What Has Jesus Revealed?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 4th of May, 2025, the second Sunday after Easter and Resurrection Day.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

One of the definitions our dictionary gives for “epiphany” is “a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience”.  It’s an insight brought on quite suddenly, out of ordinary circumstances.

A number of years ago, four or five or six of us EA pastors would get together for a few days at a lakeside house down in Montgomery County, on Badin Lake.  It’s not that any of us owned a home on the lake, but there was a lady who did own that house who would let Christian groups, especially pastors, use it for a few days at a time.  We’d socialize a lot, fish a bit, eat meals together with shared chores.  And in the evenings we’d spend time studying the bible and discussing theology.

Part of that devotion time was for silent meditation, focusing on a verse we’d discussed, or even on just a word that caught our attention, individually.  We began calling this place our Epiphany House, because one or more of us would have an epiphany during our stay.  While in this moment of contemplation, suddenly, through no extraordinary outside influence or source, God would reveal something of Himself, or of His will for us.

It happened to me once, when I had just begun doing pulpit supply and was unsure how far I wanted, or dared, to go in the ministry.  God revealed His will for me when He spoke through His Spirit within me and said, “Preach My word”.  Over and over, three or four times, I heard the words as if they were spoken directly into my ear: “Preach My word”.

While not necessarily epiphanies, although some were, Jesus often revealed something of Himself, and definitely of His Father’s will.  He shared these insights with His followers while He still walked this earth in the flesh, both before and after His resurrection.  By God’s wisdom and grace, these revelations have been saved for us to this day, recorded by our Lord’s own apostles.

Reading the Gospel accounts, we can see numerous times when Jesus tried to tell His disciples what was going to happen soon, revealing the near future to them, even though they often failed to understand.  He even told them how He would be betrayed, arrested, and tortured, dying on the cross, only to rise from the tomb on the third day.  He revealed to Peter how he would soon deny even knowing Jesus.  And of course, all of that came to pass, exactly as Jesus had revealed.  He was betrayed, arrested, denied, torture, and executed.  But death could not hold Him, nor could the grave.  He rose from the dead and walked among us again, for 40 days, as witnessed by over 500 people.

During that brief period before He ascended back into heaven to be with His Father God, Jesus appeared in the flesh, primarily to His disciples but also to others, and again revealed Himself and His will, His intent, His plan, God’s plan.  Please listen and follow along to the Apostle John’s reporting of two of those times when Jesus appeared to His disciples after being raised from the dead, from the 20th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 19 through 31, and I’ll be reading from the Easy-to-Read Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

19 The day was Sunday, and that same evening the followers were together. They had the doors locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them. He said, “Peace be with you!” 20 As soon as He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. When the followers saw the Lord, they were very happy.

21 Then Jesus said again, “Peace be with you. It was the Father who sent Me, and I am now sending you in the same way.” 22 Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven. If there is anyone whose sins you don’t forgive, their sins are not forgiven.”

24 Thomas (called Didymus) was one of the twelve, but he was not with the other followers when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We saw the Lord.” Thomas said, “That’s hard to believe. I will have to see the nail holes in His hands, put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side. Only then will I believe it.”

26 A week later the followers were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at My hands. Put your hand here in My side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Jesus said to him, “You believe because you see Me. Great blessings belong to the people who believe without seeing Me!”

30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs that His followers saw, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you can believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Then, by believing, you can have life through His name.

--John 20:19-31 (ERV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for those times when You reveal something of Yourself or of Your Son to us.  Thank You for making Your will known, not only in our Bible but also in the whisperings of Your Holy Spirit within us.  But Father, we admit that we don’t always understand what You’ve shown us or told us.  And even when we do understand, we don’t always follow through with Your will for us.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Give us an extra nudge to do what You would have us do.  Help us be better, more obedient servants.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

In his book, The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis relates that, “Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty.  I had to learn that in other ways.  But nature gave the word ‘glory’ a meaning for me.”

The source is unknown, but the story is told that after Helen Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, had given her the names of physical objects in sign language, Miss Sullivan attempted to explain God and tapped out the symbols for the name “God”.  Much to Miss Sullivan's surprise, Helen spelled back, “Thank you for telling me God's name, Teacher, for He has touched me many times before.”  Helen Keller knew something of God's signature from nature, but it was wordless.

God reveals Himself in many ways, sometimes even with words.  The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, tells us that God has made Himself known since the very beginning in the things He has made, in and through nature.  Miss Keller sensed those cues from nature, from God’s creation, and through nature He touched her.

How has He touched us?  Through what means has God made Himself known to each of us, as individuals?  What has Jesus revealed to us personally?

After the horror of the crucifixion, the disciples still in Jerusalem were hiding behind locked doors, fearful of their lives, when Jesus suddenly appeared among them, revealing that He had truly risen from the dead and was alive again, showing His wounds as proof.  But Thomas wasn’t among the group during this visit, and when the others told him of what happened, he was doubtful and disbelieving.  “I’ll have to see it myself before I believe.”, he snarled.  “I’ll have to see the wounds, feel the holes, and maybe then I’ll believe what you just said.”

