On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, two disciples were on their way to Emmaus. As they were talking about all the things that had happened, Jesus drew near to talk to them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. Luke 24:16. As He continued walking and talking with them along the way, they explained to Him why they were so sad and heavy of heart. They had expected so much from the Lord; they believed that everything was going to be beautiful. In their opinion, His crucifixion had been a disaster.
On the resurrection morning when the Church age began, there were the same restrictions on revelation given to men as we are under today. Jesus does not walk into our midst visibly so that we can see His physical presence, for the Kingdom still does not come with observation. Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:16, …even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. How do we know the Lord? The same as they knew Him then. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. They could not recognize Him by His physical characteristics or mannerisms, but only on a plane of spirit. He had to be revealed to their spirits. Likewise, you will not know the Lord today by outward signs and evidences that will convince you, but by a revelation to your heart.
Even before His crucifixion, when Jesus asked, “Who am I?” the people expressed many different opinions. But when He asked the disciples, “Who do you believe I am?” Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, but My Father who is in heaven. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock” (not upon Peter, the “stone,” but upon the “rock” of revelation) “I will build My Church” (Matthew 16:15–18). The Father had revealed Jesus to be the Christ.
It is on the basis of this revelation knowledge that we stand—not on sense knowledge, not on what our eyes see. The Lord deliberately avoids coming to us on the sense plane. Our eyes will be “holden” so that we cannot see Him in the natural. But in our spirit we will perceive Him.
On that resurrection morning at the beginning of the Church age, Christ proceeded to reveal Himself in the same manner that He will be revealed to you. You will decide to walk with God because it is a revelation to your heart, not because someone talks you into it and makes it seem logical. It is not by sense reasoning, but by spirit revelation, that you come to the knowledge of the Lord.
And he said unto them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they were going: and he made as though he would go further. And they constrained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. And he went in to abide with them. And it came to pass, when he had sat down with them to meat, he took the bread and blessed; and breaking it he 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, Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up that very 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 rehearsed the things that happened in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:25–35.
Note carefully—he was known of them in the breaking of the bread. Ever since that time, it has been the purpose of God to reveal Himself in the breaking of the bread. When the bread is broken at the Holy Communion hour, the Lord will make known His presence to you. Down through the years, the Holy Communion has been a point of contention among theologians and denominations. The doctrine of transubstantiation in the Mass is followed by the Roman Catholic church. The concept of the presence of the Lord in the Communion is a strong Lutheran doctrine. Some denominations consider the Communion only as a symbolic remembrance of the Lord. There needs to be a true and clear picture of the Communion presented from the Word, so that people can understand it.
We know that through faith things are created by the Word of God, so that things which are seen are not made of things that do appear (Hebrews 11:3). Reality is created in the spirit realm, not in the natural realm. Therefore, when the Lord took the cup and the bread and blessed them, He said, “This is a new covenant in My blood; this is My body which is broken for you.” On the natural plane this seems absurd and absolutely impossible, and so men try to explain it by human reasoning. Some argue that when the wafer is placed on the tongue, it literally turns into flesh, into the body of Jesus Christ—a miracle every time the Mass is celebrated. The truth of the matter is that when the elders and the brothers bless the bread, they bless it to be to you the body of Jesus Christ. They bless the wine to be to you the blood of Jesus Christ. And it so ministers to you as you receive it by faith. The spiritual reality is imposed upon that physical substance so that you look at it and say, “This is the body and blood of the Lord,” and you partake of it.
If you cannot accept this truth, how can you accept any spiritual realities that the Lord creates? How can you understand that He looks at your flesh and says, “You are My child; you are My son; you are My people; you are redeemed.” As you look at yourself, is there any evidence of it? You must accept that what He says by the Spirit imposes the reality of that statement into the physical. Regardless of what your body seems to be, you must believe that it is the temple of the Holy Spirit because God said it is.
As Jesus hung on the cross, He looked down at His mother, suffering with the breaking of her own heart; and He looked at John whom He loved. He said, “Woman, behold thy son; son, behold thy mother” (John 19:26–27). Bonds created by family ties are very strong; yet Christ imposed a bond right there that was greater than any physical bond. John had a new mother, and Mary had a son to take care of her. It was done by a Word from God. Whatever He says becomes a reality. Concerning the Communion bread, the Lord said, “This is My body,” and it becomes His body as we bless it to be to us His body. He said of the wine, “This is My blood,” and it will be to us the blood of Jesus Christ as we believe. This is the realm where reality is found.
In the natural realm you find illusion. You never can find the true essence or substance of a thing, no matter how much you try. This has been the problem of philosophers down through the years. As a philosopher in ancient Greece watched the water flowing in a river, he said, “This is not the same river we looked at yesterday, nor is it the same river we will look at ten minutes from now. Everything is in a state of flux and change.” And so it is. The cells in the human body are replaced periodically by new cells. Consequently, when you look at a man, you can say that he is not the same man you saw some years ago.
Everything is transitory and changing in the world that God has created. Where do we find reality? Where do we find that which is abiding? The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2:17. The world is in a position of change, and we must decide upon what we will base our faith.
