13. Jesus Ate the Bread and Opened the Scriptures to the Men After His Resurrection
(Lk 24:30-32) And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, 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?
14. The Disciples Gave Jesus the Broiled Fish to Eat
(Lk 24:36-43) And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the middle of them, and said to them, Peace be to you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said to them, Have you here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.
Let us now look at the above passages of scripture. The first passage is the account about the Lord Jesus eating the bread and opening the scriptures after his resurrection. The second is the account about the Lord Jesus eating the broiled fish. What help can these two passages bring to your knowing God’s disposition? You may imagine: What picture do these descriptions give you that the Lord Jesus ate the bread and the broiled fish? You may imagine: If the Lord Jesus stands before you and eats bread, what kind of feeling will you have? Or if the Lord Jesus eats at the same table with you, eating fish and bread with you, what kind of feeling will you have then? If you feel very close to the Lord and feel that the Lord is very amiable with man, this feeling is right. This is precisely the result the Lord Jesus wanted to achieve by eating bread and fish before all the men after his resurrection. If the Lord Jesus only talked with men after his resurrection and they could not feel his bones and his flesh but felt he was an unreachable soul, what kind of feeling would they have? Wouldn’t they be disappointed? When they were disappointed, wouldn’t they feel abandoned? Wouldn’t they feel that there was a distance between them and the Lord Jesus Christ? What negative effects would this distance have on the relationship between man and God? Man would definitely feel afraid and not dare to come close to him. Man would take the attitude of staying at a respectful distance from him, and thereafter man’s intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ would be cut off and be restored to the relationship between man and the God in heaven before the Age of the Grace. The spiritual body that man could not touch or feel would cause man’s feeling of being close to God to disappear, and would also cause the zero-distance intimate relationship the Lord Jesus Christ established with man when in the flesh to exist no longer. Man’s feeling toward the spiritual body was only dreading, shunning, and staring without words, not daring to approach and not daring to communicate and talk with, not to speak of following, trusting, and looking up to. God hated to see that man had this kind of feeling toward him, and he did not want to see that man shunned him and stayed away from him, but he only wanted man to know about him, come close to him, and be his dear one. If your dear ones and your children do not know you and dare not come close to you but always shun you when seeing you, and anything you do for them cannot be understood by them, what kind of feeling will you have? Won’t you feel your heart ache? Won’t you be heart-broken? Such is God’s feeling when man shuns him. So, after his resurrection the Lord Jesus still appeared to men in the image with bones and flesh and ate and drank with men. God regards man as his dear one, and God also wants man to regard him as the dearest. Only thus can God truly gain man and can man truly love and worship God. Can you understand now my intention of why I extract these two passages of scripture that the Lord Jesus ate the bread and opened the scriptures to men after his resurrection and that the disciples gave the Lord Jesus the broiled fish to eat?
The series of things the Lord Jesus did and the words he said after his resurrection could be said to embody his thoughtful kind intention. He was full of God’s deep affection and profound kindness toward man, full of God’s treasure and meticulous care for the intimate relationship he established with man when in the flesh, and even more full of God’s yearning and expectation for the life of eating and living with his followers when in the flesh. So God did not want man to feel there was a distance between God and man or want man to become distant from God, much less want man to feel that after the Lord Jesus’ resurrection he was no longer the Lord close to man and he was no longer with man, because he had returned to the spiritual realm and returned to the Father whom man could never see or reach. He did not want man to feel that he became different from man in position. When God saw that man wanted to follow him but stayed at a respectful distance from him, God’s heart was aching, because it meant that man’s heart was far away from him, and meant that he could hardly gain man’s heart. So, if he appeared to man in the spiritual body that man could not see or touch, it would again cause a distance between man and God, and at the same time it would make man mistake that the resurrected Christ became great, no longer of the same kind with man, and could not eat at the same table with man again, and that man could never come close to God as man was sinful and filthy. In order to remove these misunderstandings of man, the Lord Jesus did the series of things he often did when in the flesh. Just as the scripture records, “he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them,” and he opened the scriptures to them as before. All that the Lord Jesus did made everyone who saw him feel that the Lord did not change and he was the same Lord Jesus, and that although he was crucified and went through death, yet he was resurrected, he did not leave man, he came back among men, and nothing of his changed. The Son of man standing before men was the same Lord Jesus, and they felt that his conduct and speech were so familiar, he was still full of lovingkindness, grace, and forbearance, and he was the same Lord Jesus who loved man as himself, and the same Lord Jesus who could forgive man “seventy times seven.” He ate with men and talked with men about the scriptures as before, and more importantly he had blood and flesh as before, being touchable and visible to men. Such a Son of man made men feel close to him, made men feel assured, and made men have the delight of regaining after losing. At the same time men assuredly and confidently began to rely on and look to this Son of man who could forgive their sins, began to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus without any hesitation, praying to receive grace and blessing from him, receive peace and joy from him, and receive care and keeping from him, and began to heal the sick and drive out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus.
