‘For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14).’
Personal Secrets
We all know what it is to have personal secrets. I’m pretty certain there’s no one who reaches an age beyond ten years that hasn’t had a personal secret; in fact, by a much younger age most of us must have had several. I am saying this because from when I was a nipper I’ve had loads of them. Later, when I was in the army I had to sign up to the *Official Secrets Act which allowed me to divulge my name, rank, number and the service I was in, but nothing else. Even to this day I can remember my army number, and that’s after being allocated it 64 years ago when I was conscripted into the Royal Artillery for National Service.
So why do we have secrets? Well, if they are personal there could be many reasons. Maybe we would be embarrassed to divulge them, or perhaps for selfish reasons we may want to keep certain knowledge to ourselves. It could be that we don’t want to ‘snitch’ on someone and we are concerned for their welfare. There could be all sorts of noble or ignoble reasons for keeping personal secrets.
Collective Secrets
Collective secrets are far harder to keep. The more people who know a secret the more chance there is that it will be divulged. Governments, military forces, intelligence agencies, businesses and criminal organisations all take extraordinary measures for keeping their secrets secret.
However, despite all these efforts to keep them secret they are now and again revealed. Not so very long ago, **Julian Assange worked with ***WikiLeaks which published confidential information that had been hacked from Hillary Clinton’s email account; likewise it published emails from Sarah Palin’s account.
Secrets Under God’s Spotlight of Judgment
‘“Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD (Jeremiah 23:24).’
The Bible tells us that God knows all our secrets. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed (Matthew 10:26). Now, that could be quite embarrassing, and even frightening for many, especially if they come to the realisation that they will have to face judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) from the God of all heaven and earth, and having been found short (Romans 3:23) they will be sentenced to everlasting hell.
With this knowledge we would be foolish to ignore the judgment to come. So is there a way out for those who are guilty of having secrets about things they have done that they should not have done? The Bible tells us we are all guilty; for all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23). If our secrets try to hide our sins, we are, as it were doubly guilty, but God is compassionate and forgiving to those who repent (Exodus 34:6, 7; Acts 17:30, 31).
He sent His Son Jesus to give us a way out (Galatians 4:4, 5; 1 John 4:9, 10) – a way whereby we can be found ‘not guilty’ – not guilty of transgressions before Him. Jesus took upon himself all the sins of the elect (Ephesians 1:7) and to suffer and to die in their place to pay for the punishment due to them. He lived a perfect life on their behalf, a life of obedience to His Father, without one sin having been committed by Him. How could he do it, since He was a man born of a woman like other men? He could accomplish it because He was born without sin (Hebrews 4:15); since He was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). He was unique. That did not mean He was not tempted (v 15) as other men, but more so. Hence He is sympathetic, and understanding. He is compassionate and loving. He forgives those who come to Him with their secret and open sins, confessing them before Him and asking for His forgiveness.
‘For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God (1 John 3:20, 21).’
Nothing gives Him more delight (Job 33:26) and pleasure than to receive unto Himself those who realise the error of their ways and who want to please Him (1 Thessalonians 4:1) and ascribe to Him the glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). They have no more secrets before Him, and they couldn’t be more happy.
*Official Secrets Act 1989 [Present Day – I signed up to the previous one.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Secrets_Act_1989
**Julian Assange Biography
https://www.biography.com/people/julian-assange-20688499
***WikiLeaks
The Biblical Way 