Introduction
The Lord Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man; He came down to earth to bring salvation to the world and show the way to the Trinity of God: God the Father, God the Lord Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, died on the cross for the sins of the world. He was buried in the tomb, and on the third day, He rose from the dead. After appearing in bodily form to many of His disciples, He ascended to the Father. People around the world hear about the Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection, and many, including believers, wonder how they can come to know Him and how the resurrected Lord Jesus can meet with them.
The Miracle of the Lord Jesus' Resurrection
The miracle of Lord Jesus’ resurrection is detailed in all Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We will explore the wonder of encountering the resurrected Lord using the Bible passage found in Matthew 28:11-17, which relates to the miracle of the Lord Jesus' bodily resurrection, as described in Matthew 28.
11 Now, as they were going, behold, some of the guard, having come into the city, reported to the chief priests all the things that were come to pass.
12 And having been gathered together with the elders, and having taken counsel, they gave sufficient silver pieces to the soldiers,
13 saying, Say that His disciples having come by night, stole Him while we slept.
14 And if this is heard by the governor, we will persuade him, and will keep you out of trouble.
15 And having taken money, they did as they were instructed; and this report is spread abroad among the Jews, until the present day.
As it says in many places in the Bible, money is the root of evil. Humans can sell their own souls for money and the riches of this world. The root and not the truth itself that troubles their heart; money is the root. These verses clearly show that money has the power to control the deepest part of the heart of men; even for the soldiers who have seen the truth, money still buys the words of lies out of their mouths.
“Among the Jews.” They must discredit the Lord Jesus towards the Jews first because the Lord Jesus is a Jew; these are the people of His own flesh, but they are the least who accept Him.
16 And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus assigned them.
17 And having seen Him, they worshipped; but some doubted.
In this place in Galilee, on this mountain, the Lord Jesus just met with His eleven disciples. These verses tell us that among all of those who follow the Lord, there is always hope for all who believe. The Lord has given the disciples specific directions where they should meet Him. In the same way, the Lord gives the rest of the world directions in the Bible where to meet Him. The Lord always asks us to meet Him in our hearts; come to the Lord with a sincere heart, and you will always meet with the Lord. He comes to you as He went to meet the disciples; it is the same way for all who believe: you meet with the Lord as you go, or He comes to meet with you.
“And having seen Him, they worshipped.” Unlike the disciples here, we don’t see the Lord physically, but He is in our hearts. The Lord Jesus is in our hearts, not with the eyes to see; the internal connection we have with the Lord is deeper than the physical appearance; it is the soul that has the internal connection with the Lord.
In this passage of Scripture, a clear contrast can be drawn between the leaders and soldiers who spread lies and the disciples who followed the Lord’s instructions. The disciples believed in the Lord Jesus and adhered to His commandments, and as a result, the Lord came to meet them. However, the Lord did not meet with the soldiers and leaders who followed the ways of the dark. In order to encounter the resurrected Lord Jesus, it is essential for anyone to first believe in who He is—that He is the Son of God and God in the Trinity of God. The Lord Jesus provided us with clear instructions in His word, the Holy Bible, on how to love Him, follow Him, and meet Him in our hearts. When we do so, the Father and the Son will come into our hearts and make their home with us.
Many Bible passages illustrate how we can meet with the Lord in our hearts. One such passage is John 14:15-31, where the Lord Jesus explains what it means to love Him. Specifically, loving the Lord Jesus means keeping all the commandments He gave in the Holy Bible. Any true believer who knows the commandments must keep them all to call themselves a true believer in God. If we love the Lord Jesus and keep His commandments, He will ask the Father to send the Intercessor (the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ) to abide with us to the age. When we read and meditate on the Holy Bible, ask for the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus, to be our Teacher and give us a true understanding of the Holy Word. The beloved Son of God also promised peace to come, in the kingdom of God, to all true believers; the peace from the beloved Son of God is peace between the beloved Son of God and the true believers who have true repentance of their hearts. We will comment on two significant verses from this passage, specifically John 14:22-23, which explain how the Lord Jesus declares Himself to His disciples.
22 Judas (not the Iscariot) says to Him, Lord, and what has occurred that Thou are about to declare Thyself to us, and not to the world?
“Judas … to us.” When Judas asked this question, he also had a question in his heart that he wanted to know. So, when the beloved Son of God told them that He would show Himself to them, it made him also think whether they were more special than the rest of the world.
