them to forgive their sins. Apostles informed Jesus that they could cast out demons and heal the sick by anointing with oil. [St. Mark 6:12-13] Lord attended the marriage and blessed them by turning the water to wine. [John 2:1-12] These all are holy mysteries in the Bible. Can any one give a logical explanation to any of these? God only can demonstrate the details of these events. As there is only one God, He is the only one who know and can explain all these mysteries.

Let us also trust in god like all other saints who live and lived and enjoy Lord and go forward in journey of our life. The following Bible verses can be used for further extensive study of the holy mysteries.

Romans 11:25; 1 Corinth. 2:6-8; 15:51-53; 13:2; 14:2, Ephesians 1:9; 3:2-5; 3:0; 5:32; 6:19,20; Colloss. 2:2; 4:3; 1 Timothy 3:9; Revelations 1:20; 17:5; 17:17

Holy Mystery of Salvation:

Holy bible is the description of the interaction between celestial God and earthly man. The interaction between the man with limits of time, space and God who is beyond the limits of space and time, itself is beyond the reach of human brain. As any other scientific hypothesis, these interactions also are governed by its own methodology, manifesto and well defined principles. Only difference is that one is materialistic and other is spiritual.

I intend to proceed further with this article illustrating the experiences of saintly people who were the pillars of the one, catholic and apostolic church. God desires us to be with Him always under His compassion to us. This desire of Lord is revealed in the high priestly prayer of Lord Jesus Christ.

'That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.' [St. John 17:21-23]

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.' [St. John 14:12]

The above-mentioned promises of Lord are very noteworthy. He is beaconing and inviting us to join with Him, to become in similitude with Him and to be in unity with him. We are urged to raise us to His arms and sanctify our life in His name in order to manifest his mysteries and wonders to the world. We are called and commissioned for the same. O my beloved readers, it is the high time to re-examine ourself to know and experience that how much God loves us and how much hope and expectations, He keeps on us. How many golden opportunities we had wasted in our life. We should not waste any more time or chances in our life. Further we should tune our eyes to see the glory of God and point our ears to hear the divine voice in order to forsake all sins, temptations and to become saintly along with other saints. Let us live along with them in the heaven. There is no other achievement in our life than this. Blessed are the one who achieve this.

Now, let us get strengthened with life experience of some of the people given below.

1. 'Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.' [Genesis 5:24] This Enoch walked with God for three hundred and sixty-five years and fathered Methuselah and many other sons and daughters. He led a family life as an ordinary man and lived an amazing life. God took him to be with Him forever. What a marvelous life! Can we dedicate ourselves to God so that to be always with Him. We need to own a heart to comply with it.

2. When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." ... "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain." [Exodus 3:4,10,12]

   This Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the sheep and came to Mount Horeb. Events happened there is described in the above scripture portion. Moses also was an ordinary family man. Like any of us, he was man well involved in earthly transactions. Moses, he himself quotes of his weakness that he is slow to speak and of slow tongue. God calls him. God walked with him. Pharaoh or even any forces in this world cannot challenge this shepherd boy or his caller Lord God. God saves Moses and the entire Israel while Pharaoh and chariots drowned in the Red Sea. Beloved readers, please heed to all these attentively!

   God appointed Moses as the redeemer or rescuer of Israel. Even though they had to undergo many hardships on their journey, God made the Red Sea a dry land and the waters were divided for the children of Israel to make their way to enter into the Promised Land. Manna was given to them from sky on their journey. Thick rocks were split and water came out of it in a manner human mind cannot even conceive. This is amazing; this is very amazing! Ho, Moses, you are marvelous! You walked with God. You heard voice of God un-enduringly! You yourself affirmed that you did not let yourself to depart from Lord and also that a prophet will be raised to save the people from their sins. It was the prophecy about the redemption of the mankind through our Lord Jesus Christ. How big is the profit and reward of one walking with God? It is amazing! Beloved readers, let us also choose this good path! Jesus calls you; Jesus calls me; Jesus calls us! Let us dedicate us also like Moses to see and enjoy the wonders of God, to work for the glory of God and to sanctify ourselves. Let our Lord extend His mercy to us for this cause.

   A great man had commanded us: 'Look for great things from God, act great things for God.'

3. 'Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. .... And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. [2 Kings 2:8-11]

   The wonderful works enacted by Elijah were numerous. When Elijah prayed on the mount Carmel, the fire from heaven came down. God arranged food and drinks for him when Elijah was desolated at the brook Cherith. In the house of the widow of Zarephath the bowl of flour was neither exhausted nor the jar of oil was empty till Lord sent rain on the face of earth. Very important point to be noticed in all these events is that Elijah was born and lived as an ordinary man like any of us and became Godly and walked with God.

   The biggest necessity of our contemporary world is that it needs saints. There are many rich, scholars, artists and genius in many other topics, however we really lack Godly people. Let this scarcity be replenished! Let us dedicate you and me, the humble servant of God for this cause.

4. All the events what we had seen above were experiences of saintly persons of Old Testament. Now let us look through the realities in the New Testament. But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!" And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.

   With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. [Acts 3:6-8] 'But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, does not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep.' [Acts 7:55,56,59,60]

   On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the Iron Gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. [Acts 7:6-10]

   Apostle Peter was ordinary among ordinaries. St Peter himself witness that while hearing the call from Jesus, he renounced everything and followed Jesus. Later he turned out as a wondrous man. Same way the first martyr Stephen also became elevated in the presence of God. At his death hours he had seen the heaven wide open and viewed Jesus waiting in the heaven to receive him. How much amazing are all these episodes. God make use people who are obedient and obligated to God. Behold, my brethren! Let is also become saintly in the presence of God!

