THE GIVING OF THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
MF Blume
August 28, 2016
Luke 24:30-35 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them,
he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their
eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their
sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us,
while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the
scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem,
and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they
told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in
breaking of bread.
Jesus had already resurrected.
• But things were in confusion with those who had believed in him.
• The disciples were accompanied by Jesus while His identity was not made known to them.
• Jesus’ identity was hidden from them.
• He asked them about what they were talking
about, and they noted to him that Jesus was a prophet but was condemned
to death by the chief priests.
• They trusted that Jesus would redeem Israel,
but it had been three days since he was condemned to death and nothing
had changed.
• But certain women had been to the grave and didn't find his body.
And then Jesus began to speak to them about the prophets words that Christ should suffer and enter into glory afterwards.
Jesus acted as though He would continue to walk as the two disciples arrived at their home.
• So they invited him in and he went in with them for bread and rest.
• And this is when it happened!
Luke 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
(1) He took bread,
(2) and then blessed it
(3) and then break it
(4) and finally he gave it to them.
Jesus always did this with bread every time he was to give it to others.
Matthew 14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass,
and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven,
he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the
disciples to the multitude.
The last supper.
Matthew 26:26-27 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed
it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat;
this is my body. (27) And he took the cup, and gave thanks,
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
THIS IS WHY THEY RECOGNIZED HIM WHEN HE DID THIS after His resurrection!
Luke 24:35… was known of them in breaking of bread
So the confusion about Christ after his death was clarified when Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and then gave it.
Luke 24:16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
Like they were SEALED.
Jesus OPENED their eyes by breaking the bread.
The book of Revelation at the end of our Bibles is described in the
very first verse of the book. The very first five words of this book
read, "the revelation of Jesus Christ."
• Jesus is REVEALED.
• The first verse also tells us that this revelation was signified to John.
• In other words, it was given in symbolic fashion to John in his visions.
JESUS TOOK THE SEALED BOOK
Revelation 5:7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
This same pattern is in the book of Revelation.
• Revelation 5: 1 tells us that in the right
hand of God on the throne was a book sealed with seven seals.
• We read that an invitation is given for some
worthy individual to come and open the book and to loose the seals
thereof.
• But no man in heaven or in earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
• John weeps because of that, but then Jesus
appears in the symbolic form of a Lamb having been slain.
• He is seen with seven eyes and seven horns.
• This is significant, because the book was sealed with seven seals.
PERFECTLY SEALED.
But He has PERFECT EYES to SEE ANYTHING!
Only one with seven eyes and open seven seals
JESUS BLESSED
Revelation 5:12-13 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is
in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
After Jesus took bread, he blessed it.
• From Revelation 5:8 through to verse 14 we read of blessings being spoken and being sung.
• The retrieval of that book was such a monumental event that praise and worship went forth.
• It indeed was a blessed book!
• In fact, verse 12 speaks of how the Lamb is
worthy who was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and
strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
• Verse 13 has every creature in heaven and
earth and under the earth and in the sea, saying, Blessing, and honor,
and glory, and power, the unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb. Again, blessing is noted.
Blessing is mentioned LAST and then mentioned FIRST.
So the Lord took the book, and blessed it.
JESUS BROKE THE SEALS ON THE BOOK
Revelation 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals,
and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts
saying, Come and see.
Then we come to chapter 6.
• In chapter 6 he breaks open the book, by breaking the seals.
• This was the third thing Jesus did with bread also.
• And after it was broken, we come to Revelation chapter 10.
• In this chapter we read of a mighty Angel
coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, with a rainbow upon his
head, and his feet as pillars of fire and his face as the sun.
Revelation 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was
as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
This is JESUS.
• ANGEL means MESSENGER.
• He is NOT an angel like Michael and Gabriel.
• He is MESSENGER or prophet like Moses.
• Moses called him a prophet but we know he is greater than all prophets.
• No ANGEL sits at the right hand of God like JESUS DOES.
Rainbow around head.
Face like sun.
Feet are pillars like fire.
Revelation 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if
they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars:
and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance
was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Revelation 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a
jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the
throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
Matthew 17:1-2 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter,
James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain
apart, (2) And was transfigured before them: and his face
did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
He is MESSENGER in the sense of MEDIATOR of the new covenant between GOD AND MEN, the MAN CHRIST JESUS.
JESUS GAVE THE OPENED BOOK AND REVEALED HIMSELF
Revelation 10:1-2 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was
as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire And he had in
his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea,
and his left foot on the earth,
So the SEALS are broken and the book is OPENED by Jesus.
And after He took it, blessed it, and broke it,….
Revelation 10:9-10 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him,
Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up;
and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet
as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate
it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had
eaten it, my belly was bitter.
HE GAVE IT!
The opened book in his hand is the book that was sealed and was unsealed in Rev chapters 6 and the first verse of chapter 8.
And whenever Jesus TOOK, BLESSED, BROKE and GAVE IT, it was something to EAT.
After John took the book out of the Angel's hand, he ate it.
• And then verse 11 tells us that John was
commanded to prophesy to many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and
kings.
Back in Luke 24, we not only read of Jesus taking, blessing, breaking
and giving the bread to disciples, but he then appeared later in
Jerusalem to the 11 disciples.
