It is one of the most remarkable chapters in the Bible, yet it seldom gets attention. The chapter reveals a gift that goes by the title, “The Wisdom of God in a Mystery” (KJV).

The Wisdom of God in a Mystery is a blessing that was prepared and gift-wrapped in Heaven before time began. This gift was created before Earth was created—and your name was attached to it! Through the days of Noah, Abraham, David, and Elijah, there were few hints about the secret gift. It was not destined for patriarchs, prophets or kings, but for you and me as disciples of our crucified Lord.

The chapter we’re describing is 1 Corinthians 2. There is one verse in this chapter (verse 9) that’s well known—“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Here lies a clue about the secret gift. The gift is beyond our five senses. We cannot see it, hear it, taste it, smell it, or touch it. It is beyond normal human perception.

Now comes a truth that may be surprising. The gift that God has prepared for those who love him is not specifically the future glory of Heaven and the New Earth. Although the words of 1 Corinthians 2:9 may be helpfully applied to the future life, we find Paul making no such application in the context.

In the next verse, Paul says the inconceivable things that God has prepared are already ours—by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Imagine this! The secret blessing God prepared before creation is the pouring out of his Spirit in our own day, bringing you and me into incredible intimacy with our Creator.

Look at 1 Corinthians 2 for yourself. We might paraphrase and interpret this way. . . .

“Who knows your own mind? Only you, of course—in your own spirit. Who knows the mind of God? Only God, of course—in his own Spirit. Now here’s the amazing thing. God connects his strong Spirit to our weak spirits! He links his mind with our minds, and in this way gives us an advantage our ordinary senses could never discover—his own mysterious wisdom for our naturally foolish lives.

“By his Spirit we can know the deep things of God. By his Spirit we discern and express spiritual truths, making spiritual assessments that reflect God’s thinking rather than our own.

“The prophet Isaiah asks a fine rhetorical question—‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?’ Now we may answer! We as believers know the mind of the Lord, because he has given us his own Spirit. Yes, it’s a mystery, but we can describe the outcome in practical terms this way: We have the mind of Christ.”

Think about this. By nature, we tend to have the mind of the devil. But by the Holy Spirit, we may have the mind of Christ. This teaching is so overwhelming that we are tempted to question it. Our scepticism reveals human wisdom at work—what Paul calls “the wisdom of this age” and “the spirit of the world”. Our enemy is pleased when we react with suspicion to the Holy Spirit.

Now here’s joy. The mysterious gift brings our prayers to life! Paul says God’s Spirit groans in us as he interprets with us the mind and will of God. Romans 8:26, 27. This is the nature of prayer—not so much words we devise for God, but his Spirit and ours communing together in marvellous intimacy. The Bible calls this experience “praying in the Spirit”. Ephesians 6:18; Jude 1:20.

If God originally created in us a true “sixth sense”, perhaps this is it—the intuition of Heaven, spoken into us by God’s Spirit. Maybe this was how Adam and Eve, before their fall, enjoyed perfect communion with God. No doubt a token of the gift was granted to Enoch, long after the fall, as he walked with God. Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5.

Perhaps you recognise intimacy with God as an experience you long for. If so, ask for this gift today. Remember, it comes through the Holy Spirit, who is promised to you now. As certainly as you ask, you will receive.

This article first appeared in modified form in Mid-America Outlook, September 2006. Copyright © 2009 by Ed Gallagher (South Pacific edition). / Except where otherwise indicated, scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission.