#469 The New Normal Series# 8, Kingdom Revelation

The New Normal Series# 8, Kingdom Revelation
By: Zach Sloane

Recap:
Ecclesiastes 10:5-7
“There is an evil I have seen under the sun, As an error proceeding from the ruler: Folly is set in great dignity, While the rich sit in a lowly place. I have seen servants on horses, While Princes walk on the ground like servants.”

Our expectations for normal life need to be viewed and tempered by kingdom realities; the reality of life lived seated, framed and approached from a restored position of royalty in our identities (back on that horse).

We have looked at the Kingdom as having a ruler, a realm, rule.

We have spoken about what that looks like in action, in our homes, relationships, workplace, world and church. We’ve looked at the Kingdom and the church, and how the called out ones of God are those through whom he would advance and manifest his kingdom rule and reign.

Last week we looked at how the blessing, identity, power and authority to accomplish this task is imparted to the church through the direct and personal revelation of the identity of Jesus Christ to each of its members. With this personal and direct revelation comes the possession of the keys of the kingdom. Those keys when possessed and utilized, open any and every door, giving us access to all that God has and is.

Intro:

These keys are direct revelation from God that is alive and active in our lives. The keys are revelation knowledge operated by faith. Revelation is the key, and the key to riding that horse ( Eccl. 10:5-7). So we need to know:

What is it?
Where does it come from?
How do we get it?
How do we apply it?
What does it look like lived out?

Revelation: What is it?

Matthew 13:11
“…it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…”

Mysteries = mustérion. Thayers Greek lexicon defines mystery as: “a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding”

Reveal, the verb form of revelation, according to Thayers Greek Lexicon, means properly to: “uncover, lay open what has been veiled or covered up; to disclose, make bare.”

Revelation is what you get when spiritual, kingdom mysteries, things not obvious because they are covered up by natural minded thinking, fear, doubt, self-centredness, sin, and the knowledge of good and evil, when kingdom reality is uncovered, that is revelation. It is the truth about God and his kingdom as seen by God himself.

Revelation: Where does it come from?

Matthew 16:17 (MSG)
“Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am.”

Revelation that acts as a key to unlock access to all God is and has is not something that comes from the human mind or intellect. You cannot read yourself into an unveiling of spiritual reality. You can’t study, listen, learn, or theologize your way into understanding these hidden things.

1 Corinthians 2:9-14 (NKJV)
But as it is written:“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit… 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Revelation: How do we get it?

If you can answer this question, because of the benefits of revelation, it will completely turn your world upside down and revolutionize your whole life.

How do we get it? By Grace!

1 Corinthians 1:4-5 (TPT)
I am always thanking my God for you because he has given you such free and open access to his grace through your union with Jesus, the Messiah. 5 In him you have been made extravagantly rich in every way. You have been endowed with a wealth of inspired utterance and the riches that come from your intimate knowledge of him.

God’s greatest secret mystery, that thing about God’s person and plan that was hidden all along from the unaided understanding of naturally minded, sin-infected, knowledge of good and evil-distorted minds, has been plainly and clearly revealed.

Colossians 2:1-4 (NKJV)
“…attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.”

John 1:4
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

When Jesus is your life, his life supplies light, revelation, illumination. To receive Jesus, to be awakened to your inclusion in him, this is not something that you decide, you make a decision about, you make a commitment to, study yourself into, but something you recognize and accept. You are supplied a stream of light and revelation by His life and Spirit inside of you, your union and inclusion into him. It’s a grace gift.

The gnostics believed that there was secret knowledge that once possessed you could progressively advance in life. But, they believed that this secret knowledge or revelation could be gained or acquired through their dualistic mistreatment of the body or through religious rites, practices, and behaviours: a belief still alive today!

Secondly, there was and still is this belief that there is something more to know or understand about God and his ways than Jesus. Whoever has left Jesus and him crucified behind so they can advance to the greater revelations and mysteries of the kingdom, it doesn’t matter what language they use or rationale they embrace. They also have, as Paul said, been:

Colossians 2:18-19
“…intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.”

Revelation knowledge comes as a grace gift wrapped in the person of Jesus Christ, and unveiled, made plain to you by the Holy Spirit. Likewise, faith comes by hearing, and hearing the rhema word of God. The rhema word is not far form you, or anyone else for that matter. You cant say, “ well I did the work of positioning myself to listen to God,” or “I listened and you didn’t.”

Romans 10:6-9 (NKJV)
“6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way…“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

We are not in a gnostic pursuit of revelation. His voice, his word, the constant and continual unveiling of who he is, who you are in him, and what he has made available to us with the keys of the kingdom is a daily, constant reality in your life whether you know it or not. God is speaking to you and you can can innately hear his voice. When you do, his voice activates the faith of Jesus Christ already present in “the measure” within. (Romans 12:3)

Revelation: How do you apply it?

You say “yes,” and then you discover the faith, the mind, the consciousness of Christ himself starts to well up within you, and you start to discover you are willing to do, and you find yourself doing the very things that Christ is wanting for you and your life.

Mary gives us an amazing picture of how you apply revelation in your life.

The Gospel was preached to her, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. What will be born of you will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35-37)

Luke 1:38
“Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

She (1.) defined herself by the revelation she received, “behold the maidservant of the Lord,” and (2.) she said “yes, let it be.”

Revelation: What does it look like?

The Bible gives us a picture of revelation in action, a picture of someone actually riding the horse, using the keys.

Revelation 19:11-14
“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True…, His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God….”

The Rider on the Horse, Jesus:

Was called faithful and True. He is and was and ever shall be faithful, full of faith, living in the reality of God’s unveiled Truth.
His eyes were like flames of fire. His eyes as windows to the soul were inwardly possessed and outwardly manifesting the fiery love of God.
He was crowned with an identity from God that was personally given and personally received.
His robe, his clothes were dipped in blood; the sin destroying, curse breaking, life healing, redeeming blood, overcoming blood.
And he was called “the Word of God.” He was the embodiment of the word and revelation of God himself.

When we awaken to the revelation of who He is, and who were are in Him, we will see that we are already seated with him on that horse. We are not struggling today to just “get a revelation” so we can climb back up. When we see him we see ourselves also seated with him on that horse:

full of faith and truth,
full of and expressing love,
crowned with an identity given to you by Father God himself,
redeemed, qualified, delivered, and overcoming by his blood,
living, breathing, and embodying the revelation of God in and thorough your life.

That’s the power of revelation in our life. That’s what revelation does for us, to us, and in us. We then become a dispenser of the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him as we ride our horse, making war against falsehood and false identities, wielding the sword of the Spirit, the word of God out of our mouths too.

We need revelation, but it’s a gift, freely given in Christ Jesus, unpacked by the anointing of His Spirit that is already within and abides with us. The good news is he has given it to us in the person of Jesus Christ. We are not working to attain it, nor pumping up faith. His rhema word is bringing revelation that supplies faith, and we are seeing ourselves in him riding that horse, living in and out of kingdom realties, unveiled to us by God Himself on a daily basis. The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the new normal that kingdom revelation produces.

The New Normal Series 8, Kingdom Revelation, Sermon notes to print, PDF