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JESUS REVEALED THROUGH HIS WORD
A. Introduction: In our current series we are working on how to read the Bible more effectively by
learning to read relationally. To read relationally means reading with the awareness that we are reading
the God’s Word, given to us by Him, so that we can know Him more fully.
1. The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books and letters which altogether tell the story of God’s desire
for a family and the lengths He’s gone to, to obtain His family through Jesus. II Tim 3:15-17
a. These books were inspired by God and written to communicate specific information about Him
and His plan of salvation for His family. Every book adds to or advances the story in some way.
1. The first thirty-nine books (the Old Testament) are a record of the history of the people group
through whom Jesus came into the world (the Jews, Israel).
2. The other twenty-seven books (the New Testament) were written by eyewitnesses of Jesus.
These books include accounts of Jesus’ ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection, as well as
specific instructions for Christians about what we must believe and how we are to behave.
b. Jesus is God Incarnate—God become fully man without ceasing to be fully God. Because Jesus
is God’s clearest revelation of Him, effective Bible reading begins with the New Testament.
1. Two thousand years ago Jesus took on a human nature and was born into this world so He
could die as a sacrifice for sin. By doing so, He opened the way for all who believe on Him
to be restored to God’s family. Jesus said that the Scriptures testify of Him. John 5:39
2. The Scriptures were written to reveal God—what He is like and what He does. They are
meant to inspire our trust (faith) in Him so that we will come to Him for salvation and
participate in the loving relationship with Him for which He created us. John 20:30-31
2. There are two primary ways to approach reading the Bible effectively. Both are necessary. In one
approach, you read each New Testament book from beginning to end (several times, if possible).
a. Your goal is to become familiar with the text, because understanding comes with familiarity, and
familiarity comes with regular, repeated reading. In this type of reading, you read to gain
knowledge, see context, and realize that the individual verses are part of a much bigger picture.
b. The other approach is reading relationally, or reading to connect with God through His written
Word, because He reveals Himself to us through His Word. Your goal isn’t to finish a chapter
or book, but to prayerfully think about what you’re reading and the One who inspired the words.
c. Consider an example of relational reading. The first four New Testament books (gospels) all
record a miracle where Jesus multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish to feed five thousand
men, plus women and children. Matt 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14
1. Instead of simply reading to focus on information (where it took place, what kind of fish,
how they passed out food to as many as ten thousand people), you focus Jesus and what the
account says to you personally. (It will be consistent with the actual meaning of the text).
2. In relational reading, you thoughtfully consider that Jesus was with those people and helped
them. Remind yourself that He is with you and wants to help you, just as He did them.
Pray this back to Him: Thank you Lord that you are with me. Help me to believe this.
Help me to see that you can use the problem (not enough food) to solve the problem.
3. With this type of reading, the Scriptures become more than facts on a page. We realize that
we’re interacting with the God, and these concepts become a reality in our hearts.
3. It’s best to begin relational reading with the Gospels (the first four books in the New Testament),
since they are biographies of Jesus. In the past few lessons, we’ve been looking at some things
Jesus said at the Last Supper to help us learn how to read relationally. We have more to say tonight.
B. The Last Supper took place the night before Jesus was crucified. It was His last meal with His twelve
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apostles, men who had been in close contact with Him for over three years. In the gospel that he wrote,
John the apostle gives us a detailed account of what happened at the meal. John 13-17
1. Jesus (God Incarnate) shared many things with these men that night aimed at helping them deal with
what was about to happen. Jesus wasn’t sharing religious principles. He was interacting with men
He loved. His purpose was to help and comfort them as He prepared them for what was ahead.
a. We’ve made the point in previous lessons that the apostles didn’t understand much of what Jesus
said to them than night. We actually know more than the apostles did that night.
b. We know that Jesus was crucified for our sins in God’s greatest expression of love for the world.
