The Mystery of God

In a world consumed by the Earth, the cry of Isaiah 2 echoes with sobering urgency. It speaks of a day when humanity trembles and seeks refuge among the rocks—finally recognizing its spiritual poverty. Yet within this profound fear lies an invitation: to love God.

Holy Scripture declares that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), and through Christ, we come to understand that wisdom. Across the ages, humanity has reached upward—prophets in deserts, scribes in temples, seekers all longing to see God's glory. Though our minds may be filled with intellect, they remain but candles before the blazing sun of God’s infinite glory.

Every faith, every heart that has ever yearned to see God face-to-face, whispers the same truth: we see only in part; therefore, we only know in part. The mystery of God is vast and unfathomable, yet it is within this very mystery that wisdom and understanding are born.

• Hiding in the Cleft: Knowing Thy God

• A Jealous God: The Fulfilled Promise

• The Light: Seeking God in Christ

• Remain in Christ: Where God Is

Hiding in the Cleft: Knowing Thy God

Isaiah’s words pierce through the world's temptations: “They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth” (Isaiah 2:19).

Just as Moses was hidden in the cleft of the rock to glimpse God’s passing glory (Exodus 33:22), and Jonah found peace within the depths of the great fish, so it is the same today as we retreat and tremble in the very places where wisdom and understanding begin. The cleft, the cave, the shadow—these are the sanctuaries where humanity comes to revere, to know, and to understand the God it fears. In the Jewish practice, this mystery lies at the heart of faith. The God of Abraham and Moses is both present and veiled. When Moses pleads, “Show me your glory,” he is told, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20).

Yet God is not absent—instead God is majestic. From the mystery of the Kabbalah to the sages of Hasidic thought, the mystery is seen as unfathomable yet near, sustaining every breath.

To hide in the cleft is not to flee from God but to know and understand the mystery. It is precisely this tension between wisdom and understanding, fear and mercy, and darkness and light where we encounter the Holy One. As we search deeper into the mystery, we find ourselves in the hidden realms—where darkness converges with light—eternally standing in the shadow of the almighty God.

A Jealous God: The Fulfilled Promise

Jacob’s vow in Genesis 28:20–21—“If God will be with me… then shall the Lord be my God”—marks the beginning of a relational covenant. This was a promise of love between Creator and creation. Yet, as history unfolded, the people of God often drifted from this devotion. Malachi 3:8–10 records God’s rebuke: “Will a man rob God?” Their failure to bring the whole tithes and offerings was not a call for material sustenance but a call to hearts that have grown distant.

“For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 4:24

God's jealousy is justified; it is the fierce yearning for the hearts of creation itself. Since everything comes from the foundations God has established, it all belongs to God. Thus, God's jealousy is the ache of love betrayed—the cry of the Holy One who longs for a people to remember the promise that draws them near.

Through Christ, that promise is not abolished but complete. Jesus, who once said, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23), also declared, “I am the way… no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). In him, the covenant is kept. He alone knows the Father fully and reveals God's glory to us, bridging the gap between spiritual longing and human intellect one heart at a time.

Yet even in the light of Christ, the mystery remains. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.” The saints—Teresa of Ávila, John of the Cross, and others—understood that spiritual union is not always spiritual communion. God is not always understood yet adored, not fully beheld yet loved. Nevertheless, TheGoodNewsCast.com reminds us that to know God is to love God, and in loving God, we enter the communion that deepens our understanding of God's wisdom. To return to God, then, is not simply to obey a command—it is to rekindle the covenant of love. The jealous fire of God is not wrath against us but a consuming flame rekindled within us, a flame that cannot be extinguished.

The Light: Seeking God in Christ

Jesus walked with God—a heart, mind, and spirit wholly devoted to his Heavenly Father. His life revealed not only God’s wisdom but also humanity’s struggle to comprehend it. In every word and deed, the light of Christ bridges heaven and earth, inviting everyone to walk together in this light.

The Book of Mormon echoes this invitation with profound simplicity:

“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness.” Moroni 10:32

This is the call to all—to enter the light of Christ, the refuge in the cleft, the place where we hide and God is revealed. To know God is to love God. To love God is to obey God. Obedience to God, in its purest form, is born out of love for the Heavenly Father, as Jesus taught, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Such love turns into a worship of what we know and understand.

This yearning to know and be known by the all-knowing is not confined to one faith. In Islam, too, the heart of God beats with passion before the nation. The Qur’an proclaims, “None encompasses Allah in knowledge” (6:103), for Allah is nearer than one’s own jugular vein, yet beyond all comprehension. The Sufis sought not knowledge but union. Al-Hallaj’s cry—“Ana al-Haqq” (“I am the Truth”)—was the echo of a soul consumed in God's presence. Rumi, the poet, sang of this majestic mystery:

“I died as a mineral and became a plant; I died as a plant and rose to animal; I died as an animal, and I was a man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?” Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

Such words point to the same timeless mystery: to draw near to God is to bury oneself on the Earth. The mind cannot grasp what the soul only knows. In the end, all faiths whisper the same truth: the closer we come to God, the less we understand with the mind—but the more we revere with the heart, for the light transcends human intellect, a place where only Jesus can go.

Remain in Christ: Where God Is

Isaiah’s vision was not only a foretelling of terror and dread but also a revelation of God's mercy—a call to return to the Holy One who humbles our understanding of ourselves and one another. It is a time not only to tremble but to rejoice, for even in Christ’s piercing words, “I never knew you,” we glimpse the longing of a God who desires to be known and understood. In our weakness, God is revered—yet that fear is the beginning of understanding the One whom God calls, my Son.

Jesus invites us into that union with a simple command that carries a promise:

“Abide in me, and I in you.” John 15:4

To remain in Christ is to remain in the light that dispels confusion and calms the heart. In him, we keep the promise we all have forgotten—to love thy God wholeheartedly. For in the Father’s house are many rooms, and Christ has gone before us to prepare a room for each and every one of us. As we draw near, remember the human mind knows in part, and perhaps that may be all we need to know until what is complete is revealed, understood, and worshiped. The mystery of God is not a hurdle to overcome but an invitation to love thy God wholeheartedly.

Across faiths, this mystery takes many forms. In Judaism, it sustains us; in Christianity, it transforms us; in Islam, it draws us into submission. Yet, each testifies that God is a mystery—adored and worshipped.

Perhaps this is the beauty of the mystery: a faith that remains in Christ remains in the light until the day we all meet God face-to-face.