While the Lord Jesus worked in the flesh, most of his followers could not be completely certain about his identity and his words. When he went to the cross, his followers’ attitude toward him was watching; from the time he was crucified to the time he was brought into the tomb, men’s attitude toward him was disappointed, and during this, men in their heart already began to doubt and deny the words the Lord Jesus said when in the flesh; when the Lord Jesus came out of the tomb and appeared to the men one after another, most of those who saw him with their own eyes or heard the news of his resurrection gradually changed from negating to half-believing. Not until the Lord Jesus asked Thomas to put his hand into his side and he broke the bread and ate it and ate the broiled fish before all the men after his resurrection, did men truly accept the fact that the Lord Jesus was the incarnated Christ. It can be said that the spiritual body with bones and flesh standing before men at that time made everyone feel as if awakening from a dream: This Son of man standing before their eyes is the One who exists from everlasting, he is with form and image and with bones and flesh, he has been eating and living with men for long…. At that time, his existence made men feel it so real and so wonderful, feel so pleased and happy, and also filled with deep feelings. And his reappearing made men truly see his humbleness and feel his being close to men and his being concerned about and reluctant to part from men. The short reunion made men who saw the Lord Jesus feel as if a generation had passed. Their heart was comforted which felt lost, perplexed, confused, uneasy, and worried, was full of yearning, and was numb. Men no longer doubted and was no longer disappointed, because they felt that they had hopes and reliance, and that the Son of man standing before them was their permanent rear guard and eternal strong tower and refuge.
Although the Lord Jesus resurrected, his heart and his work did not leave man. He told man by his appearing that in whatever way he existed, he would accompany man anytime and anywhere, walking with man and being with man, and supply and shepherd man anytime and anywhere, and he would be visible and touchable to man anytime and anywhere, making man no longer feel helpless. The Lord Jesus also wanted man to know that living in this world man was not isolated, man had God’s concern and God’s presence, God was man’s permanent support, God was the dear one of every man who followed him, with him as the support man would no longer be alone and no longer be helpless, and those who accepted him as the sin offering would no longer be bound by sin. These works the Lord Jesus did after his resurrection were very small things in man’s eyes, but in my eyes every one of them was so meaningful and so valuable, and was so important and weighty.
Although when the Lord Jesus did the work in the flesh, it was full of hardships and sufferings, he, by appearing in the spiritual body with bones and flesh, completely and perfectly accomplished the work of redeeming mankind through being incarnated that time. He began his ministry in the way of incarnation, and ended his ministry by appearing to men in the incarnated image; he brought the Age of the Grace and started the Age of the Grace in the identity of Christ, carried out the work of the Age of the Grace in the identity of Christ, and strengthened and guided all his followers in the Age of the Grace in the identity of Christ. God’s work really can be said to be well begun and well ended, step by step and in a planned way, full of God’s wisdom, God’s almightiness, and God’s wonderful deeds, and full of God’s love and mercy. Of course, the main thread which ran through all God’s works was God’s care for man, and was God’s concern for man which he could hardly give up. In these verses, what manifested in every thing the Lord Jesus did after his resurrection were God’s unchanging expectation and concern for mankind and God’s meticulous care and affection for mankind. These have remained the same up to now. Have you seen them? When you see these, doesn’t your heart unconsciously become close to God? If you were born in that age and the Lord Jesus appeared to you after his resurrection, who was with form and image and was visible to you, and sitting before you he ate bread and fish and opened the scriptures to you and chatted with you, what kind of feeling would you have then? Wouldn’t you feel very happy? Wouldn’t you feel guilty? Wouldn’t your former misunderstanding and shunning and resistance and doubt toward God all disappear? Wouldn’t your relationship with God become somewhat normal?
