The Road to Fellowship with Jesus Christ
By David A. DePra
God wants to have fellowship
with His people.
And certainly, those who are in Christ ought to
desire fellowship with God.
Indeed, fellowship with Christ is to be the
very life of the believer.
The
question is, “How do we come to fellowship with Jesus Christ?”
The apostle John stated exactly how we can enter into
fellowship with Jesus Christ:
This then is the
message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and
in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we
have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us
from all sin.
(I John 1:5-7)
This is as clear as it could
be.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we
have fellowship one with another.”
In contrast, “If we say we have fellowship with
Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the Truth.”
The key to fellowship is to walk in the Light
and Truth.
Jesus Christ IS the Truth.
And the Greek word for, “fellowship,” or,
“communion,” means, “a having in common.”
So if we want to be ONE with Christ then we
have to abide or walk in the Light and Truth.
John the apostle is telling us
that it is not possible to fellowship with Jesus Christ, who IS the Light and
the Truth, unless we walk in the light and Truth.
Only then are we, “eating,” of Him, and abiding
in Him.
Only then are we, “having in common,” with Him His
life.
To, “walk in the Truth,” is
more than believing doctrine.
Rather, to walk in the Truth means that you
have seen the Truth about yourself, and so you give yourself to Christ.
No conditions attached – not because you have
to, but because you have seen the Truth.
To walk in the Truth means that you have seen
the Truth about Christ – that He is all.
Thus, you put all of your faith in Him.
Again, no conditions attached – not because you
have to, but because you have seen the Truth.
“To see the Truth,” is synonymous with seeing
Jesus – and when we embrace Him we are entering into fellowship with Him.
“To walk in the light,”
implies that there is nothing in us that we are trying to hide, or hold to
ourselves.
It means that we desire Jesus Christ no matter
what it takes.
This is possible – even though we are flawed
and sinful.
It is possible because the basis for
relationship with Christ is not found in us.
It is found in Him.
Abiding in the Vine
“I am the vine, ye [are]
the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
(John 15:5)
To abide in Christ means to
live IN and OUT FROM Christ as our life – it certainly begins with FAITH –
trusting and surrendering OURSELVES to Him.
But we cannot abide in Christ as our life as
long as we are abiding in our own Adam life.
That life must be under the work of the Cross –
under the, “pruning,” work of God.
(John 15:1-2)
Note a big distinction:
Jesus said, “The
thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly,” (John
10:10) what did He mean?
What, “life,” was He talking about?
Much false teaching today states that Jesus was
promising to take YOUR natural life and to make it abundant – prosperous, rich,
and successful.
That is not the Truth.
He also said, “Whosoever would lose his life
for My sake will find it, and whosoever would seek to possess his life for
himself will lose it.”
Thus, He is promising HIS life in us would be
abundant and sufficient – but only if we relinquish OUR life.
This is the same message that we find all
through scripture, including within the teaching of the Vine and the branches.
To abide in Christ is
fellowship with Him – because it is an active oneness with Him; a communion with
Him with His life.
And if you read John 15, you can see that
NOTHING is possible unless we do that.
Simply being saved does plant you into Christ;
baptize you into Christ.
But then we must ABIDE in Him by faith – which
is a continual choice.
On the Road to
Fellowship
One of the best illustrations of how to come to
fellowship with Christ is found in the story of the two disciples on the road to
Emmaus:
And, behold, two of
them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem
[about]
threescore furlongs.
And they talked
together of all these things which had happened.
And it came to
pass, that, while they communed
[together]
and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
But their eyes were
holden that they should not know him.
And he said unto
them,
What manner of
communications
[are]
these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
And the one of
them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in
these days?
And he said unto
them,
What things?
And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty
in deed and word before God and all the people:
And how the chief
priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have
crucified him.
But we trusted that
it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is
the third day since these things were done.
Yea, and certain
women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
And when they found
not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive.
And certain of them
which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found
[it]
even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
Then he said unto
them,
O fools, and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
And beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself.
And they drew nigh
unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone
further.
