Jesus Eats Bread and Explains the Scriptures After His Resurrection
Apr 26, 2018271
(Luk 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?
(Luk 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.
Next we’ll take a look at the passages of scripture above. The first passage is a recounting of the
Lord Jesus eating bread and explaining the scriptures after His resurrection, and the second passage is a recounting of the Lord Jesus eating broiled fish. What kind of help do these two passages provide for knowing God’s disposition? Can you imagine the kind of picture you get from these descriptions of the Lord Jesus eating bread and then broiled fish? Can you imagine, if the
Lord Jesus were standing in front of you eating bread, how you might feel? Or if He were eating with you at the same table, eating fish and bread with people, what kind of feeling you would have at the time? If you feel you would be very close to the Lord, that He is very intimate with you, then this feeling is right. This is exactly the fruit that the Lord Jesus wanted to bear from eating bread and fish in front of the multitude after His resurrection. If the Lord Jesus had only spoken with people after His resurrection, if they could not feel His flesh and bones, but felt He was an unreachable Spirit, how would they feel? Wouldn’t they be disappointed? When people were disappointed, wouldn’t they feel abandoned? Wouldn’t they feel a distance with the Lord Jesus Christ? What kind of negative impact would this distance create on people’s relationship with God? People would certainly feel afraid, that they didn’t dare come close to Him, and then they would have an attitude of keeping Him at a respectful distance. From then on, they would sever their intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and return to a relationship between mankind and God up in heaven, as it was before the Age of Grace. The spiritual body that people could not touch or feel would lead to the eradication of their intimacy with God, and it would also make that intimate relationship—established during the Lord Jesus Christ’s time in the flesh, with no distance between Him and humans—cease to exist. People’s feelings toward the spiritual body are only fear, avoidance, and a wordless gaze. They do not dare to get close or to have a dialogue with Him, let alone follow, trust, or have hope in Him. God was reluctant to see this type of feeling that humans had for Him. He did not want to see people avoiding Him or removing themselves from Him; He only wanted people to understand Him, come close to Him, and be His family. If your own family, your children saw you but did not recognize you, and did not dare to come close to you but always avoided you, if you could not gain their understanding for everything you had done for them, how would that make you feel? Wouldn’t it be painful? Wouldn’t you be heartbroken? That is precisely what God feels when people avoid Him. So, after His resurrection, the Lord Jesus still appeared to people in His form of flesh and blood, and ate and drank with them. God sees people as family and He also wants mankind to see Him that way; only in this way can God truly obtain people, and can people truly love and worship God. Now can you understand My intention in extracting these two passages of scripture where the Lord Jesus eats bread and explains the scriptures, and the disciples give Him broiled fish to eat after His resurrection?
It can be said that the series of things that the Lord Jesus said and did after His resurrection were thoughtful, and done with kind intentions. They were full of the kindness and affection that God holds toward humanity, and full of the appreciation and meticulous care He had for the intimate relationship He had established with mankind during His time in the flesh. Even more, they were full of the nostalgia and the hope He had for the life of eating and living with His followers during His time in the flesh. So, God did not want people to feel a distance between God and man, nor did He want mankind to distance themselves from God. Even more, He didn’t want mankind to feel that the Lord Jesus after His resurrection was no longer the Lord who was so intimate with people, that He was no longer together with mankind because He returned to the spiritual world, returned to the Father who people could never see or reach. He didn’t want people to feel that there was any difference in position between Him and mankind. When God sees people who want to follow Him but keep Him at a respectful distance, His heart is in pain because that means their hearts are very far from Him, it means that it will be very difficult for Him to gain their hearts. So if He had appeared to people in a spiritual body that they could not see or touch, this would have once again distanced man from God, and it would have led mankind to mistakenly see Christ after His resurrection as having become lofty, of a different kind than humans, and someone who could no longer share a table and eat with man because humans are sinful, filthy, and can never get close to God. In order to remove these misunderstandings of mankind, the Lord Jesus did a number of things He frequently did in the flesh, as recorded in the Bible, “he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them.” He also explained the scriptures to them, as He had used to do. All of this that the Lord Jesus did made every person who saw Him feel that the Lord had not changed, that He was still the same Lord Jesus. Even though He had been nailed to the cross and had experienced death, He had been resurrected, and had not left mankind. He had returned to be among humans, and His everything had not changed. The Son of man standing in front of people was still the same Lord Jesus. His demeanor and His conversation with people felt so familiar. He was still so full of lovingkindness, grace, and tolerance—He was still that Lord Jesus who loved others as He loved Himself, who could forgive mankind seventy times seven. As always, He ate with people, discussed the scriptures with them, and even more importantly, just the same as before, He was made of flesh and blood and could be touched and seen. The Son of man in this way allowed people to feel that intimacy, to feel at ease, and to feel the joy of regaining something that has been lost, and they also felt at ease enough to bravely and confidently begin to rely on and look up to this Son of man who could forgive mankind of their sins. They also began to pray to the name of the Lord Jesus without hesitations, to pray to obtain His grace, His blessing, and to obtain peace and joy from Him, to