Lesson 10: Joy of Revelation

Nehemiah 8:10 ... And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Where does the strength of so many come from? From the joy of a personal friendship with Jesus. Those disciples, if they had gone away with their burning hearts to the other disciples, could have told them wonderful things of a man who had explained to them the Scriptures and the promises, but they could not have said, "We have seen Jesus." They might have said, "Jesus is alive. We are sure of that," but that would not have satisfied the others. But they could now go and say, "We have seen Himself.”

“He has revealed Himself to us.” We are all glad to work for Christ, but there is a complaint throughout the Church of Christ, from the ministers in the pulpit down to the feeblest worker, of lack of joy and lack of blessedness. Let us try and find out whether this is not the place where the secret will be discovered--that the Lord Jesus comes and shows Himself to us as our Master and speaks to us. When we have Jesus with us, and when we go every footstep with the thought that it is Jesus who wants us to go, it is Jesus who sends us and is helping us, then there will be brightness in our testimony, and it will help other believers, and they will begin to understand; "I see why I have failed. I took the word, I took the blessing, and I took, as I thought, the life, but I was without the living Jesus."


And if you now ask, "How will this revelation come?" Friend, that is the secret that no man may tell, that Jesus keeps to Himself. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit; Christ, the risen One, entered into a new life. His resurrection life is entirely different from His life before His death. You know what we read: "They knew Him." He revealed Himself, and then He passed away. And was that vision of Christ worth so much? It was lost in a moment. It was worth heaven, eternity, everything. Why? Because from then on Christ was no longer to be known after the flesh. Christ was forever in the power of the Spirit, which fills Heaven; in the power of the Spirit which is the power of the Godhead; in the power of the Spirit, which fills our hearts. Christ was forever to live in the life of Heaven.

Thank God, Christ can by the power of the Holy Spirit reveal Himself to each one of us; but oh! friend, it is a secret thing between Christ and yourself. Take this assurance, "Their eyes were opened and they knew Him," and believe that it is written for you.

*Think of a time you went through a bad time, and suddenly you realized God had made a way out for you – write down what happened so you can remember it the next time you need His deliverance.