Through my interpreting these few verses in the Bible, have you found any flaw in God’s disposition? Have you found the slightest mixture in God’s love? Have you seen any craftiness or evil in God’s almightiness and wisdom? Definitely not! Can you say with certainty now that God is holy? Can you say with certainty that God’s pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy are all manifestations of God’s substance and God’s disposition? I hope that what you understand after reading these words will bring help and benefit to your pursuing to be transformed in your disposition and pursuing to fear God. I also hope that the results these words achieve in you will increase with every passing day, so that in the course of your pursuit you will become closer and closer to God and become closer and closer to the standard required by God, and will no longer dislike pursuing the truth and no longer feel it is a troublesome thing and an unnecessary thing to pursue the truth and pursue the transformation of your disposition, but because of the expression of God’s real disposition and the holy substance of God, you will be encouraged to long for light, long for justice, have the will to pursue the truth and pursue to satisfy God’s heart’s desire, and become a man gained by God and become a real man.
Today we have talked about some things God did when incarnated the first time in the Age of the Grace. From them we have seen the disposition God expressed and manifested when in the flesh and seen what God has and is in various aspects. What God has and is in these various aspects seem very human, but actually none of the expressions and the manifestations in substance is separated from the disposition of God Godself. Every way and every aspect in which God incarnate expresses God’s disposition in his humanity are inseparable from the substance of God Godself. So, God’s coming to mankind in the way of incarnation is very important, the work he does in the flesh is also very important, and the disposition he expresses and the will he expresses are much more important to everyone who lives in the flesh and everyone who lives in corruption. Can you understand this? After you have understood God’s disposition and what God has and is, have you made any conclusion about how to treat God? About this question, finally I want to give you three admonitions: First, do not test God. No matter how much you understand about God and how much you know about God’s disposition, never test God. Second, do not contend with God for position. No matter what position God gives you, what work God lets you undertake, what duty God uplifts you to perform, and how much you have spent and consecrated for God, never contend with God for position. Third, do not compete against God. No matter whether you can understand or obey what God does on you, what God arranges for you, or what comes upon you from God, never compete against God. If you can do these three things, you will be rather safe, and you will not easily provoke God. That’s all for today.
(Lk 24:30-32) And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, 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?
14. The Disciples Gave Jesus the Broiled Fish to Eat
(Lk 24:36-43) And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the middle of them, and said to them, Peace be to you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said to them, Have you here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.
Let us now look at the above passages of scripture. The first passage is the account about the Lord Jesus eating the bread and opening the scriptures after his resurrection. The second is the account about the Lord Jesus eating the broiled fish. What help can these two passages bring to your knowing God’s disposition? You may imagine: What picture do these descriptions give you that the Lord Jesus ate the bread and the broiled fish? You may imagine: If the Lord Jesus stands before you and eats bread, what kind of feeling will you have? Or if the Lord Jesus eats at the same table with you, eating fish and bread with you, what kind of feeling will you have then? If you feel very close to the Lord and feel that the Lord is very amiable with man, this feeling is right. This is precisely the result the Lord Jesus wanted to achieve by eating bread and fish before all the men after his resurrection. If the Lord Jesus only talked with men after his resurrection and they could not feel his bones and his flesh but felt he was an unreachable soul, what kind of feeling would they have? Wouldn’t they be disappointed? When they were disappointed, wouldn’t they feel abandoned? Wouldn’t they feel that there was a distance between them and the Lord Jesus Christ? What negative effects would this distance have on the relationship between man and God? Man would definitely feel afraid and not dare to come close to him. Man would take the attitude of staying at a respectful distance from him, and thereafter man’s intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ would be cut off and be restored to the relationship between man and the God in heaven before the Age of the Grace. The spiritual body that man could not touch or feel would cause man’s feeling of being close to God to disappear, and would also cause the zero-distance intimate relationship the Lord Jesus Christ established with man when in the flesh to exist no longer. Man’s feeling toward the spiritual body was only dreading, shunning, and staring without words, not daring to approach and not daring to communicate and talk with, not to speak of following, trusting, and looking up to. God hated to see that man had this kind of feeling toward him, and he did not want to see that man shunned him and stayed away from him, but he only wanted man to know about him, come close to him, and be his dear one. If your dear ones and your children do not know you and dare not come close to you but always shun you when seeing you, and anything you do for them cannot be understood by them, what kind of feeling will you have? Won’t you feel your heart ache? Won’t you be heart-broken? Such is God’s feeling when man shuns him. So, after his resurrection the Lord Jesus still appeared to men in the image with bones and flesh and ate and drank with men. God regards man as his dear one, and God also wants man to regard him as the dearest. Only thus can God truly gain man and can man truly love and worship God. Can you understand now my intention of why I extract these two passages of scripture that the Lord Jesus ate the bread and opened the scriptures to men after his resurrection and that the disciples gave the Lord Jesus the broiled fish to eat?
