JESUS HIDDEN AND PREPARED.
We read in Isa.49v1-2.,"Listen, O coastlands, to Me, and take heed, you peoples from afar! The LORD has called Me from the womb; from the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name. v2. And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has HIDDEN ME, and made Me a polished shaft; in His quiver He has HIDDEN ME." (NKJ)

All the great ministries in the Bible, including that of the our Lord, were prepared by God in secret, before they were manifested in public.

a. Moses. Moses spent 40 years in Egypt to learn what the world, the flesh and the Devil were doing; then 40 years in the wilderness to learn that walking with God was more valuable, precious, and rewarding than anything that the world and the Devil could offer. Heb.11v26. "He esteemed (2233 "hegeomai") the contempt, shame and disgrace for the sake of Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he turned his eyes away and fixed his gaze steadfastly ahead to the reward." As he kept the sheep he learned the ways of God.

David. Another person who learned the lessons of faith while keeping sheep. His loving concern for his beloved sheep, caused him to walk on "the more excellent way," 1Cor.12v31., and enabled him, through the Name and power of God, to kill the lion and the bear that threatened to kill his sheep. His devotion to his sheep caused God to cry, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.' Acts.13v22. Ps.89v20. Jesse did not even think that David should be present when Samuel asked him to bring his sons before him, he left him outside looking after the sheep. 1Sam.16v1-13. Even the godly and wise prophet Samuel thought that Eliab was God's choice, until God revealed Eliab's heart to Samuel, and showed that the uninvited and despised boy David was His choice.

Elijah and Elisha. These were both prepared by God in secret while they were farming, and suddenly burst on to the scene, when the word of the Lord came to them. 1Kings.17v1. 19v15-21. Elisha was ploughing with 12 pairs of oxen, when called to the prophetic office..

Paul. Paul spent several years hidden away in Arabia and Tarsus, and during this time Jesus revealed to him the truth about the Church. Gal.1v17 to 2v1. Acts.9v20-30. Paul's ministry took off after Barnabus brought him to Antioch. Acts.11v22-26. At Antioch Barnabus and Paul were promoted from being teachers to apostles. Acts.13v1-4. God used Paul's previous theological training to prepare Paul for His work, as well as his Christian experience. However, he had a great deal of man-made tradition to unlearn as well as New Covenant truth to learn. Paul's conversion took place around B. C. 34, he came to Jerusalem after being in Arabia for about three years, and he then went to Damascus and Jerusalem in about A. D. 37. Paul was sent to Tarsus by the Jerusalem church because of a death threat, and stayed there until Barnabus brought him to help with the church in Antioch in A. D. 43. In about A. D. 44 God directed the church at Antioch to send Paul and Barnabus on apostolic ministry. So we see that God prepared Paul for ten years before sending him out on apostolic ministry.

1. JESUS HID MOST OF WHAT GOD REVEALED TO HIM DURING HIS MINISTRY. WHY WAS THIS?
Jesus had the greatest revelation ministry of all the prophets, He was a prophet like unto Moses. Deut.18v10-22. However, we only see a few public manifestations of His prophetic revelation ministry. Why was this? We see the revelation of the thoughts and prayers of Nathaniel, the name of Peter and his father, and his God-given new name. Jn.1. We see the remarkable effect of one word of knowledge on the Samaritan woman and her townspeople. Jn.4. We see the warnings about our Lord's death, and Peter's denial, and how the apostles would forsake Him, all of which were not believed and ignored. At his entrance on palm Sunday to Jerusalem, our Lord warned all around him with uncontrolled sobbing of the destruction of Jerusalem, and he warned his apostles in private again of this tragic event, on the way to the cross He again warned the weeping women of the most tragic coming event of their history. Lk.19v41-44.

a. Jesus knew the spiritual state of ALL He met and the untrustworthiness of many of those that believed in Him.
We read in John.2v23-25., "Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed and trusted in His name when they saw the signs which He did. v24. But Jesus did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all men, v25. and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man." Ps.44v21. 139v2.

