new church life: september/october 2015
form and became a Person who could walk among us. We could hear His
words and see His miraculous works, and know that He is the One who has the
power to change our hearts. Yet He spoke in parables and symbols, and many
who have longed for miraculous healings have wondered why such miracles
no longer seem to take place.
Jesus said to His disciples: “These things I have spoken to you in figurative
language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative
language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.” (Ibid. 16:25)
That time is now. The second coming of Jesus Christ is not by Him taking
on yet another human form. Through His first coming the Lord took on a
human form and made it Divine, uniting it to the Father or the Divinity that
was in Himself from birth. He is still present with us in the world in that Divine
Human form.
If we understand that the Lord is present everywhere – in all space yet not
limited by space – then we know that His coming is not a matter of arriving
in a place where He has not been present. He is already here! The only “place”
where the Lord is not already present is in human awareness. If we do not
think about Him and do not understand Him, then He is not present in our
thoughts, and has not “come” into our consciousness.
This is why the Lord’s second coming is not a physical but a spiritual event.
His coming is a revelation that allows us to see Him in a way that we have not
seen Him before – more clearly, more powerfully and more intimately.
The Writings are what we often call the books that the Lord has provided
to the world so that all could see Him in this new way. Yet these Writings do
not transcend or supersede the Bible. Rather they open up the Bible and show
us what has always been there, yet was hidden from our view.
The Bible was written in ancient times, in ancient languages, to ancient
cultures, yet it was written for all times, and perhaps especially for today, when
the deeper meaning can be plainly revealed. Now we can see not only what the
Lord did and said, but what He felt and thought.
The Road to Emmaus
On the day when Jesus rose from the grave, He walked with two of His disciples
on the road to Emmaus, though they did n ot recognize Him. On the two-hour
walk Jesus “expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself,” beginning with Moses and all the Prophets. Later, after Jesus had
vanished, the disciples said to each other: “Didn’t our heart burn within us
while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to
us?” (Luke 24:27, 32)
We don’t know exactly what parts of the Law and Prophets the Lord opened
to them that day, but it is clear that He helped them see things about Himself
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