Pleasing Secrets

The apostle Paul said that there is a “day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ” (Rom. 2:16). This can easily cause many of us to tremble. But William Jay notes that there are three kinds of secrets that will be revealed. One is the “dreadful secrets” where hypocrites will be exposed and the other is the “divine secrets” in which, Jay argues, God will reveal some of the reasons for what He did in this world. But Jay also says that there will be “pleasing secrets” on that glorious day. He gives a marvelous description of what that might look like.

“Then, they who are now deemed the enemies of the Cross of Christ, will be found to have been its friends. Then, they who are now considered as indifferent to holiness and good works, will appear to have mourned for sin, and prayed for purity. Then, the tear dropped upon the Bible in the closet; the private act of charity; the frequent intercession for others; will be displayed and commended — He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsel of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” (Morning Exercises, Nov. 6)

Remember, in one of our Lord’s parables, we are told that the righteous will wonder when they did such and such (cf. Mt. 25:37ff.). They remained ignorant of their righteous acts. How odd is that? Well, our wise and kind Lord always took notice of all that we did.

Fear not dear brothers and sisters, our Lord well knows all your labors, all your struggles, all your tears, and efforts. True, we see more sins in all our deeds than anything else but our gracious Lord kindly regards them because He has paid the penalty for all our sins, peccadillos, offenses, and tainted righteous deeds. For His sake, we shall be well regarded. What a kind Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Mt. 25:21) The Day will be a pleasing day and no doubt there shall also be manifest “pleasing secrets.”