Treasuring Revelation

5/18/03

 

We are living in a period of time which men of old dreamed of!

It is so easy to take for granted the revelation we have been privileged to have.

Rom. 16:25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, ²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Col. 2:2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

1 Pet. 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹ trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

1 Tim. 3:16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

God delights in concealing things and he also delights in revealing them.

Pr. 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

(New Living Translation) It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.

Mat. 11:20 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

It is so special to see how God does things! He is nothing like man. He gives us just enough information to trust Him. He doesn’t have to prove anything, though He has.

A few weeks ago a young lady in our church who is going to college asked me a question about something her professor wanted her to do. Her professor wanted her to prove the existence of God without using the Bible.

Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

If God did not create the universe and everything in the universe, then it happened by chance. Chance is made up from the odds (probability). It is impossible for odds to remain consistent, yet creation is tremendously consistent!

For instance: the earth rotates once every 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.09 seconds. The earth revolves around the sun once every 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 9.54 seconds.

The more that man discovers, the more accountable he becomes! DNA is an absolute God thing!

The mystery of prophetic revelation.

Read Jer. 31:10-17 (approx. 600 years before birth) then read Mat. 2:16-18.

Hos. 1:1 (approx. 785 years before birth) “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

2 But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.

3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.

Mat. 2:13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Revelation is a gift.

Jo. 7:45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶ “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.

⁴⁷ “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸ “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”

⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

Mat. 2:19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³ and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

The phrase “He will be called a Nazarene” is not in the Bible. Matthew could have been referring to Is. 11:1...

Is. 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Hebrew word for “Branch” is very similar to word for “Nazarene.”

Or, it could be a collection of prophecies which bring out that the Messiah would be rejected which would also fit being called a “Nazarene.” The point is, revelation came to Matthew, the tax collector, and those who were so educated in their religion missed it!

Again we read: Pr. 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Lk. 24:13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him.

¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Can you just imagine what insight Jesus gave!

Before God created anything, Jesus Christ was already crucified in the mind of God!

Rev. 13:5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. ⁶ He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. ⁷ He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. ⁸ All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

Jesus Christ is at the core of human existence! Jesus is at the center of all creation!

Jo. 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

There is a scarlet thread that weaves itself through every book of the Bible. And that scarlet thread is the blood of Jesus Christ!

Gen. 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Gen. 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Do you deeply appreciate the revelation God has given you?

It is a sin to take lightly what God has done for us.

Is. 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Revelation comes to those who seek the Lord Jesus from their heart, not because someone is intelligent.