The people who adhere to the Word of God have a more enduring quality. Although they are changing, it is not a disintegrating change, but only a maturing of that which God has already placed there. Traditional churches are in a constant state of flux and change, though there may be an illusion of permanence on the outside. The same thing is true of almost everything in this world. Only one thing really abides. Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:35.
Where are yesterday’s dreams and ambitions? Where are the friendships and loyalties, the loves and relationships? Where is the substance, the possessions you had? Permanence cannot be found on the natural plane—only on the spiritual plane. That is why it is very important that you listen to the Word of God. Regardless of what you see or what the illusion is, when God speaks a Word, hold that to be the reality. The other will change. Believe in what God has said concerning you. You will see it unfold in expression on the natural plane. You know that it has existed in the spirit realm ever since God spoke it. He spoke it into being. When He spoke to your heart, it assumed reality. The manifestation of it then filters into every other area. You hold in your spirit a Word from God, and soon your eyes will see that Word fulfilled all about you. You have believed to see the salvation of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13).
When the two disciples’ eyes were finally opened, they realized that something had happened, and they exclaimed, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He opened the Scriptures to us?” He made known His reality through the Word He was speaking. He did not say, “Just a minute, boys. You see I am resurrected now. I will prove that I am the Christ by doing some miracles for you the way I used to.” He did not attempt to convince them on that level. There was a minimum of miracle activity by the Lord after His resurrection. The miracles were signs that followed Him as He proclaimed the Word of the Father during the three and one-half years of His earthly ministry. But now He must be known on another basis: through the proclaiming of His Word.
You will not meet God just by seeing the manifestations of worship or prophesying or singing in the Spirit when the family of God gathers together. When a Word comes from the Lord and your heart is open, then you will meet God. Then your heart will burn within you with an inner revelation of Christ. After the eyes of the disciples were opened and they beheld Him, He vanished from their sight. So, also, as soon as you know Him, He vanishes; He will not come with outward observation. The Kingdom of God is within you. You will know the reality of this more truly than if your senses had perceived it.
There will be times in the days ahead when those who hope for His appearing will see the Lord. At times when people are assembled in the churches, Christ will appear, very much visible in human form. The Lord warned that when people say, “Lo, He is in the inner chamber,” or “Lo, He is in the desert,” we are not to go; for He will come in the Parousia, like the light that shines from the east to the west (Matthew 24:26–27). There will be a dawning awareness among God’s people of the presence of the Lord. There will be a society of burning hearts coming forth as the Word makes Christ real and alive to every one of their hearts. Jesus will make Himself known to them as they partake of the cup and break the bread together.
We read in II Peter 1:19: And we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts. We know that a new day is coming, not because we see it from outward observation, but because the daystar has already risen in our hearts. The revelation of the Lord to the hearts of His people has been very real, not by any outward signs and miracles, but by the inward revelation to their spirits as they come to know the Lord.
Be prepared for the dangerous times ahead when people will want to be convinced by a sign that they see, rather than by a Word from the Lord that comes as a revelation to their hearts. It is by the Word of God that you stand and that you prevail. Heed the word of prophecy as you would a rising daystar in predicting a dawn. Everyone who has learned to walk with God has a conviction of something that is not generally found in the Christian world. While the average Christian is exclaiming, “Oh, how terrible everything is,” a remnant of believers are aware that a new day is coming. They are not apprehensive concerning anything they see in the current events around them, for they recognize that as only a passing scene. They are aware that a new day is dawning. They can feel it. They are experiencing it.
God is preparing a remnant to walk on in a new day not even visualized by most of Christianity. They know the reality of that which is coming, for they are experiencing it in a measure already. They build up immunities to what is taking place in the world because they first experience it in their hearts on a small scale. This can be compared to an inoculation which gives a person a mild form of a disease. Then the body produces antibodies to build up immunity to that disease.
A few dedicated believers here and there are facing their own tribulation period and antichrist on a small scale. By the Word that God speaks to their hearts, He slays the wicked one—the little pope, the little antichrist, the little devil of self—that is sitting upon the throne of their hearts. Consequently, the Kingdom is coming forth within them. They can believe that it will take place in the world because they first experience it personally in their spirits. The new day dawns in their hearts as the daystar arises, and the Word of God becomes a living thing, like a sharp two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.
Many argue about the coming of the Lord. After His ascension the angel told the disciples, “In like manner shall He come as you have seen Him go” (Acts 1:11). It is true that He is coming that way, but His Word also tells us that He is coming to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe (II Thessalonians 1:10). He is already coming. How can a believer have anything else but hope burning within him when the special manifestation of Christ’s presence and His Parousia has already begun within him? Because it is already happening within a few believers, very shortly it will happen to the whole of the Kingdom of God. God is allowing the coming events to cast their shadows before them. In a small measure, a remnant is experiencing the events that are coming.
When you come to the Communion Table, you experience in miniature scale the thing that is about to take place. The great Body of Christ must learn, as never before, to feast upon His fullness. They must feast upon the body and the blood of the Lord, rising in a new strength, casting off the works of darkness, and coming into the glorious manifestation of the glory of God.
Christ was made known to the disciples in the breaking of bread, and their hearts burned within them as He talked with them. File your application with the Lord, so that you too can become a member in good standing in the society of burning hearts that love His Word.