But they
constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is
far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
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.
(Luke
24:13-34)
Let’s take this journey step
by step.
There is much in it leading to fellowship.
This is one of the post-resurrection
appearances of Jesus Christ, indeed, it happened on the very day of His
resurrection.
Thus, the shock, fear, and devastation of the
crucifixion that had happened three days before had not yet dissipated.
They had already been given the report by
certain women that the body of Jesus was gone, and that angels had said he was
alive.
But at this point, all of that was beyond their
capacity to grasp.
The conversation recorded
between the two men, and then between the two men and Jesus, reveals many things
about their understanding immediately after the crucifixion -- but before they
realized that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
First, they had, “hoped that it had been he
which should have redeemed Israel.”
(v. 21)
And yet, rather than refer to Him and the Son
of God, they described Him only as, “a prophet mighty in deed and word before
God and all the people.”
They were not denying Jesus was the Son of God,
mind you, but at this point they had no frame of reference for Jesus as the Son
of God.
No.
Instead, they had hoped He was the Messiah most
of the Jews expected – One who would reign and rule from the temple in
Jerusalem.
All of His mighty deeds had convinced them that
He was exactly that.
But now their hopes were dashed.
You will note that they hoped
Jesus would be the one to, “redeem Israel.”
Their leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees,
taught only salvation for Israel, but not for the entire world.
Indeed, the Jews of that time did not believe
or teach the doctrine of original sin.
That is why they believed a person could earn
salvation through works and the study of the scriptures.
So the, “redemption of Israel,” in the mind of
these disciples was a much different redemption than the Redemption Jesus had
brought.
It was not a new creation.
It was foremost, an outward restoration of
Israel to glory, leading to an earthly kingdom of God.
The Jews had no expectation
that when the Messiah came that He would be God Incarnate.
They had not teaching that promised that the
Messiah would be crucified and then raised from the dead.
They had taken all of the OT passages about the
Messiah and misinterpreted them.
All through the gospels you
can see that this incorrect understanding of the Messiah, the kingdom of God,
and the plan of God, governed the thinking and expectations of the disciples of
Jesus.
Therefore, when Jesus was taken away and crucified it
was a complete devastation to their hopes.
Devastation
In the Christian life, there
are going to be times that we move forward in our walk with God with certain
expectations and beliefs – ones we believe are Biblical – in fact, ones that we
may believe God has spoken to us.
Our lives can, to a greater or lesser extent,
become governed by what we hope God is doing and is going to do for us.
It may never enter our mind that we could be
wrong – because we are sure God has promised, and God is always faithful.
But then all of it comes crashing down.
Not only are we devastated because our hopes
are dashed to pieces, but worse, we have to face the fact that our walk with God
was based in a false position.
We thought God was doing one thing and He was
NOT.
He was doing another.
How could we have been so wrong?
And how could God have allowed us to be so
wrong?
Where do we go from here?
Of course, this is simply a
trial of faith.
It is a crossroads.
We thought our faith was in God.
But perhaps our faith was more in what we
assumed God was doing.
In fact, it may have never occurred to us that
the two are not the same.
But they are not the same.
And there is something else – something even
more difficult to deal with:
Many of us base our faith upon our
understanding of God, rather than God Himself.
So when our understanding of God is shattered;
proven wrong – we lose faith.
All of these possibilities
constitute a trial of faith.
And they are going to happen to each of us.
God is going to allow them to happen – He will
guarantee it.
Why?
Because a trial of faith will destroy faith in
our own understanding, and faith in our assumptions of what God is doing – a
trial of faith will destroy that – BUT will open the door to faith in the Person
of Jesus Christ.
Believers must learn to trust
Jesus Christ even if we do not understand Him.
For it does not matter how spiritually mature
or experienced we might be – we don’t fully understand Him.
There is always going to be more of Jesus
Christ than we can understand.
Of course.
He is eternal.
He is God.
Yet as Proverbs states:
Trust in the LORD
with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Be
not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
(Prov. 3:5-7)
When our hopes are dashed, and
we realize that our whole understanding of God Himself was faulty, it is easy to
despair.
