To know the Lord’s voice, we must know Him. One of the crucial characteristics that He has is that He is “gentle and humble of heart” (see Matthew 11:29). If anyone ever had a right to be proud, it would be Him, but He is not. 

         Jesus is more than the King of all; He is the Creator of all as verified in John 1 and Colossians 1:15-20. We hardly qualify as specks of dust before Him, but He allows us to entreat Him. As we see in several biblical accounts, He has allowed people to change His mind and actions. He has authority over all, yet He allows even frail and fallen people to have authority with Him. Are we hearing the voice of one like this? 

         We must also consider that the one Who is the Lamb of God is also a Lion! At times, He may sound like a lamb, and at times like a lion. There are some who get to know Him as the Lamb, but cannot see Him when He comes as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Likewise, there are some who can only see Him as the Lion. He is both, and He is both all of the time. 

         So, to know Him as He is, we must see Him as both as we are told in Romans 11:22: “Behold then the kindness and severity of God.” Those who can only see His kindness have a distorted view of Him. Likewise, those who only see His severity have a distorted view of Him. The ability to not see just in extremes comes with the maturity that is the result of experience with Him. 

         One of the challenging examples of how we must come to know Jesus is the account of the two men on the Road to Emmaus. Even though these disciples had been with Jesus for years, they could not recognize Him when He joined their company and began to give what may be the greatest teaching ever—Christ preaching Christ from the beginning of the Scriptures to the end. Yet, they could not recognize Him. Why? 

         They could not recognize Him for the same reason even many of His close disciples today often miss Him when He draws near to them. As it says of this account in Mark, “He appeared to them in a different form” (see Mark 16:12). If we are from a Baptist form, we will likely miss Him if He comes to us in a Presbyterian, or, God forbid, a Catholic! If we are used to the Charismatic form, we can miss Him if He comes to us in a Baptist form, etc. In my experience, the Lord has often come to me in those who I would naturally be the most offended by because of my prejudice. In this way, He is seeking to tear down the walls between His people built by our own spiritual bigotry. 

         So, just as the two men on the Road to Emmaus only knew Him after the flesh, His appearance, is that not how many of us know Him—more after externals than after His Spirit? If they had known Him after the Spirit, they would have recognized Him, and so would we. Many times He likely tried to draw near to us, but we could not see Him in those He came in. Did He not say in Matthew 23:39, “From now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” This implies that after this we would not see Him unless we could see Him in those He sends to us.

         In this account, we also see that these disciples had their eyes opened to recognize Him when He broke the bread. That is also a primary way that we too must come to recognize Him. Instead of just hearing words from the Lord through our favorite teachers or authors, we must learn to hear the Word Himself speaking to us. It is when He becomes our Teacher, the One who provides our daily bread, that our eyes will be opened to see Him. 

         The way that I know someone is a true teacher sent by God is not by how articulate they are, or even how deep their messages are, but it is when I hear my Teacher speaking through them. Then I’m not just hearing words about Him, I’m hearing Him. He wants to be the One who breaks our bread.

© 2021 Rick Joyner. All Right Reserved.