gain care and protection from Him, and began to perform healings and cast out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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During the time that the Lord Jesus worked in the flesh, most of His followers could not fully verify His identity and the things that He said. When He went up on the cross, the attitude of His followers was one of expectancy; when He was nailed to the cross all the way until He was put into the grave, people’s attitude toward Him was disappointment. During this time, people had already begun to move in their hearts from doubting to denial of the things the Lord Jesus had said during His time in the flesh. And when He walked out from the grave, and appeared to the people one by one, the majority of people who had seen Him with their own eyes or heard the news of His resurrection gradually shifted from denial to skepticism. By the time the Lord Jesus had Thomas put his hand into His side, by the time the Lord Jesus broke bread and ate it in front of the crowd after His resurrection, and after that ate broiled fish in front of them, only then did they truly accept the fact that the Lord Jesus is Christ in the flesh. You could say that it was as if this spiritual body with flesh and blood standing in front of those people then was awakening every one of them from a dream: The Son of man standing in front of them was the One who had existed since time immemorial. He had a form, and flesh and bones, and He had already lived and eaten with mankind for a long time…. At this time, the people felt that His existence was so real, so wonderful; they were also so joyful and happy, and at the same time filled with emotion. And His reappearance allowed people to truly see His humility, to feel His closeness, and His longing, His attachment for mankind. This brief reunion made the people who saw the Lord Jesus feel as if a lifetime had passed. Their lost, confused, afraid, anxious, yearning and numb hearts found comfort. They were no longer doubtful or disappointed because they felt that now there was hope and something to rely on. The Son of man standing in front of them would be behind them for eternity, He would be their strong tower, their refuge for all time.
Although the Lord Jesus was resurrected, His heart and His work had not left mankind. He told people with His appearance that no matter what form He existed in, He would accompany people, walk with them, and be with them at all times and in all places. And at all times and all places, He would provide to mankind and shepherd them, allow them to see and touch Him, and make sure they never again feel helpless. The Lord Jesus also wanted people to know this: Their lives in this world are not alone. Mankind has God’s care, God is with them; people can always lean on God; He is the family of every one of His followers. With God to lean on, mankind will no longer be lonely or helpless, and those who accept Him as their sin offering will no longer be bound in sin. In human eyes, these portions of His work that the Lord Jesus carried out after His resurrection were very small things, but the way I see it, every single thing was so meaningful, so valuable, and they were all so important and weighty.
Although the Lord Jesus’ time of working in the flesh was full of hardships and suffering, through His appearance in His spiritual body of flesh and blood, He completely and perfectly accomplished His work of that time in the flesh to redeem mankind. He began His ministry by becoming flesh, and He concluded His ministry by appearing to mankind in His fleshly form. He heralded the Age of Grace, He began the Age of Grace through His identity as Christ. Through His identity as Christ, He carried out the work in the Age of Grace and He strengthened and led all of His followers in the Age of Grace. It can be said of God’s work that He truly finishes what He starts. There are steps and a plan, and it is full of God’s wisdom, His omnipotence, and His marvelous deeds. It is also full of God’s love and mercy. Of course, the main thread running through all of God’s work is His care for mankind; it is permeated with His feelings of concern that He can never put aside. In these verses of the Bible, in every single thing that the Lord Jesus did after His resurrection, what was revealed was God’s unchanging hopes and concern for mankind, as well as God’s meticulous care and cherishing of humans. Until now, none of this has changed—can you see it? When you see this, doesn’t your heart just automatically become close to God? If you lived in that age and the Lord Jesus appeared to you after His resurrection, in a tangible form for you to see, and if He sat in front of you, ate bread and fish and explained the scriptures to you, spoke with you, then how would you feel? Would you feel happy? How about guilty? The previous misunderstandings and avoidance of God, the conflicts with and doubts of God—wouldn’t they all just disappear? Wouldn’t the relationship between God and man become more proper?
Through interpretation of these limited chapters of the Bible, did you discover any flaws in God’s disposition? Did you discover any adulteration of God’s love? Did you see any deceit or evil in God’s omnipotence or wisdom? Certainly not! Now can you say with certainty that God is holy? Can you say with certainty that God’s emotions are all a revealing of His essence and disposition? I hope that after you have read these words, what you’ve understood from it will help you and bring you benefits in your pursuit of a change in disposition and a fear of God. I also hope that these words will bear fruit for you that grows by the day, thus in the process of this pursuit bringing you closer and closer to God, bringing you closer and closer to the standard that God requires, so that you are no longer bored of the pursuit of the truth and you no longer feel that the pursuit of the truth and of a change in disposition is a troublesome or a superfluous thing. It is, rather, the expression of God’s true disposition and the holy essence of God that motivate you to long for the light, to long for justice, and to aspire to pursue the truth, to pursue the satisfaction of God’s will, and to become a man gained by God, to become a real person.
from “
God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
Recommended: The Eastern Lightning website is testimony that the Lord Jesus has returned in the flesh and appeared in China, that He is Almighty God, Christ of the last days, has expressed truths to do the work of judgment beginning with the house of God, and brings true light down upon mankind.