It is easy to lose faith and be afraid to ever believe
again.
But God is setting us free.
He is showing us that He wants to speak to us
in HIS SON – that He wants our faith to rest upon, not our understanding of
Christ, but upon Christ Himself.
And the fact is, if our faith comes to rest
upon Christ, our understanding of Christ will then be adjusted according to the
Truth.
The Answer to
Perplexity
The disciples were walking in
a terrible perplexity.
They had no answers.
And trying to talk it through was not getting
them anywhere.
When believers reach a spiritual impasse we
probe and search to see the answers.
But God is usually silent.
He has a reason.
You and I do not need see answers.
We need to see Jesus.
The disciples were going to
have their eyes opened.
But initially, as the passage states, their
eyes were closed.
Isn’t that a great picture of ignorance?
Ignorance is blindness.
It is a great picture of a slowness to put
aside our faulty understanding and to believe regardless.
These disciples were not in a
state of hardened unbelief.
Now, they could have ended up that way.
There are folks who profess their faith in
Christ until their personal demands of Him are shattered.
They cannot accept that God would allow them to
believe error or travel a wrong path.
But He does – yet for redemptive purposes.
He wants to expose us – but for the purpose of
bringing us into the Truth.
Isn’t it amazing how easy we
blame God for allowing us to believe error, when we ought to be thanking Him for
delivering us OUT of it into the Truth.
We have to come to terms with the fact that if
we believe error it is because there is error in us – unbelief, pride, etc.
There are reasons WHY we believe what we do.
These disciples believed error
because they had been raised in a culture of spiritual error.
It was all around them.
And they did have an agenda.
They wanted the kind of kingdom they were
taught to expect from the Messiah.
But now He was dead.
And so were their hopes.
So here they were wandering the road to Emmaus.
There are millions of
professing Christian people that cannot accept that God would ever allow such a
perplexity to happen to them.
And there is so much teaching today that
supports their denial of this possibility.
Christians have been taught that God speaks to
them continually in the form of inward promptings, feelings, words spoken in
their mind, and through signs and wonders.
But despite the fact that God COULD speak that
way – the Bible states outright that this is NOT primarily the way in which God
speaks today.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past
unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by
[his]
Son.
(Heb. 1:1-2)
The Greek language in these
verses bring out the real Truth:
God USED to speak to people in all different
kinds of ways – such as through prophecy.
But NOW God is primarily speaking to His people
in ONE way – IN HIS SON.
The Greek meaning is, “Son-wise.”
In other words, since Christianity is, “Christ
in us,” (Col. 1:27) God is today speaking to His people through a progressive
INWARD realization of His Son.
In short, God is revealing Christ IN people –
Jesus is THE WORD, THE LOGOS, that God is speaking today.
An inward realization of Jesus
Christ – an inward experiencing of Jesus Christ -- results in a renewed mind and
heart.
It changes our perspective and understanding of God
Himself.
And that opens us up to not only trust Him when we
don’t understand, but it opens us to be able to understand.
Believers should not need God to tell them
THINGS or to lead them to do THINGS.
Believers should KNOW CHRIST.
If that happens, then the THINGS can be
revealed – but in the context of knowing Him – which will keep them in the
Truth.
The natural mind is going to
interpret God, and interpret the Christian life, through the perspective of SELF
and through the desires of our heart.
We will be governed by our emotions, intellect,
and pride.
We will be governed, and perhaps even deceived,
by our own religiosity.
Thus, we will tend to believe that whatever we
want must be of God – because God is leading us.
We will tend to assume that however we feel
must be how God feels.
This is a natural course for most Christians.
And God MUST allow us to travel down that road
– He will allow us to take a path that is going to result in devastation.
It is the only way we can be brought to
repentance.
It is the only way He can show us the Truth.
Can we accept the possibility
that at any point in time that we simply do NOT know?
That presently we CANNOT know?
