Most of us have experienced an activity which was consummated with the appearance of a picture or a solution not previously visible. For example, as a kid, we laboriously traced “dot-to-dot” until that mysterious picture emerged. Or later we even more diligently filled in a cross-word puzzle until the overlapping clues fell into place, and we completed the puzzle. And finally there is the inverse example, a You Tube video ad for Diet Pepsi, “Now you see it, Now you don’t.”
This introduction gets us thinking about insights, thoughts, and revelation that is new to us. Here are a few “Eureka” quotes to further prime the pump. ‘A professor can never better distinguish himself in his work than by encouraging a clever pupil, for the true discoverers are among them, as comets amongst the stars.’- Henry Brooks Adams ‘The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the only one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!", but rather, "Hmm... that’s funny...".’- Isaac Asimov ‘They are ill discoverers that think there is no land when they can see nothing but sea.’ - Francis Bacon ‘The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge.’ Daniel J. Boorstin ‘Discovery is the ability to be puzzled by simple things.’- Noam Chomsky ‘The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.’- Albert Einstein ‘All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.’- Galileo Galilei ‘Creativity often consists of merely turning up what is already there. Did you know that right and left shoes were thought up only a little over a century ago?’- Bernice Fitz-Gibbon ‘One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.’ - André Gide ‘Who never walks save where he sees men’s tracks makes no discoveries.’- J. G. Holland ‘When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.’ - Tuli Kupferberg ‘One of the advantages to being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.’- A. A. Milne ‘I invent nothing. I rediscover.’- Auguste Rodin
What Bible passages do the above quotes bring to mind? How about: 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 6Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. John 6:46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
Significant discoveries, especially spiritual ones, are revealed to us. We conclude today with an example of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, right after Jesus’ death on the cross, burial, and resurrection. Some women witnessed His empty tomb and filed a missing persons report with the male disciples. These two men were the first men to encounter the missing person. He suddenly appeared to them along the road, listened to their sad, grieving, unbelieving report of how their leader had been wrongfully crucified. Then He used the scriptures to reveal Himself as the One who fulfilled them, as recorded in Luke 24.
27Then beginning with Moses and [throughout] all the Prophets, He went on explaining and interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself. Later He stayed for supper and revealed Himself to them as He broke bread, prior to disappearing. 32 So they said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?” {i.e. Holy Heartburn}
A little later Jesus appeared to the 11 disciples, joined by these 2 with their report; He showed them His wounded hands and feet, and ate some broiled fish. 44 Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations,[c] beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things.
Being able to fill in the dots and see Jesus as our Lord and Savior, requires us to receive and respond in faith to the revelation of God. Jesus left the glories of Heaven and became flesh to reveal God to us as He walked, loved, taught, prayed, forgave…and paid a debt He did not owe, but we did. But it requires a moment of humble “revealed insight” that can result in ‘Holy Heartburn’ for us to catch a glimpse of our holy, majestic God, and cry out to Him in faith, repentance, forgiveness, and salvation, as recorded above. What better time than NOW?