The verb "pisteuo" is used twice. The first time to show how the miracles caused people to trust and believe in Jesus, the second time to show how Jesus knew the superficial nature of their faith and trust, and He would not accept testimony concerning his ministry from them. This is; a truly valuable lesson for us today, for it is the regular practice of modern evangelists to parade people to give their testimonies of healing, among these are people who are mistakenly testifying in the hope that because they testify to healing, they will be healed, and when these people are later proved not to be healed, or die, the result is positively harmful to the Gospel. Jesus did not make this grave mistake, he did not even ask those who were indisputably and openly healed to give a public testimony, He just let people see the obvious. Jesus was completely free of pride, He never put on a spectacular show, He was humble, gentle and lowly minded.

b. Jesus often charged people, with the strongest words possible, not to publish abroad their remarkable healings.
However, they often did the very opposite. Mt.12v14-21. Lk.5v12-16. Jesus charged the people who saw His miracles not to talk about them, but they also did the very opposite and proclaimed them abroad like a herald, "kerusso." In Mk.1v43. Jesus sternly charged [1690 "embrimaomai" {from 1722 and "brimaomai," to snort with anger} to scold, to sternly warn] the cleansed leper not to tell people about his healing, but he disobeyed Jesus and published his healing like a herald, "kerusso." Mk.7v32-36. Jesus strictly commanded Jairus and his wife not to tell others how He had raised their daughter from the dead. Mk.5v39-43. Lk.8v52-56. Mk.1v42-45. Jesus commanded the unclean spirits not to make His deity known. Mk.3v11,12. Jesus sharply commanded ("epitimao") His apostles not to reveal that He was God's Son and the Messiah, Mk.8v27-30. Mt.16v18-20. Lk.9v20-22. Jesus commanded Peter, James and John, not to speak of His transfiguration until after His resurrection from the dead. Mt.17v8,9. All these facts reveal the true humility of Jesus, He refused to be a showman. He only told the demoniac of Gadara to go and tell what great things the Lord had done for him, because He was not going there. Lk.8v35-39. The Roman Catholic Church is quite correct to demand irrefutable medical evidence that proves people have been genuinely ill and have been definitely healed, before such healings are published.

2. THE TEMPTATION TO PREMATURE MINISTRY AND OUT OF TIME REVELATION.

a. Two out of the three temptations of Jesus by Satan were aimed at the premature manifestation of His spiritual gifts.
This was obviously not the first time that Satan had tried to get Jesus to manifest His wisdom and knowledge prematurely. For well over 20 years Jesus had sat in the Synagogue at Nazareth listening to false traditional doctrine, empty preaching, powerless praying, and had hidden away the truth, wisdom and powerful prophetic gifting that the Father had given to Him. Young Samuel was known throughout the land to be a prophet even while he was a child; here was a greater child than Samuel, with a greater prophetic revelation and power ministry than the young Samuel, but the Father had commanded Jesus not to reveal His spiritual gifts and knowledge until He started His ministry. The proof that Jesus did not reveal any of His knowledge or spiritual gifting to the people of Nazareth before He started His ministry, is seen by the astonished and critical response of the people of Nazareth to our Lord's preaching, "Whence has this fellow these things?" Lk.4.Mk.6v1-6. The theological knowledge that astonished the theologians at Jerusalem, when Jesus was twelve, was hidden from them. Our Lord's ministry had to be hidden away until the right time.

b. We read in Ps.69v8-12., that the holiness and prayer life of Jesus brought considerable persecution upon Jesus.
Ps.69v8. "I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children; v9. Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. v10. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. v11. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. v12. Those who sit in the gate speak against me, and I am the song of the drunkards. (NKJ) This was certainly not the experience of David, who was extolled for his victory over Goliath.

