Knowing the written Word lays the framework of who He is and how He speaks in the now. He has painted the picture of who He is in perfect detail through His written Word. Know this first… It is not Father, Son, and Holy bible. It is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The point here is this, there are many that know the written Word but their life reveals a void of intimacy with the Author. The early church didn’t have the written New Testament to fall back on, they had the Holy Spirit and the old testament. Through their willingness to be intimately acquainted with the Author He was able to write His New Testament through their yielded lives. Plus, bring clarity on what the old testament is truly pointing towards, which was always the fulfillment of all things, Christ in us the hope of glory.
Yes, it clearly says this in Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (KJV) He has exalted His Word above everything. But know this, getting to know the words on the page without knowing the Author that makes the words alive inside you, will only make you more religious. You cannot even understand His Word that He exalts above everything unless you know Him and read it with Him.
Even in John 3 when Nicodemus came to secretly ask Jesus questions, Jesus blatantly asked him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” What was Jesus pointing to? Jesus was pointing out that all Nicodemus’ studying was pointing to Himself, the Word made flesh. If your studying of the scriptures is not producing the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23, and igniting a flow of His power to be released from your inner being, what is it that you are even pursuing? We are in a constant forward motion of becoming more and more like Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:18. Christ is alive inside you and is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Heb.13:8. It is far more simple to know Him than our minds tend to tell us, He does live inside us after all.
Everything points to this mystery being revealed in us, Colossians 1: 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (NKJV) He washed us spotless to redeem our true value so He could live inside us.
Everything points to God in us through Christ’s work on the cross! If you are studying your bible just to know the Law, the bible is clear about what is produced out of that. 2 Corinthians 3:6 He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life. (NLT) Other translations say, “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” If we are studying the scriptures simply to know the words on the page, this fuels a mindset of self-effort. Yes, knowing the Word takes some effort and self-discipline on our part, but we are not out to memorize letters we are pursuing the growth of intimacy with the living Word. Jesus, the living breathing manifestation of God’s love and power, is the Word made flesh! We are getting to know the Author as the living person that He is through His written resume.
In Luke 24:13-35 is the lovely passage about the two travelers on the ‘Road to Emmaus’. During the duos 7 mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus, 7 is the number of perfection and completion in the Word, they are joined by the person of God Himself. While they were talking about what had just happened, the crucifixion and empty tomb of the King Jesus, the King decided to join them. It is very important to understand this passage by keeping this in mind throughout it, Luke 24:16 But God kept them from recognizing him. (NLT) These two were not completely oblivious to Jesus walking roughly 7 miles with them. God shielded them from knowing that the Christ was with them, and if God purposely shielded them from perceiving Himself walking with them in the flesh then God was teaching them something powerful in the midst of it.
Jesus asks them what they are talking about, while obviously knowing exactly what they are talking about. Luke 24:19 …”The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people”… (NKJV) Notice that they don’t address Him as the Messiah. Read verses 17-24… The two disciples apparently had not fully believed that Jesus was who He said He was. Also, these were not just two strangers that knew little of what had taken place. They were amongst Peter and John and the apostles and the women who had been told by angels that Jesus was alive.
Jesus, the Master Teacher, then hammers home the importance of knowing the Word and placing our trust in who God has already said He is. What did Jesus do? Luke 24:25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (NKJV) He didn’t unveil Himself in the flesh to them, although He was standing next to them in the flesh purposely blocking them from knowing. He unveiled Himself through the written Word. In the same way that Jesus responded to Nicodemus, He responded to these two disciples. He makes a bold revealing and points out the fact that they are not cemented in God’s truth, if they had been they would have known through the written Word that Jesus was the Christ and that He would be resurrected and seated at the right hand of the Father. Old testament spoke of all He was coming to do at length.
Jesus questioned Nicodemus by asking him, “you are teacher?” Meaning, you teach the Word which points entirely to Me, and you can’t understand how simply I am expounding on what it is you’ve been studying your whole life? He had the same train of thought for the two disciples, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” He was pointing out to all who had any understanding whatsoever of the scriptures that all that had been studying was HIM! He is the prophecies fulfilled! He is the mystery revealed! Christ is the fulfillment of all things! Everything they had been preparing for, searching for, anticipating, was in front of them doing exactly what He said He would do.
He fulfilled every single word from the Old Testament. It’s as if Jesus was almost having some righteous frustration. How can someone read the bible every day, and then have issues when they see what it is they are studying daily, walked out in front of them?
For 7 miles the written Word was unleashed upon them through the Word made Flesh, as it always is. After 7 miles Jesus goes to walk on and depart from them, why? So He could see their hunger and response to believing the written word that He had been unloading upon them. Luke 24: 28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. (NKJV) Hunger for the real thing will always unveil more then your mind can even begin to grasp. These two disciples didn’t know what was about to hit them, but their response to the living word being spoken stirred a hunger inside them. So the Bread of Life couldn’t help but feed them.
Luke 24: 30 When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” 33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, 34 saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread (NASB).
Yes, these two were a bit a confused in the midst of all the trials and not understanding God’s plan for Christ. A plan that was clearly presented even in the Old Testament, but their hunger for the living God set them up for the encounter of a life time. They may not have understood everything, but they knew that while this Mysterious Character, God in the flesh, spoke “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”
How beautiful that when the Bread of Life Himself broke the bread in the natural the veil fell from their eyes. “He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.” He held the bread, just like the Father held the Bread of life, His Son. He “blessed it,” just like the Father blessed His Son. Then “breaking it,” just like Christ was broke upon the cross on our behalf. He then “began giving it to them,” in the same way that after Christ’s body was broken on our behalf we now feast on His flesh and drink His blood, John 6. “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him,” the cross is the lens through which we clearly see Christ. He paid the price for us to see His kingdom and goodness with perfect vision.
His written Word is the beauty that makes everything beautiful. This unspeakable beautifully written Word is alive inside us.Father, lead us into becoming the glorious Living Epistles that we truly are!
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