Like these we can enumerate many more wondrous events in the life experience of many saints.

Beloved readers, it is illogical and unjustified to think that these type of experience would not happen in your and my life. God had created us in the image and similitude of God to be the dwelling place of God and to enlighten and share the Godliness to others.

Sunlight, when it falls on the clear glass, it glitters. If the glass is soiled with dirt and mud, it loose it's ability to gleam with light. The saints of God are the ones who diffuse the light to the world. So me, the weak servant of God, remind you to be the abode of God. Let all impurities and evil thoughts may be dispelled off from our mind! Let us become Godly and let the light of God emerge out from us. One saintly father had exhorted to his disciples, 'Those who see us, let them see God in us, those hear us, let them hear God from us, those who interact with us, let them interact with God.'

We have written the experience of few saints who embraced the redemption of Lord in order to demonstrate about the mysteries involved in those. Now we trust in Lord to elaborate about the sin and redemption through Jesus Christ. Me, the weak servant of God wishes that you all should learn this and practice in our day-to-day life and become the wondrous men and women of God.

Let us go into in depth of the subject, redemption, and try to conceive the divinity involved in it. Salvation is a very intensive subject in all the religions. All religions contemplate intensive human intellectual investigations based on human efforts. In Christianity, salvation is an offer given to mankind inspired out of the ardent love of the most loving God. Though it involves human efforts, it is not something, which can be attained only by the human efforts. Christianity believe that it is a blessing from God attained by the grace of God. Salvation is the free offer through the grace of God. The word salvation has got meaning like, redemption, savings from danger, absolution of debts, consolation, freedom from bondage etc.

The savings or redemption as per above verses can be referred as redemption or salvation. Judges 8:9, 1 Samuel 19:11; 1 Samuel 19:9; Job 20:20; Jeremiah 51:45 etc. also should be studied along with these.

In Hebrew language the words Yesha, Yeeshayah means redemption by God, security, redeemer, savior etc. Another word used in Hebrew is 'geaal', which mean save, free a slave by giving ransom etc. We read the proclamation of God in the Holy Scriptures to redeem Israel. 'Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.' [Isaiah 41:14]

'Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.' [Isaiah 43:14]

'Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.' [Isaiah 44:6]

'Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb. [Isaiah 44:24]

In Greek language the word used for salvation is 'Zozo'. This word mean save, give life etc. Another word used is 'soteria' which mean redemption, security etc. Biblical scholars believe that his word was used in literal works of that time.

In Syriac the synonymous word used was 'forookko' and 'mahiyona' which were also used in Greek and Hebrew. These words mean savior, redeemer, life-giver, and giver of renewed life sparing from death etc. However all these words creates a spiritual conscience of the salvation offered by our Lord. The Gospel writers had used these words to reveal the real experience of salvation through Christ. Children of Israel firmly believed that their God save them from devastations, hardships, wars and from all their opponents. So they called the Lord undoubtedly as 'Lord God, Our Savior'. When there were falls and failures to happen due to their distraction from the God, they were warned about it through the prophets. The prophets and foreseers very emphatically reprimanded them that the root causes of all their falls were by their retraction from the living God. These are not only applicable for the Israelites, but also it is the reality and experience of ours which happen very frequently in our life.

According to the Christian faith, salvation is not involved in spirit or body alone but it involves the salvation of the entire human aspects. It also involves the divine liberation of the nature and all universes. It involves a new world, new life, new establishment and a new enjoyment. The first parents were created in the same image and similitude of God and they were accommodated in the Garden of Eden and ornamented with the divine presence of God Himself.

God had given them His commandments to guide them to lead a well-disciplined life pattern. But the freedom given to them to live in accordance with the will of God was misused to live accordance with their self-motivation and self-glory. They were cast out of the paradise because of their disobedience to God. This was the fulfillment of the justice of the God. The reward of sin is death. Sinner should be punished. This is the justice of God. We all should understand that the responsibility is imbibed in the individuals. Life with divine instruction is the experience of heaven. Hell is the evasion of the instruction of God. If we need to see the heaven, we should look through the families and society where instruction of the God prevails and reverse for the hell. This is a great truth, which is specifically concerned to the church and organizations.

‘And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’ [Genesis 3:15] Here the promise about the seed of woman is noteworthy. It reveals that there will be a seed of a woman, which is not related to the seed of a man. It was the foresight about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ through a virgin. How much amazing is these facts. He is the one who bruise the head serpent. Is it not evident that it was our Lord Jesus Christ who defeats all darkness, evils and satanic nature which got injexted to the creation? It was a firm declaration that He will bruise the heel of the serpent.

This great divine salvation is originated through hardships and sufferings. It was the farsight of the passion, sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the redemption, which is given to the world through His death. That is why our early fathers named it as 'Proto evangelion'. While we perceive the justice of God in their punishment, at the same time we perceive the love and mercy of God in their salvation.

This reveals that God is just, compassionate and loving at the same time. Yes, God is really the amalgamation of justice, compassion and love! We see many verses in the Old Testament to corroborate this idea. 'Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.' [Isaiah 7:14]

'For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and The Prince of Peace.' [Isaiah 9:6] In the Book of Exodus, the Children of Israel were redeemed by Moses from the bondage of Pharaoh through the blood of the Passover Lamb and led them to the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey. This track of salvation and the proclamation of Moses that a prophet shall be raised like unto me, revealed the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Paul perceives our Lord in the Passover Lamb. 'For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us' [1 Corinth. 5:7] He was foreordained before the foundation of the world. These all confirm that Salvation through Jesus is not mere incidental.