c. The world today is taken up with "Instant" food preparations, remedies and solutions
God does not follow this pattern as regards to ministry God takes time to prepare the ministries of His Church, He gives us time to learn and grow. Our Lord's yoke is gentle and light and not overburdening. His yoke is personally and made by Him to perfectly fit our shoulders, and takes into account our temperaments, talents, work, home environment, and desires. God does not desire to dominate our lives, He gently asks us what we would like to do for Him, and He takes into account all that we have and are, and doing His will fills our lives with joy, fulfilment, and delight. In Rom.12v1,2, Paul tells us that the constraint of the compassionate mercies and love of God should cause us to present our bodies as a holy, living sacrifice to God; and we should refuse to be conformed to the worlds standards, and have our minds renewed and lives transformed, so that we may prove God's good, acceptable and perfect will

3. WHY DID GOD THE FATHER HIDE OUR LORD'S SPIRITUAL MINISTRY AT NAZARETH?
That God the Father and Jesus did hide most of Christ's perfect revelation prophetic ministry away both before and during His public ministry is a fact of Scripture. As we have just seen from Is.49v1,2., God hid our Lord's knowledge and spiritual gifts away from the people at Nazareth, their astonishment at His ministry can be seen from Lk.4v20-22. and Mk.6v1-6. .

1. God the Father developed the ministry of Jesus secretly in the environment of home and work life.
Paul makes it quite clear in Col.3., that "God's will" does not just involve those in full-time ministry, or just our church lives, God's will involves our daily home relationships and work lives, because this is where most of the lives of believers is lived. Paul states that we are serving the Lord, when we do all our daily duties heartily, and as unto the Lord, and will receive the reward of the inheritance for it. Our Lord Jesus has given us the perfect example, He lived the sermon on the mount at Nazareth before He preached it. His life of perfect love and service at Nazareth, was the foundation of His spiritual power and ministry in public.

The ministry of Jesus was developed in secret in a home and work environment, by God the Father and the Holy Spirit. This was in sharp contrast to John Baptist, who spent his years of preparation in the wilderness. Jesus was totally familiar with the problems of life, and He showed sympathetic gentleness with needy and sinful people, which was much kinder and more thoughtful than John's thunderings about the broken Law of God; we read in Mt.11v13., "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." See Lk.16v16. Jn.1v17. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Jesus was "full of grace and truth." Jn.1v14. " And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (NKJ)

The Father developed the prophetic ministry of Jesus and His sympathetic High Priestly ministry.
a. By the pressure and trial of daily living and work, and the hardship of real poverty. Jesus went through the whole range of human trials and temptations on a deeper level than anyone else, in order to have a sympathetic apostolic and High Priestly ministry. Heb.4v14-16.

b. By having to work and provide for at least seven brothers and sisters and His mother Mary, when Joseph died. Mk.6v1-6.

c. By overcoming the false tradition of His times. Real strength comes from rejecting incorrect but orthodox doctrine. Jesus did not openly show His rejection of their false traditions until His ministry started. This is good advice for young students.

d. By the Father's training in revelation and prophetic prayer ministry, and in development of truth. Is.49v1,2. 50v3-7. Jn.1v14.

e. By the revelation of the Scriptures into His experience. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Jesus proved by experience the truth of Scripture, and lived it. He fully partook of our humanity and victoriously overcame all areas of temptation.

f. Jesus was hidden until the fullness of His love was manifested, a love filled with the sympathetic experience of practical living and caring. Heb.2v17,18. He was hidden away until His ministry was fully grown and perfected. Is.50v3-7. Jesus grew, until He was "full of grace and truth." Lk.2v40,52. Jn.1v14. The lesson is clear, the premature appointment of immature ministry, is not wise, or of God.

2. Hidden until His prophetic prayer ministry was completely fulfilled, fully developed and perfected.
a. Jesus was hidden away until He was fully equipped by the Father for His ministry, not only in knowledge and truth, but also in a practical experience, on the highest levels of the operation, of all the power and revelation gifts which were necessary to accomplish His ministry. This training in the operation of the spiritual gifts took place in private as Jesus exercised the greatest prayer warrior ministry there has ever been. Even Jesus had to grow in wisdom and knowledge and spiritual strength, and be put to the test at the hands of the Devil in the wilderness, He knew He was being humbled, proved and tested, "To humble thee, to prove thee, to know what is in thine heart." Deut.8.