That there is more Truth about our situation,
that there is more Truth about ourselves – Truth that is outside of our frame of
reference?
And perhaps the biggest question of all is this
one:
Do we really want the Truth?
Do we really want Jesus Christ?
Do we really want the will and purpose of God
no matter what that is, and no matter the cost?
Well, if we do, God will bring us to that
point.
We cannot see answers – we
would not interpret them according to the Truth – until we SEE JESUS.
This does not mean that the GOAL is the see
answers.
No.
The GOAL is to see Jesus.
But once we do see Jesus, our eyes will be
opened to much else.
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye
sees thee.
Wherefore
I abhor
[myself],
and repent in dust and ashes.
(Job 42:5)
Wherefore I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Cease not to give
thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17
That the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him:
The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope
of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints,
And what
[is]
the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the
working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from
the dead.
(Eph. 1:15-20)
The solution to perplexity is
not INFORMATION.
It is unconditional FAITH.
That will lead to REVELATION.
Seeing Jesus
There are many questions we
could ask about this story – from a practical standpoint.
For example, why did these two disciples not
recognize Jesus?
They had known Him before His crucifixion.
But they did not recognize his voice or know
that it was Him – even though He walked with them and talked with them some
distance.
In fact, “beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself,” but they still did not know that it was Jesus.
Why?
It seems insufficient to say
that the cause is that they were not expecting Him to be alive.
From a practical standpoint, this does not
hold.
He was there talking with them.
Still it does not occur to them that this was
Jesus.
In fact, if you read the other accounts of Jesus’
appearances after the resurrection, the same pattern is there – Jesus is not
recognized by the people who encounter Him.
But then something happens and their eyes are
opened.
They know it is Him.
The conclusion is rather
inescapable:
Despite the fact that Jesus continued to have a
human body AFTER His resurrection – He states outright that He was not a spirit,
but had flesh and bones (Luke 24:39) – He was nevertheless risen from the dead
with a glorified body.
That is not something that we know much about.
In fact, He was able to ascend into heaven
itself with that glorified body.
He also appeared and vanished.
So we are talking here about something, “other
than,” that which operates according to physical laws.
Indeed, based on the passages of His
appearances, and the failure of people who knew Him to recognize Him, His
glorified, resurrected body, evidently operated according to the spiritual
realm.
It required spiritual sight, if you will, to truly SEE
HIM.
The disciples, when they first
met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, did not yet have spiritual sight.
They were still viewing their situation, and
viewing Jesus, through natural sight – with their natural minds and natural
understanding.
So what Jesus begins to do is start at that
point with them.
He begins to open up the scripture regarding
the Messiah.
He shows them that everything that had happened
was right there in front of them the entire time.
It was their understanding that was the problem
– not the Bible and not God – but their understanding of God.
There is great encouragement
in this passage because it shows that no matter how deceived we might be that
Jesus Christ will come and meet us and will bring us into the Truth – if we keep
our hearts open.
This gets back to an earlier point – we can
believe even if we don’t understand.
These disciples did not understand but were
still open to God.
They were like Job – they did not understand
God but had faith in Him regardless.
At this point, they were still teachable.
They were perplexed but were seeking God.
So Jesus lays the groundwork
with them of scripture.
And this begins to stir them.
There is an oppression that is lifted from
them.
It is like a breath of fresh air.
But even then they do not recognize Him.
Isn’t it a fact that we can
read the Bible and understand it – and that there can be a certain release in
that?
We can gain a certain amount of hope and expectation.
But if that is ALL we experience it will be
like reading about a Person who we have never seen – but about Whom we have
read.
We can believe the descriptions and facts, and form in
our mind and imagination a concept of Jesus Christ.
But this is NOT the same as SEEING HIM.
It is not the same as coming into an inward
realization of Christ.
What was it that finally
opened their eyes?
Luke writes:
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.
(Luke
24: 30-31)
And they told what
things
[were
done]
in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
(Luke 24:35)
Why did Jesus’ breaking of the
bread open their eyes – why did THAT open their eyes when all of the other
things did not?