And we know that He rose up from the grave three days later, having conquered death for us all.
c. Understanding will come to the apostles with the resurrection. On that day, Jesus will go
through the Old Testament and show them how His death and resurrection was predicted by the
prophets, and how it fulfilled God’s plan to deliver men and women from sin. Luke 24:25-27; 44
2, Jesus told His men that He was going to return to Heaven and prepare a place for them. Although
they couldn’t go with Him then, He assured them He would come back and get them. John 14:1-6
a. Jesus promised not abandon them: I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper, to
be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth…I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you
(John 14:16-18, ESV).
b. He said: In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will (John 14:19, NLT).
This meant that Jesus is going to die the next day and they will think that they won’t see Him
again. But they will see Him when He rises from the dead. However, there is more to it.
c. Jesus continued: John 14:21—Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me…
and I will reveal myself to each one of them (NLT).
1. One of His disciples, Judas (not the traitor, but the one surnamed Thaddeus) said to Jesus:
Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, but not to the world (John 14:22, ESV).
2. John 14:23—Jesus answered him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father
will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (ESV).
3. In other words, Jesus promised them continued revelation of Himself and the Father through
His Word—continued fellowship with them through His written Word.
A. Jesus further promised them: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I
said to you (John 14:26, NKJV).
B. Jesus assured them that He would continue to make Himself known to them by the Holy
Spirit through His Word. These promises are for all of Jesus’ followers, so we can read
with the confidence that He will reveal Himself to us as we seek Him.
d. We pointed out last week that God is Triune—one God who simultaneously manifests as three
distinct, but not separate, Persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
1. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit coinhere. They each fully possess the One Divine
nature. They have eternally existed in this unique relationship. This is a mystery beyond
our comprehension. We simply accept and marvel at it.
2. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were and are involved in salvation. The Father
planned it. Jesus purchased (provided) it through His sacrifice. The Holy Spirit produces
(or applies) the effects of Jesus’ sacrifice when we believe on Jesus.
3. When Jesus promised that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit to His apostles, Jesus said:
He lives with you now and later will be in you (John 14:17, NLT). Jesus also said four different
times: I am in the Father and the Father is in me. John 14:10 (two times), John 14:11
a. In John 14:20 Jesus said: When I am raised to life again (NLT), you will know [for yourselves]
that I am in My Father, and you [are] in Me, and I am in you (Amp). At that point, the
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apostles had no idea what Jesus meant when He said you will be in me and I will be in you.
b. Almighty God created us with the capacity to receive Him into our being, to be indwelled by His
Spirit and uncreated life, the eternal life in Him. We are meant to be God’s literal, actual sons
and daughters who partake of His life and Spirit. Sin has cut us off from God and His life.
1. The goal of redemption (salvation), and God’s ultimate plan, is to unite Himself to men and
women by His Spirit and life, and completely undo the damage done to us by sin. This
union with Him through shared life will ultimately restore us to all that we are meant to be.
2. Through His death and resurrection Jesus opened the way for us to be restored to our created
purpose as God’s actual sons and daughters. When we believe on Jesus, He, by the Holy
Spirit, becomes our life (not to replace us), but to restore us and empower us.
A. John 1:12-13—But to all who believed him (Jesus) and accepted him, he gave the right to
become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical rebirth resulting from
human passion or plan—this rebirth comes from God (NLT).
B. John 3:3-7—Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (literally, born from
above) he cannot see the kingdom of God…That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be
born again (literally, born from above) (ESV).
c. Christianity is more than a belief system. It is an organic or living relationship with Almighty
God through union with Him through shared life.
1. At the Last Supper, when Jesus said to His apostles that you will know that I am in the Father
and you are in me, and I am in you, He was referring to union with Him.
2. Jesus called Himself life—I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6, ESV). Through
union we become partakers of the life in Him—the uncreated life in God Himself.
A. John 17:3—There is only one way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God
and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth (NLT).
B. I John 1:1-2—The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have seen and
heard. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is
Jesus Christ, the Word of life. This one who is life from God was shown to us and we
have seen him. And now we testify and announce to you that he is the one who is
eternal life (NLT).
C. Rom 6:23—For the wages which sin pays is death; but the [wonderful] free gift of God is
eternal life (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord (Amp).
3. All of this is beyond our full understanding because we are talking about how an Infinite,
Transcendent Being has chosen to interact with finite beings.