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Christianity and the Church of Almighty God believe in the same God. People who understand the history of religion know that Judaism in Israel was born of the work that Jehovah God did in the Age of Law. Christianity, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy were all churches that emerged after the incarnate Lord Jesus did the work of redemption. The Church of Almighty God came to be when God became flesh during the last days to do the work of judgment. Christians in the Age of Grace read the Old and New Testament of the Bible, and Christians of the Church of Almighty God in the Age of Kingdom now read The Word Appears in the Flesh, which was personally spoken by God in the last days. Christianity abides by the work of redemption that the Lord Jesus did in the Age of Grace, and the Church of Almighty God accepts the work of judgment of the last days of the returned Lord Jesus, Almighty God. The difference between Christianity and the Church of Almighty God is that Christianity abides by the work that God did during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, whereas the Church of Almighty God abides by the work of judgment beginning from the house of God that God has carried out during the last days. The differences between Christianity and the Church of Almighty God are akin to the differences between Christianity and Judaism: During the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus carried out the work of mankind’s redemption upon the foundation of the work of the Old Testament Age of Law. But the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of Judaism did not recognize that the Lord Jesus was the incarnation of Jehovah, that He was the Messiah they were waiting for. They stubbornly clung to the laws and commandments of the Old Testament proclaimed by Jehovah God. They also crucified the merciful Lord Jesus, who had saved mankind, thus offending God’s disposition. God then discarded the whole of Judaism, which clung to the laws of the Old Testament, and turned His salvation to the Gentiles—who, after accepting and following the Lord Jesus, formed the churches of the New Testament, which were also called Christianity. Meanwhile, the Jews, who clung only to the work of Jehovah God of the Old Testament Age of Law and rejected the work of redemption of the Lord Jesus, formed what is called Judaism. From this it can be seen that Christianity and the Church of Almighty God believe in the same God—the Lord who created the heavens and the earth and all things. It’s just that the name and work of God people hold to are different: The Church of Almighty God abides by the new name of God during the Age of Kingdom, and accepts the new work carried out by God during the last days, while Christianity holds to the name of God during the Age of Grace, and accepts the old work that God did during previous ages. This is the most important difference between Christianity and the Church of Almighty God. The God that both believe in, however, is the same: The only true God who created the heavens and the earth and all things. This is a fact that no one can distort or deny!
Later on, I read another passage in The Vision of God’s Work (3), “God’s wisdom, God’s wondrousness, God’s righteousness, and God’s majesty shall never change. His essence and what He has and is shall never change. His work, however, is always progressing forward and always going deeper, for He is always new and never old.” “There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change.” After reading these words, I thought of the verses, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.” “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Then I finally understood the true meaning of these verses. God’s management plan of saving mankind is progressing forward. When each age of God Himself comes, He will take a new name to accomplish His work of the current age: In the Age of Law, God was called by the name of Jehovah; in the Age of Grace, God’s name was Jesus; when the last days come, God will still change His name and will be called Almighty God. But no matter how God’s name changes, His substance never alters, and His main disposition that is righteous, His holy substance, His almightiness and wisdom, as well as what He has and is won’t change. God says, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). The Bible records “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). These verses truly mean that the inherent disposition of God and what He has and is have never changed and will never change, but don’t mean that God’s name remains forever as we imagine. If we hold on to such conceptions, we misinterpret God’s word. As a result, we will define God and His work, and even directly resist God according to our conceptions and imaginations. Let’s recall the time that the Lord Jesus came to do His work in the Age of Grace. Because the Israelites under the law didn’t know God’s substance, they held on to the false understanding of the word “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.” They didn’t allow God to change His name but condemned the Lord Jesus, for in their heart only Jehovah was God and only He was their Savior. When God changed the age and did a new work to save them in the name of Jesus, they didn’t know what the Lord Jesus expressed is the truth and is God’s disposition and all that He is, much less did they know the essence of the Lord Jesus’ work or the change of the Holy Spirit’s work. They never thought the Lord Jesus was God incarnate who came to earth. Although God’s name changed and He was not called Jehovah, the Lord Jesus was the Spirit of Jehovah becoming a flesh to do the work of redemption in the name of Jesus. They only followed the letters of the Bible, rejected and resisted the Lord Jesus and His work. Ultimately they nailed the merciful Savior Jesus onto the cross alive, and thus committed a heinous crime and offended God’s disposition, resulting in the destruction of the entire Israeli nation, with many people fleeing to all parts of the world and having no place to stay. The painful fact was a warning to each of us who follows the Lord Jesus: In God’s constantly renewing and changing work, we should have a heart of fearing God and can’t define God’s name or His work at will.