WE’VE GOT IT ALL BACKWARDS – 1 CORINTHIANS 2:9
Just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Every single teaching I remember hearing on this passage of scripture deals with it from this standpoint: “Heaven will be so wonderful, and the things that God has prepared for us there will be so incredible, that we cannot even conceive of it here and now.”
Problem is, that has nothing at all to do with this scripture. We’ve got it all backwards!
1 Corinthians begins by presenting many comparisons, mostly between the mind renewed by Christ and the unrenewed mind, or by comparing life under the old covenant with life under the new covenant.
1:18 begins with “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” A contrast about the value of the cross between believers and unbelievers.
This topic continues through verse 25 which states “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and weakness of God is stronger than men.” Another contrast between God and man.
Next, a contrast on whom God calls: “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are.”
In 2:4 he states that “my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” Yet another contrast between the way of the Spirit (power) and the way of man (persuasive words).
Finally Paul begins to uncover the mystery of Christ, which he calls “the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (vv. 7-8).
All along, the author of the text is presenting stark contrasts between life with Christ and life without Christ. That’s the main theme of the text up to this point.
Then the verse we’re actually talking about:
“But just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.’” (V. 9)
There are two primary problems with the way most Christians interpret these verses.
First, they have nothing to do with heaven or the hereafter. True, heaven will be amazing. True, we will see things there that have not even entered into our hearts or minds! It’s going to be awesome, and I am not denying that!
But that’s not what these verses are saying. Let’s look at the whole context. It’s worth quoting at length, because then we will see that these verses have nothing at all to do with the wonderful life in the hereafter, but about the New Covenant we can partake of here and now when we have God’s Spirit living within us:
2 Corinthians 2:6-16:
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
What is this wisdom? It’s the whole plan of salvation of humankind through the death and resurrection of Jesus. That’s why Paul states that “if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” If they had understood what? That Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah, sent to pay for the sins of the whole world, the spotless lamb, the ultimate sacrifice.
Ephesians 1:9-10 says
9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
All things coming under Christ. In other words, Jesus was the Messiah, sent to save the entire world.
Further, Ephesians 3:4-7 says
4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
So the mystery is clear: the mystery is, simply, the gospel of Jesus. Salvation from sin. The Gentiles are included. Everyone is included. The gospel is for everybody. That’s the mystery. And it never entered into the hearts of the Apostles (or anyone else for that matter) what the true depth and glory of this mystery was, until after Jesus had ascended into heaven and they began experiencing this for themselves, beginning at Pentecost.
It was a wonderful thing, to be filled with the power of God, for the purpose of taking the gospel to the entire world! Therefore, the focal point of our study comes next:
9 but just as it is written,
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
This verse is directly in the context of the new covenant lifestyle that Jesus bought for us with His blood. The entire book of 2 Corinthians thus far has been leading up this very point, and has indeed already stated the point in many other ways using other words. So now, we get into an even deeper discussion of what exactly verse 9 really means:
10 For to us God revealed them [the things God prepared for us under the New Covenant, NOT the glories of heaven] through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
We have received the Spirit of God. This is the good news. This is the mystery now revealed to the universe. Under the old covenant, the Spirit would descend upon people, but then He would lift off of people. That’s why David prayed “Take not your Holy Spirit from me.”
This, friends, is a totally unproper prayer for us to pray! How can we ask God to not remove His Spirit when He has promised to never leave us or forsake us?
How can we ask Him to not remove His Spirit when He clearly tells us that He’s living inside us?
THESE, I submit, are the
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
God has prepared for us a life of victory. A life guided from within, moment by moment, by His Holy Spirit within us. A life in which we can truly have no fear of the events around us, no fear of disease, no fear of death, no fear of persecution. Victory. Healing. Prophecy. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, patience, strength to do “anything through Christ who strengthens us.”
Wow.
Yes, heaven will be awesome. But isn’t the actual meaning of these verse much more powerful and wonderful? If you have given your life to Jesus, then you’ll get to heaven. It’s in the bag. Stop worrying about that, and start living for today! Start living the amazing life that God designed for you while you’re still here on terra-firma. Start understanding these verses in their proper context and they will give you life and strength!