b. Jesus had a perfect and totally consecrated prayer life, which prepared Him for His ministry. Ps.69v7-11. Jesus manifested revelation and power gifts in private before He manifested them in public. Mary's words to Jesus at the marriage feast in Cana reveal that she had seen many miracles of provision done by Jesus, we read in Jn.2v3-5., And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine. v4. Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." v5. His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." (NKJ). Obviously no one else knew about these miracles but Jesus and Mary, Jesus had obviously told Mary that no one else was to know about them. The feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000 were not the first miracles of provision that Jesus had performed, He had obviously sent Mary to feed the widows and needy, without anyone knowing the source. These miracles were obviously just kept private between Jesus and Mary, the first public sign miracle in Cana("semeion," 2592), was the turning of the water to wine. Jn.2v11. We read in Jn.4v54., that the second sign miracle in Cana was the healing of the nobleman's son. However, we read in John.2v23., that Jesus had done many more sign miracles in Jerusalem before the healing of the nobleman's son, and "many believed in His name when they saw the signs ("semeia, 4592) which He did."

3. Hidden from the jealousy, envy, and antagonistic pride of worldly people and carnal religious leaders.
a. There was the contemptuous familiarity and angry rejection of Jesus by the people of Nazareth. Jesus was despised and rejected by the people of Nazareth as soon as His ministry was manifested, but there was also a contemptuous rejection of our Lord's holy prayer life for many years before this attempt to murder Jesus after His first sermon.

b. There was the bitter jealousy and murderous envy of Israel's religious leaders. God hid Jesus away to save Him from prematurely coming up against violent and vicious opposition at Nazareth and in Israel.

4. Hidden away until the fullness of time.
We read in Gal.4v4,5., "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, v5. to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Everything in the life of Jesus was in the fullness of God's perfect timing. See Jn.2v4. 17v1. Jn.7:6,8.

4. WHY DID JESUS HIDE MOST OF HIS PERFECT REVELATION MINISTRY?

a. It was obviously a command of God the Father.
We read in Isa42v1-4,19-21. "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, my Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. v2. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. v3. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; he will bring forth justice for truth. v4. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law. --- v19. Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant? v20. Seeing many things, but you do not observe; opening the ears, but he does not hear. v21. The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; he will exalt the law and make it honourable."

Jesus came to heal the broken reeds and smoking fax of humanity, not expose and criticise broken and needy mankind, He can to save and heal. He knew and felt their sins and needs, but He acted as if He was blind and deaf to them. From Is.42v19-21. We see from our Lord's example, that there is a real need to hide most of what God reveals to us about people, God respects the desire for secrecy in people's hearts, God is a perfect gentleman, He does not want to expose and humiliate people in public. Needs that are revealed are usually for prayer, not proclamation.

b. Was it so that people would not tremble before Him as they did before Moses and Samuel?
Exod.19v16. " Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled." (NKJ)

1Sam.16v4. " So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" (NKJ)

People can get very nervous and frightened when confronted by genuine prophetic ministry. The Father and Jesus wanted all who felt condemned to freely come to Him, and so the wondrous revelation ministry of Jesus was almost completely hidden away. The Lord's ministry mainly consisted of an enormous number of physical healing mercy gifts, and on a few occasions of the operation of workings of miracles in provision, the turning of the water to wine, the feeding of the five and four thousand, and the miraculous fish catches.

N.B. Our Lord's revelation ministry was hidden away even in His healing ministry.
Our Lord did not call out the illnesses of the sick, or tell the sick what their problem was. Jesus was so full of the power of God that such revelations were not necessary. Such revelations could have frightened the sinful and timid away, and stopped them from coming to Him.

b. It was also obviously because of the envy and jealousy of Israel's religious leaders.
Joseph brothers sold him into slavery because of their jealousy and envy, Jesus was murdered by Israel's religious leaders for the very same reason. Even Pilate knew the Jews wanted to kill Jesus out of envy, Mt.27v18., " For he knew that through envy ("phthonos") they had delivered him up." The manifestation of the fullness of Christ's prophetic revelation ministry would have caused even more hatred and opposition from Israel's religious leaders, in any case this tender healing ministry was reserved for broken and needy people, or genuine seekers, not evil opponents. As we will see, Jesus continually had the critical thoughts and evil and murderous plans of his enemies revealed to him, and sometimes, as the Father directed Him, exposed and answered the evil in their hearts. These remarkable revelations of their hearts failed to bring them to repentance, and they continually made plans to kill Jesus.