• But once again, things were unclear.
• They were terrified when He appeared and supposed they had seen a spirit when they saw Jesus.
• So he then spoke to them and showed them his hands and his feet.
• But they still did not believe.
• They wondered, and so he asked them for food.
• He then ate a broiled fish and honey comb.
• And then he opened their understanding.
• He explained the Scriptures to them.
• And he told them that repentance and remission of sins should be preached to all nations.
• He made himself known, by breaking open the
bread of the word, he gave them the message of salvation to
preach.
• This was the only message that he told the disciples to preach to all the world.
• And in the book of Revelation, John took the
book from Jesus, ate it, and is told to prophesy to all nations.
The New Testament is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I believe with everything in me that the book of Revelation is simply a
symbolic portrayal of the New Covenant coming into our world, and
closing the old covenant.
• It's a revelation of Jesus Christ.
• He is what the New Covenant is all about.
• To understand the New Testament, is to understand Jesus Christ.
Revelation chapter 6 speaks of the breaking of six seals that were on the book.
• Jesus took the book, blessed it, broke the seals off it, and then gave it.
• Notice that during the breaking of the seals many tragic things occur.
• Hardships occur.
• The breaking is indeed comprised of hardships,
but breaking is necessary before the bread can be given.
• What we are reading about in Revelation 6, is the hardships of the breaking of the bread.
• The Bible speaks often about the mystery that
was withheld from the world until Jesus Christ came and redeemed
mankind.
• The bread represents the word of God.
• Jesus took the bread of life, the revelation
of Jesus Christ in the new covenant, and blessed it, broke open, and
then gave it.
Just as there was confusion after the resurrection of Jesus that wasn't
clarified until Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and then gave
it, the Jesus was not clearly known after His resurrection by so many.
• People saw him and walked with him and did not know him.
Mark 16:12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
• Mary saw him in the garden and thought he was the gardener.
He was not fully known after the resurrection.
In fact, many disciples continued to go to the temple and sacrifice in the early parts of the book of Acts.
• It wasn't until disciples, such as Paul,
received revelation that Jesus was the final sacrifice, that the church
members realized temple ritual was no longer necessary.
• In fact, many disciples continued to observe the Sabbath day.
• But as time went on, as Jesus had promised, the Spirit led the people into all truth.
While enduring this breaking., as we read in the book of Acts, the church suffered much of persecution.
• Just before the word or the bread is given to all to make Jesus known, the breaking must occur.
• Jerusalem and the Jews persecuted the church in city after city.
Matthew 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets,
and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify;
and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute
them from city to city:
Matthew 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city,
flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone
over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
God continues to give revelation to the members of the church today,
but the entire revelation of the gospel and the New Testament was given
in that interim time of the breaking.
Luke 23:27 - 30 describes the time when Jesus carried his cross up to the hill. Women bewailed and lamented him.
• But Jesus spoke to these daughters of
Jerusalem, and told them not to weep for him, but to weep for
themselves and for their children.
• And in verse 30 he said that they would begin
to say to the mountains, "Fall on us," and to the hills, "cover
us."
• This is exactly what Revelation's sixth seal said would occur when the wrath of the Lamb would come.
GOD'S PEOPLE EXPERIENCING BREAKING AND GIVING
Like breaking the bread, Jesus broke open the New Covenant.
• He broke the seals off it.
• The bread must be broken before it can be given and then eaten.
• The breaking is always the hard part.
Even Joseph from the book of Genesis had been taken by God, blessed, broken and then given.
• God took him and blessed him in visions and dreams.
• But then Joseph experienced brokenness.
• He was sold by his own brothers as a slave.
• After being taken into Egypt, he continued to experience brokenness
• His master's wife lied about him and he was thrown in prison.
• But it was after that that Joseph was "given".
• Before famine came to the then-known world,
Joseph interpreted the king's dream and gave the answer of how to
handle that famine.
• The brokenness in Egypt was necessary for him
to rise in Egypt and be used of God to bless the then-known world.
David was also taken by God and blessed as he slew the bear, the lion, and the giant.
• He ascended in popularity in Israel.
• He was blessed!
• But then came his time of brokenness.
• Saul became jealous with envy, and chased David like an animal for many years.
• But during that time of brokenness, men were
gathered to David to later become valiant warriors for Israel.
• During that time David learned many things, such as the need to touch not God's anointed.
• And then David was given by God to Israel as a man after his own heart.
• David did mighty works for the Kingdom of God.
Abraham was promised to have a son.
• In doubt, he took Sarah's handmaid and begat a child.
• The child's name was Ishmael.
• However, God told Abraham that Sarah herself would have a child.
• And so a miracle occurred and Isaac was born.
• God took Isaac and blessed him.
• But then the period of brokenness came upon the child in Abraham's home.
• Ishmael persecuted Isaac.
• Ishmael's mother despised Sarah.
• During this time of brokenness Isaac grew until he was weaned from his mother.
• In the Hebrew culture the weaning of the firstborn son called for a celebration.
Then he was given.
It's a pattern that Jesus always took bread, blessed it, broke it, and then gave it, revealing himself.
• And it would be no less for the overall and
general revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Covenant.