Well, what does this, “breaking of bread,”
symbolize?
It represents COMMUNION with Jesus Christ – at
the core of which is COMMUNION with Him in His death and resurrection.
We are being told that if we want to truly SEE
JESUS we have to enter into a oneness with Him in spirit.
Up until this point, these
disciples did not have that oneness with Christ.
They did not even know to have it – they were
blind and deceived.
Their goals and purpose were other than those
of Jesus Christ.
But as Jesus spoke to them out of the OT, and
showed them the Truth, they began to hunger for more.
They began to want the Truth. They invited Him
in.
This opened the door for the communion.
It was not simply the physical act of breaking
the bread that opened their eyes.
It was the fellowship with Christ Himself
symbolized by that – which opened their eyes and allowed them to SEE HIM.
Do we want to SEE JESUS?
The only way is by spiritual fellowship with
Him.
It is by being brought into a oneness with Him in
purpose.
We have to lose our lives – our goals, our purpose,
our self-ownership – under the work of the Cross – so that we might find Him as
our life.
If we allow Him to BREAK US -- then our
blindness will likewise be broken.
What will emerge is a realization and
experiencing of Jesus Christ that is found in, and flows out from His
resurrection life in us.
This is freedom.
True freedom comes from knowing the Truth that
is a Person, and knowing Him means to experience Him.
That is fellowship.
Everything in the story we have read leads up
to this simple fact:
Communion with Christ is an experiencing of
Christ that opens our eyes to see Jesus.
And then, “the eyes of our understanding will
be enlightened that we might know.”
He is the Truth.
He is the Light.
We must see HIM.
Fellowship With Christ
If a person is, “in Christ,”
then, by definition, they are one with Him in spirit.
But the fact that Christianity, at the core,
is, “Christ in you,” must have an IMPACT.
God wants us to come into an inward realization
– revelation and knowledge – of His Son.
This is the basis for fellowship with Christ.
“To know,” Christ, according
to the Bible meaning, is to realize and experience Him.
That will renew our minds according to the
Truth.
(Eph. 4:23)
That means a renewed heart, intent, will, and
purpose.
If a person actually begins to see Jesus Christ they
will begin to see everything else according to Him; according to the Truth.
The story of the disciples
illustrates that fact.
At the start of their journey, they saw nothing
clearly.
But then Jesus sought them out and met them.
He began to introduce to them the Truth about
Himself from the Bible.
This struck a chord with them, because despite
their perplexity, their hearts were open.
They were hungry for more.
Their minds were beginning to be renewed – in
other words, they began to see that there was another side to this story – a
side they had not seen.
How many realize that this – in itself – is
Truth?
It is one thing to be blind, but it is another to
begin to, “see,” you are blind.
It is one thing to be ignorant, but it is
another to begin to see that you are ignorant and that there is Truth to be seen
and experienced.
This is the place Jesus had brought them --
their minds were beginning to be renewed.
In fact, they had reached the point where they
actually invited Jesus to stay with them.
This was the pivot point – and
it always is.
God will not force Himself upon us.
There comes a time when God has prepared our
hearts enough that we can fully open ourselves to Him for whatever it takes; or
whatever the Truth might be.
We have to open up and invite Jesus in – not
only for initial salvation – but for His desire to bring us into the Truth.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if
any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with me.
(Rev. 3:20)
This verse corresponds to our
story.
Jesus was, “standing at the door,” and, “knocking.”
That is what was going on as He opened them up
for the revelation that was about to happen.
And they did open to Him, in their case,
literally invited Him to come into their house.
And they did, “sup,” together.
Revelation 3:20 is talking about fellowship
with Jesus Christ – the same fellowship as is illustrated in our story.
Many times Jesus used the picture of bread to illustrate
communion between Himself and believers:
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this
bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which
I will give for the life of the world…Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will
raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in
him.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I
live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
(John 6:51-58)
Here we see what fellowship
with Christ really means:
It means that Christ is our life.
(Col. 3:4)
It isn’t that Christ merely GIVES us life – as
a THING.