4. How would you read the various passages we’re cited relationally? Purposefully consider that this
is God Incarnate talking to you and He is telling you that He is with you and in you by His Spirit.
a. Jesus is telling me that I now have the life of the Vine, His life, in me. I have God, by His Holy
Spirit, in me. Thank you, Lord, that you are in me to strengthen and restore me. God is in me
by His Spirit to help me, comfort me, teach me. I am never alone.
1. As we interact with these words and the One who spoke them, they become more than facts
on a page. They become a reality in our heart and in our experience.
2. Note what Paul the apostle prayed for Christians in Eph 3:19—[That you may fully come] to
know—practically, through experience for yourselves—the love of Christ, which far
surpasses mere knowledge without experience); that you may be filled (through all your
being) unto all the fullness of God—[that is] may have the richest measure of the divine
Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself (Amp).
b. Jesus promised that as we keep (obey) His Word, He will make Himself known to us, by the
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Holy Spirit through His Word (John 14:21-23; John 14:26; John 7:37-39). You can’t keep it if
you don’t know what it says. That’s one reason we read.
1. This doesn’t mean perfect behavior on our part. Remember, we’re finished works in
progress—fully God’s sons and daughters through union with Christ—but not yet fully
restored in every part of our being. I John 3:2
2. It means that your heart is set on obeying Him, and you are quick to repent and make the
necessary changes when you see that you fall short (lessons for another day).
C. Conclusion: Consider these thoughts as we close. At the Last Supper Jesus made reference to the
Father, Himself, and the Holy Spirit. God is Triune—one God who simultaneously manifests as three
distinct, but not separate persons. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God.
1. One of the strongest arguments for the Triune nature of God is that fact that He is love (I John 4:16).
Love is meaningful only in the context of an object to love.
a. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have been living in loving relationship with each other
since forever, and we have been invited into this relationship.
b. John 1:1—In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
(NKJV). The Greek word that is translated with (pros), as it is used here, has the idea of close,
personal relationship.
2, The twelve apostles who sat with Jesus at the Last Supper were all Jews who grew up with the Old
Testament which refers to men who lived in close in relationship with God.
a. Abraham was called the friend of God (II Chron 20:7; Isa 41:8), and God spoke to Moses face to
face, as a man speaks to his friend (Ex 33:11).
b. A quick, but important, side note. In Ex 33 Moses asked to see God’s glory, to which the Lord
responded: No man can see my face and live (Ex 33:20). How then could God speak to Moses
face to face? This seems like a contradiction.
1. God is Omnipresent or present everywhere at once. He doesn’t have a body. When the
Bible refers to God’s face, hand, back parts, etc. the words are figurative. No man can see
His face means God’s full unveiled splendor. We, in our fallen condition, couldn’t bear it.
2. The phrase face to face does not mean that Moses literally saw God’s face. The words
indicate the familiarity and confidence with which God spoke to and treated spoke to Moses.
3, Here’s the point for our lesson. Jesus is the visible manifestation of God—God in human flesh.
God Incarnate sat with those twelve men at the Last Supper, and He said to them: You are My
friends if you do whatever I command you (John 15:14, NKJV).
a. Friends reveal things to each other. The deeper the friendship, the deeper the revelations.
Increasing revelation deepens the relationship. The more you know about each other, the deeper
the relationship. We were created for relationship with this wonderful Being.
b. Almighty God knows everything about us. He has given us His Word so that we can know
Him. Our capacity to know the Lord grows as we grow in knowledge of Him—even though
there will always be more to know and an infinite amount that is incomprehensible.
4, When you read relationally, you engage with the Lord by faith. Heb 11:1—(Faith perceives) as real
fact what is not yet revealed to the senses (Amp).
a. The apostles could see Jesus sitting there with them. We can’t see Him. But He is there with
you when you read, whether you see or feel Him or not, because He is Omnipresent.
b. Because God is also Infinite (without limits) He is with you (and everyone one else) as though
you (they) are the only person on the face of the earth—whether you believe it or not.
c. But if you believe that He is perfectly present with you as though you are the only person in the
world—He will engage with you. More next week!
