“No one has ever seen, no one has ever heard, no one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But God has shown us these things through the Spirit.

Our verses for today say that God has prepared something for those who love Him. What has God prepared for us? In 1 Corinthians 2:7, Paul refers to it as “God’s secret wisdom.” He says the secret wisdom “has been hidden from everyone until now.” Indeed, God has been keeping the secret since “before the world began.” Whatever else the secret wisdom may be, Paul says it is a plan “for our glory.” That is, it is a plan for making us glorious.

What is the substance of God’s secret wisdom? Most certainly, it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and everything it contains and implies. But it is much more than the simple gospel considered in the abstract. God’s secret wisdom is everything God has planned for those who love Him and the Gospel message. It is everything God has planned for us to redeem us, restore us, and make us glorious.

Many have thought our verses refer exclusively to the future state of the life to come. God’s secret wisdom surely includes plans for the future, but it also includes plans for this life. It is God’s eternal plan for those He has saved. It includes all of God’s blessings that He plans to confer on true believers in this life and the next.

The fact that God has shown us these things through the Spirit does not mean that we know the fullness of everything God has planned for us now and in the future. Rather, it means that we know the Gospel and how we are saved. We are also able to spiritually discern the working out of salvation in our lives as time goes by. Those who have the Holy Spirit, in other words, can recognize God’s plan for salvation and sanctification. Praise God for choosing you to receive this wonderful knowledge.

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International