No.
It means that Christ IS our life.
Neither is this limited to being saved.
No.
It includes all that is within Christ, and out
from Christ, as our salvation; as our very spiritual life.
Just as eating bread internalizes that bread
and it then becomes that which nourishes and sustains, so it is to be with
Christ.
Just as eating translates into living -- so must our
communion with Christ do the same.
Jesus said, “He that eats my
flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me, and I in Him.”
That is a living, practical communion.
That is the outcome of the believer
experiencing (eating) Jesus in an inward fashion; a matter of Jesus being the
life of the believer.
If we go back to the passage,
it is significant that it was Jesus that took the bread, blessed, and broke it.
It is significant because this was their house
and their bread.
They had invited Him – not the other way
around.
Surely this illustrates that when we begin to
see the Truth, and realize God is working, that we must surrender ourselves to
Christ.
We have to give ourselves to Him – we have to lose our
self-ownership to Him.
And if we do, He will break the power of the
old nature under a progressive work of the Cross – and it will result in
fellowship – and that fellowship will open our eyes to see and realize Him.
You will note that the passage
states that the disciples could not recognize Christ.
It wasn’t that Jesus was hiding from them and
then came out of hiding.
No.
They COULD NOT see Him.
But once they responded to Him, and then
invited Him in, and then gave Him the freedom to do whatsoever He desired – it
was then that He broke the bread and their eyes were opened.
The change was in THEM.
Natural man is not constituted
to be able to discern God.
In fact, we see everything, including God,
through the lense of SELF.
That is why a person MUST be born from above in
order to SEE Jesus Christ.
Yet, even if we are born from above, we have
only the capacity to see.
Even as those born again, we continue to carry
the natural man.
We must learn the fallibility of natural sight
when it comes to spiritual reality.
We have to learn Christ.
But again, the story of the
road to Emmaus helps us.
We might liken the LOAF before it was broken as
an OUTWARD seeing of Jesus – as an OUTWARD seeing of Jesus through the natural
man.
But as long as that is the case we will interpret
Christ according to US.
But once the loaf is broken – once our natural
man is broken by the work of the Cross – everything of that LOAF becomes open.
We can see the inside, indeed, taste and eat.
We can actually come into an INWARD realization
of Jesus Christ.
We can actually begin to experience Him in
fellowship.
Natural man – governed by the
sin nature – is essentially SELF centered, and SELF occupied.
Thus, it doesn’t matter how smart someone is,
they CANNOT see or receive the things of God if left to themselves.
They CANNOT.
There must be a new birth – but then a
continual breaking of that SELF principle if any of us are to realize Jesus
Christ.
This is why Jesus said we must LOSE ourselves into His
hands.
He was saying that we must surrender to Him for,
“whatever it takes,” to break us – for that is the key to freedom; the key to
seeing Christ.
Such a surrender is, after
all, where faith will ALWAYS bring us.
Faith without surrender is a hollow shell.
Despite all of our faults, an unconditional
surrender to Jesus Christ is what it means to be, “pure in heart.”
And that, Jesus said, is a blessed commitment,
that will result in us, “seeing God.”
(Matt. 5:8)
The disciples had followed
Jesus -- tried to conform Him to their religion.
No wonder they could not see the REAL JESUS.
Their religiosity had to be broken.
But in order for that to be broken, THEY had to
be broken – their lives had to be broken so that He could give them Himself as
their life.
In this story, we see that happening – in a way
that stands as an example for us.
Jesus meets them, begins to draw them – they
invite Him in.
They give all to Him.
He takes it and breaks it – and gives it back
to them, as if He is giving them Himself, the true Bread.
They have lost in order to find.
The result was fellowship – and it opened their
eyes.
In conclusion, if we want
fellowship with Christ, we must walk in the Truth – and the Truth in which we
must walk starts only if we unconditionally surrender to Him.
Then, as Christ breaks us, our blindness will
be broken and we will begin to see Him.
The great news is that we cannot want this more
than God wants it.