This question will also be for the rest of the people to whom the beloved Son of God will show Himself. Is He talking here about the chosen ones or not? The answer for all is true: the beloved Son of God is talking about the chosen ones who have been chosen to listen and obey His teachings. If you do not listen and obey, you will become like the rest of the world who hear about the beloved Son of God but do not believe that what He says is true; this difference makes the world (of those that know about the Bible) separated into two types of souls: the souls that listen and obey the teaching of the Holy Bible, and other souls that know about the Holy Bible but do not believe it is the true teaching of God. The point of separation is the heart of each soul itself; if you believe in the Holy Bible, you must meditate and read, and those actions will convince the person’s soul to come and be willing to serve the Lord God Almighty without doubting or delay.
“And not to the world.” This part of the verse refers to those who have surrendered their hearts to the teachings of the dark side. These persons have known the Holy Word but did not believe, and instead of meditating on the Word for faith, those persons have meditated on the Word to find mistakes in the Word and be able to fight the ones that come with faith to make their faith weakened by throwing doubts in their hearts; it is difficult for the rest of the world to know the difference between the Spirit of the Holy Word and the spirit of the dark teaching.
23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make a home with him.
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.” So, as the verse clearly tells, if you love the beloved Son of God, you will keep His teachings in your heart; but, when you keep His word, you must also read and meditate on the Holy Bible; the Holy Bible has all the teachings, and those teachings will make your heart ready to receive Him as well.
“... and My Father will love him.” Give attention to what the verse has said to all true believers. The beloved Son of God has told all that the Father Himself will love you because you love the beloved Son of God. And this is the way the Father shows love to anyone: when that person meditates on the Holy Word, that person will realize the peace in their heart, and during that time, within the heart, they will have great joy because the Father Himself also is happy with that soul. The root of all happiness for the soul is the Holy Word of God.
“And We will come to him.” Give attention to the word “We”: this refers to the Trinity of God, and at the same time, the Spirit of the beloved Son of God will also be there.
“… and will make a home with him.” When the heart of a true believer becomes home for the Lord, that heart of the blessed one will receive the greatest joy of life, which will also make the faith grow. The home is the place where God will dwell and also will make that home the proper place for receiving all praising of the soul; the request the soul will ask for the Lord to dwell in will receive the answer, and deep in the heart of true believers, it will acknowledge the answer they have received, which they can feel by the soul, not by the feeling of the head itself; that feeling will be deep down until the person cannot tell where that happiness comes from. Therefore, to decorate the heart to be the home of the Lord, all believers should put the praises in the heart that glorify the Trinity of God; the words used for glorifying the Trinity of God will decorate the heart of the soul itself for the Lord.
Reading this passage of Scripture, one may ask, “How does the Lord live in our hearts?” To understand the answer to this question, we must not think in physical terms, but in spiritual terms. The heart of the true believer is like a palace, which will have many rooms in it, and each room will be used for a different purpose as well, because that heart has become the home of God to dwell. Furthermore, we must believe that this is the will of the Father to live in our souls when we open our souls to receive Him; the Father uses the Holy Bible to be the path for humans to get in touch with the Holy Spirit; through the Holy Bible, the Holy Spirit will work in the heart of the reader, and when that heart has invited the Holy Spirit to be their guide, the Holy Spirit will use that invitation and put Himself to join with the soul itself.
The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the beloved Son are in the Holy Word itself. Also, let all believers remember one thing as well: the Holy Bible is the Living Word. God has spoken every word in the Holy Bible; the word never dies, always is alive and has life; the word itself has life and gives life to all true believers; if you truly believe you can feel the word is alive; general people will not have that feeling, only the true believers will gain that feeling, which is a gift from the Father Himself when you have meditated on the Holy Word.
We can also say this in another way: the Holy Bible is the path of connection between the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ with the true believers when they meditate on the Word of God. When you meditate on the Word of God, you have connected your soul to the path where you find the Lord guiding you. The Word that the Living God has spoken, that word has life in itself; the Holy Bible is the true living word of God, and every word in the Bible is alive. Therefore, you must first connect with the path before you can connect with the Lord.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the Lord Jesus declares Himself to His disciples through His Word, the Holy Bible. For us to meet with Him, we must read the Word of God, meditate on the Word of God, and pray to the Trinity of God in the name of the Lord Jesus. By engaging in these practices, the Holy Spirit will speak to us through the Word of God, revealing who the Lord Jesus is, guiding us in our faith, and making us feel the presence of the Lord Jesus and the Father in our hearts.
Meditation Tasks:
- Read and meditate on our blog article: “What Good Shall I do to be Saved?”