The series of things the Lord Jesus did and the words he said after his resurrection could be said to embody his thoughtful kind intention. He was full of God’s deep affection and profound kindness toward man, full of God’s treasure and meticulous care for the intimate relationship he established with man when in the flesh, and even more full of God’s yearning and expectation for the life of eating and living with his followers when in the flesh. So God did not want man to feel there was a distance between God and man or want man to become distant from God, much less want man to feel that after the Lord Jesus’ resurrection he was no longer the Lord close to man and he was no longer with man, because he had returned to the spiritual realm and returned to the Father whom man could never see or reach. He did not want man to feel that he became different from man in position. When God saw that man wanted to follow him but stayed at a respectful distance from him, God’s heart was aching, because it meant that man’s heart was far away from him, and meant that he could hardly gain man’s heart. So, if he appeared to man in the spiritual body that man could not see or touch, it would again cause a distance between man and God, and at the same time it would make man mistake that the resurrected Christ became great, no longer of the same kind with man, and could not eat at the same table with man again, and that man could never come close to God as man was sinful and filthy. In order to remove these misunderstandings of man, the Lord Jesus did the series of things he often did when in the flesh. Just as the scripture records, “he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them,” and he opened the scriptures to them as before. All that the Lord Jesus did made everyone who saw him feel that the Lord did not change and he was the same Lord Jesus, and that although he was crucified and went through death, yet he was resurrected, he did not leave man, he came back among men, and nothing of his changed. The Son of man standing before men was the same Lord Jesus, and they felt that his conduct and speech were so familiar, he was still full of lovingkindness, grace, and forbearance, and he was the same Lord Jesus who loved man as himself, and the same Lord Jesus who could forgive man “seventy times seven.” He ate with men and talked with men about the scriptures as before, and more importantly he had blood and flesh as before, being touchable and visible to men. Such a Son of man made men feel close to him, made men feel assured, and made men have the delight of regaining after losing. At the same time men assuredly and confidently began to rely on and look to this Son of man who could forgive their sins, began to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus without any hesitation, praying to receive grace and blessing from him, receive peace and joy from him, and receive care and keeping from him, and began to heal the sick and drive out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus.
While the Lord Jesus worked in the flesh, most of his followers could not be completely certain about his identity and his words. When he went to the cross, his followers’ attitude toward him was watching; from the time he was crucified to the time he was brought into the tomb, men’s attitude toward him was disappointed, and during this, men in their heart already began to doubt and deny the words the Lord Jesus said when in the flesh; when the Lord Jesus came out of the tomb and appeared to the men one after another, most of those who saw him with their own eyes or heard the news of his resurrection gradually changed from negating to half-believing. Not until the Lord Jesus asked Thomas to put his hand into his side and he broke the bread and ate it and ate the broiled fish before all the men after his resurrection, did men truly accept the fact that the Lord Jesus was the incarnated Christ. It can be said that the spiritual body with bones and flesh standing before men at that time made everyone feel as if awakening from a dream: This Son of man standing before their eyes is the One who exists from everlasting, he is with form and image and with bones and flesh, he has been eating and living with men for long…. At that time, his existence made men feel it so real and so wonderful, feel so pleased and happy, and also filled with deep feelings. And his reappearing made men truly see his humbleness and feel his being close to men and his being concerned about and reluctant to part from men. The short reunion made men who saw the Lord Jesus feel as if a generation had passed. Their heart was comforted which felt lost, perplexed, confused, uneasy, and worried, was full of yearning, and was numb. Men no longer doubted and was no longer disappointed, because they felt that they had hopes and reliance, and that the Son of man standing before them was their permanent rear guard and eternal strong tower and refuge.