Jesus, like Joseph, suffered great persecution because of jealousy and envy. Pilate knew the Jews wanted to kill Jesus out of envy, Mt.27v18., " For he knew that through envy ("phthonos") they had delivered him up." Cf. Mt.12v14. 21v38. Mk.3v4-6. Jn.5v16-18. 7v19,25. 8v37,40. 10v31,32,39. 11v53.

Jealousy, "zelos," can be used in a good sense.
In the Septuagint in a good sense of God's zeal; "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this;" Is.9v7.; and the jealous dedicated love of God. Ezek.16v37,38. 23v25. It describes Christ's passionate zeal for God and righteousness. Ps.69v9. Jn.2v17. Paul uses it to describe the zeal of the Corinthians for him in 2Cor.7v7.; and his godly jealousy for them, 2Cor.11v2.; and their zeal in their repentance, 2Cor.7v11.; and their zeal for the poor at Jerusalem. 2Cor.9v2.. The verb "zeloo" is used of a godly zeal for spiritual gifts in 1Cor.12v31. and 14v39..

Jealousy, "zelos," is used in a bad sense.
Paul uses "zelos" of his own and the Jews misguided "zeal for God," and the Law. Rom10v2. Phil.3v6. In Rom.13v12,13. Paul warned the Corinthians that jealousy is an evil work of the flesh; and a proof of the domination of the old nature, and told them that he feared that it could return. 1Cor.3v3. 2Cor.12v20. Jealousy cannot stand the light and glory of Christ's holy presence.

Envy, "phthonos," is more malignant than jealousy, "zelos."
As we have seen, "zelos," "jealousy," can sometimes speak of noble ambition, and desire for something good, as well as a covetous evil desire; whereas. "phthonos," "envy," can only speak of a bitter ill will. The sin of jealousy, "zelos," casts hostile grudging looks; "phthonos," has arrived at the stage of hostile acts. Envy has grief at another's good fortune, but it is even worse than that. It is not just the pain that they do not possess another's good fortune or blessings; but the bitterness that the other person does. It is not so much the desire for what another person has; it is the desire to take away what they have, or prevent them from possessing it. The jealousy, "zelos," of the Jews led to the active opposition of the more malignant "phthonos," "envy;" and caused them to murder Jesus. They did not possess His ministry, so they did their very utmost to suppress it and destroy it, Though Judas became possessed by Satan, it is not recorded that any of the leaders of Israel became possessed, the evil jealousy and envy in their hearts drove them to oppose and murder Jesus. Christ's miracles, anointed preaching, love, and integrity, exposed their lack of ministry, loveless leadership, extortion and wickedness. They looked upon Jesus as a threat to their influence, greed, and power, and were determined to destroy Him. Mk.2v5-7,16,23,24. 3v1,2. 15v10. Mt.27v18. "Phthonos," is not just the pain over an enemy's good fortune; it can also be the grief over the good fortune of a friend's or a member of the family. This envy moved Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery, they removed his influence from their lives.

"Phthonoi," occurs in the Majority Text in Gal.5v19-22.; Paul uses it in Rom.1v29., to speak of one of the sins which people are filled with when they choose not to retain God in their knowledge; and in Phil.1v15,16., of some who preached Christ to spite Paul and hinder his ministry. God warns us envy is a dangerous and very evil sin. 1Tim.6v4. Tit.3v3. 1Pet.2v1. (Gal.5v26. "phoneo").

The warning is clear, be careful over your revelations and hide away many of them in your quiver; do not tell them to critical and envious brethren, tell them to friends who are sympathetic, spiritual and understanding, and who will diligently pray for you.

CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS PAGE....        CLICK HERE FOR NEXT PAGE....