Well, a week later Jesus popped in again, this time while Thomas was present.  And Thomas saw, and felt, and believed.  Jesus reminded Thomas that the reluctant disciple only believed when he saw Jesus with his own eyes, and then He blessed all those who would believe without ever seeing – or needing - physical proof.  That’s us, in case you haven’t figured it out.

John closes his Gospel account by noting that Jesus did many other miraculous signs that were not included in his book, but that he recorded what he could so that anyone would reads it could come to believe, even without seeing, believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in believing, have eternal life.  The Pharisee Nicodemus admitted that only someone sent from God could do all the things Jesus did.  Through these wondrous signs, these miracles, Jesus revealed Himself as sent from God, the Messiah, the Christ, come in the name of God to carry out God’s plan for mankind.

The resurrected Jesus revealed Himself alive again.  Over 500 people witnessed Him risen from the dead.  And He revealed what is yet to come to His disciple John after He had returned to heaven.  Listen to how John opened his Book of the Revelation of Jesus in the first eight verses…

1 This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must happen soon. And Christ sent His angel to show it to His servant John, 2 who has told everything he saw. It is the truth that Jesus Christ told him; it is the message from God. 3 Great blessings belong to the person who reads the words of this message from God and to those who hear this message and do what is written in it. There is not much time left.

4 From John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:

Grace and peace to you from the One who is, who always was, and who is coming; and from the seven Spirits before His throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ. Jesus is the faithful witness. He is first among all who will be raised from death. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Jesus is the one who loves us and has made us free from our sins with His blood sacrifice. 6 He made us His kingdom and priests who serve God His Father. To Jesus be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

7 Look, Jesus is coming with the clouds! Everyone will see Him, even those who pierced Him. All peoples of the earth will cry loudly because of Him. Yes, this will happen! Amen.

8 The Lord God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the One who is, who always was, and who is coming. I am the All-Powerful.”

--Revelation 1:1-8 (ERV)

Jesus wanted all of His followers to know what will happen – what must happen – at the end of the age; all followers, those still alive in His day and those who will believe throughout all time.  So He revealed the future to His beloved disciple, John, with the strict order to write it all down and save it.

This is the truth that Christ Jesus told Him, a message from God.  And we truly are blessed to have this message, Jesus’ revelation, still to this day.  Because in this book, Jesus reveals to us what is to come, so we can be better prepared, mentally and spiritually, when it begins.  The future that is painted for us in this book is both horrendous, and beautiful.  If Jesus doesn’t come to take His church home before it starts, believers will suffer at the hands of the wicked, but the wicked will suffer more at the hands of God.  And at the end, Jesus will set everything right and we will be saved the horrible fate of the disbelieving world.

This truth has been revealed for all the world to see.  All anyone has to do is open this Book of Revelation and read the words John recorded.  And if this sparks any interest, they can read what John and the others saved for us in their accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus.  They can read of the miraculous signs, so that they might believe.

This is why God revealed Himself through the entirety of His creation.  This is why Jesus revealed Himself and the future to anyone and all who would believe, that all might be saved.  And this is why He gave us the command to go into the world telling everyone about Him, all that He did, and all that He taught.

This is our mission, as the body of Christ left on earth.  God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world – the whole world - might be saved through Him.  And now, Jesus has sent us into the world to continue that work, that all might be reconciled back to God and be saved.  Let’s do our part to reveal Jesus to a world that does not know Him.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for revealing Your plan for humankind in the words of our Holy Bible.  Thank You for making sure that the things Jesus said and did would be saved for us, kept throughout these nearly 2000 years so that we could read and believe, even without having witnessed Him with our own eyes.  Father, we admit we don’t spend as much time in Your word as we should, missing out on some of Your revelations.  Too often we don’t fully understand what we do read, but we’re too busy or too embarrassed to ask for help in understanding.  Please forgive us those times, dear Father.  Please help us look deeper into all that Jesus spoke during His ministry, every message He delivered, whether by words or by acts.  Help us grow closer to You by growing closer to Your Son.  Help us show Your love to others by giving of ourselves, giving of our love freely, unconditionally, sacrificially, just as Jesus gave of Himself for us.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, from the very start of Your ministry, You revealed so much of God and His kingdom to us, through Your words, Your teachings, Your deeds, and even through the examples You set, such as when You showed us how to resist temptation when You Yourself were being tempted in the wilderness by Satan.  Thank You for giving us so much good information to go by, to live by.  Lord, we’re ashamed to admit it, but sometimes we struggle with this life, with doing things we know we should do, things You’ve shown us.  We’re not always very righteous in our daily walk and interactions with others.  There are pieces of our old life, of the world, that we just can’t seem to let go of.  Please help us in our struggles, Lord.  Show us how to love.  Help us be more like You, loving all others, even those who hate us and wish us harm, without any concern for reward or recognition or even being loved in return.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.