Although the Lord Jesus resurrected, his heart and his work did not leave man. He told man by his appearing that in whatever way he existed, he would accompany man anytime and anywhere, walking with man and being with man, and supply and shepherd man anytime and anywhere, and he would be visible and touchable to man anytime and anywhere, making man no longer feel helpless. The Lord Jesus also wanted man to know that living in this world man was not isolated, man had God’s concern and God’s presence, God was man’s permanent support, God was the dear one of every man who followed him, with him as the support man would no longer be alone and no longer be helpless, and those who accepted him as the sin offering would no longer be bound by sin. These works the Lord Jesus did after his resurrection were very small things in man’s eyes, but in my eyes every one of them was so meaningful and so valuable, and was so important and weighty.
Although when the Lord Jesus did the work in the flesh, it was full of hardships and sufferings, he, by appearing in the spiritual body with bones and flesh, completely and perfectly accomplished the work of redeeming mankind through being incarnated that time. He began his ministry in the way of incarnation, and ended his ministry by appearing to men in the incarnated image; he brought the Age of the Grace and started the Age of the Grace in the identity of Christ, carried out the work of the Age of the Grace in the identity of Christ, and strengthened and guided all his followers in the Age of the Grace in the identity of Christ. God’s work really can be said to be well begun and well ended, step by step and in a planned way, full of God’s wisdom, God’s almightiness, and God’s wonderful deeds, and full of God’s love and mercy. Of course, the main thread which ran through all God’s works was God’s care for man, and was God’s concern for man which he could hardly give up. In these verses, what manifested in every thing the Lord Jesus did after his resurrection were God’s unchanging expectation and concern for mankind and God’s meticulous care and affection for mankind. These have remained the same up to now. Have you seen them? When you see these, doesn’t your heart unconsciously become close to God? If you were born in that age and the Lord Jesus appeared to you after his resurrection, who was with form and image and was visible to you, and sitting before you he ate bread and fish and opened the scriptures to you and chatted with you, what kind of feeling would you have then? Wouldn’t you feel very happy? Wouldn’t you feel guilty? Wouldn’t your former misunderstanding and shunning and resistance and doubt toward God all disappear? Wouldn’t your relationship with God become somewhat normal?
Through my interpreting these few verses in the Bible, have you found any flaw in God’s disposition? Have you found the slightest mixture in God’s love? Have you seen any craftiness or evil in God’s almightiness and wisdom? Definitely not! Can you say with certainty now that God is holy? Can you say with certainty that God’s pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy are all manifestations of God’s substance and God’s disposition? I hope that what you understand after reading these words will bring help and benefit to your pursuing to be transformed in your disposition and pursuing to fear God. I also hope that the results these words achieve in you will increase with every passing day, so that in the course of your pursuit you will become closer and closer to God and become closer and closer to the standard required by God, and will no longer dislike pursuing the truth and no longer feel it is a troublesome thing and an unnecessary thing to pursue the truth and pursue the transformation of your disposition, but because of the expression of God’s real disposition and the holy substance of God, you will be encouraged to long for light, long for justice, have the will to pursue the truth and pursue to satisfy God’s heart’s desire, and become a man gained by God and become a real man.
Today we have talked about some things God did when incarnated the first time in the Age of the Grace. From them we have seen the disposition God expressed and manifested when in the flesh and seen what God has and is in various aspects. What God has and is in these various aspects seem very human, but actually none of the expressions and the manifestations in substance is separated from the disposition of God Godself. Every way and every aspect in which God incarnate expresses God’s disposition in his humanity are inseparable from the substance of God Godself. So, God’s coming to mankind in the way of incarnation is very important, the work he does in the flesh is also very important, and the disposition he expresses and the will he expresses are much more important to everyone who lives in the flesh and everyone who lives in corruption. Can you understand this? After you have understood God’s disposition and what God has and is, have you made any conclusion about how to treat God? About this question, finally I want to give you three admonitions: First, do not test God. No matter how much you understand about God and how much you know about God’s disposition, never test God. Second, do not contend with God for position. No matter what position God gives you, what work God lets you undertake, what duty God uplifts you to perform, and how much you have spent and consecrated for God, never contend with God for position. Third, do not compete against God. No matter whether you can understand or obey what God does on you, what God arranges for you, or what comes upon you from God, never compete against God. If you can do these three things, you will be rather safe, and you will not easily provoke God. That’s all for today.
July 23, 2014