Revelation-Reconciliation-Release

A revelation of God’s nature, and of brokenness caused by sin, enables believers to prioritize reconciliation and restoration. Without a revelation of who God is, there is no motivation to seek reconciliation.

Revelation births reconciliation which in turn births restoration and fruitfulness (release) as believers live, work, and relate to God and people.

The revelation of God as Healer (Exodus 15:26) was given to Israel, when they had been delivered from Egypt’s slavery. Israel had witnessed the mighty acts of God in the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna from heaven and bitter water made sweet. Yet, we must not miss the timing of God in Exodus 15. For a people who had crossed over from captivity to freedom, what was the sickness that needed healing? Was there any sickness on display? A closer look reveals that God was not reacting to a situation, but He was offering a preventative Word- one that keeps His people from spiritual apathy. As believers, we very easily associate God as Healer with visible physical and emotional sicknesses. While that is true, we do not necessarily consider spiritual apathy, indifference as a spiritual condition that needs healing.

In the New Testament, the apostle Peter experienced all three aspects of revelation, reconciliation/restoration, and release into kingdom purposes. We will consider all three very briefly.

Revelation

In Matthew 16:16-17, Peter is granted a revelation of Christ, as the Son of the Living God. This was not the work of a man, but of the Spirit of God. Believers in the last days must have a revelation of Christ as Peter did. Ask that “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.” (Ephesians 1:17). This revelation of God also reveals the brokenness of one’s heart caused by sin, that needs healing.

Reconciliation/Restoration

As Jesus made His way to the Cross, He foretold the three-fold denial of Peter in Matthew 26:33-35. Peter was adamant that even if the other disciples fell away, he would never make that mistake. He would even lay down his life to protect Jesus. Little did Peter realise that Jesus saw into his heart. As believers, we can make the same empty promises of serving God and remaining faithful till the end, without realising that God sees our hearts for what they are. In John 21, after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, Jesus meets with the disciples by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus lovingly and gently corrects Peter’s wrong understanding of who the Christ is, and restores him.

From John 21:15-22, we can find three areas of Peter’s heart that needed healing.

1.      In John 21:15-17, Peter needed to learn to see the Lord Jesus Christ through his own heart condition, and not through the eyes of other people. Peter, previously attested to his commitment to the cause of Christ, through comparing himself with the other disciples. Now, Jesus leads him out of that place, to take ownership of what he had been called to i.e.., feed, tend and protect the people of God; young ones (lambs), the older ones (sheep).

Where do you as a believer fail to see Christ through your own heart?

2.      In John 21:18-19, Peter needed to learn a lesson in humility. This portion of John’s gospel was evidently written after the death and crucifixion of Peter. Jesus foretells the kind of death that awaited Peter. It was unlike what Peter thought- he thought he would be martyred by assaulting the enemies of Jesus. It was an external force that Peter envisioned. But Jesus corrects his understanding. Peter would lay down his life, as he remained faithful in teaching God’s Word to the people. In feeding the sheep, and tending to the lambs, Peter would experience a heart laying down, for God’s glory. God is interested in who you are in your heart more than what you do.

Where do you find it hard to humble yourself before God and people?

3.      In John 21:20-22, Peter needed healing from the rivalry, competition, and comparison in his heart. Jesus addresses this sickness in Peter’s heart by pointing him to his call to follow Christ.

Where do you struggle with matters of rivalry, competition, and comparison in your walk?

Release  

Peter experienced the revelation of Christ as the Son of the Living God. He was healed and reconciled to a right relationship with Christ in John 21. Some sicknesses are not known to man, but God sees all things perfectly. With the heart attitude corrected, Peter experienced a release into his true purpose and destiny. In Acts 2:41, we are told, that on the Day of Pentecost, it was Peter who delivered a message to those gathered, and three thousand souls were saved that day.

Writing at the end of his life, in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

This month of Iyar, is a month of healing and restoration. It was on the 5^th of Iyar, 1948 (May 14^th, 1948) that Israel as a nation was birthed, after two thousand years of non-existence. Israel is a pattern for what God does with people and nations.

Be reconciled with God and people. God’s patience is a sign of His love for you, not forgetfulness. Believers make the mistake of confusing the two.

Be diligent to work out the matters of your heart that need healing.

Exodus 15:26 “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

2 Peter 3:14,18 “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of etern