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The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

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Revelation 3:18 Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.

Today is the twelfth day of counting the omer or the measure of barley grain coming from the harvest. Question is, Are you harvesting the “grain” of His Word? Which raises another question, Why are there so many references to bread in the Bible? Jesus was born in Bethlehem, or the House of Bread. Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life. When Jesus was led in the wilderness by the Spirit – following being filled with the Spirit (Luke 4:1) – He told Satan that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I can keep going but I believe you have gotten the point. Unbeknownst to most wealthy Westerners, bread, or some form of it is a basic commodity of life. Most of the World’s poor can’t afford to slaughter their chickens, cows or goats every day – but they can afford grain to grind into flour to make bread. Which is an interesting concept. As I mentioned in a previous post barley grain is ground into flour by the impoverished to make bread. Barley bread is inferior to bread made from wheat. Wheat then is known as the bread of the wealthy, or more financially stable. Why is all of this significant and how is it connected to the counting of the omer? 

Revelation 3:18 is addressed to the wealthy, self-satisfied, “have no need” Laodiceans. One of the things Jesus counseled them to do was to purchase from Him “salve” to put on their eyes. How was that significant and relevant to the Laodiceans? The Greek word for eye salve is kollurion. Greek was the primary language spoken by the common, average, everyday person. That being understood the Laodiceans knew this word used by John contained a dual meaning. Kollurion could refer to the medicine produced in Laodicea used for treating various vision problems, or it could refer to a roll of bread. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament had this to say: The Greek term kolloúrion carries a fascinating dual meaning rooted in its physical form. The word derives from kollýra, which refers to coarse bread shaped like a cylinder. Jesus’ beatitudes commends those who are poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God. 

How do we apply all of this to making the omer count? Only those who “see” their poverty of Spirit will recognize and hunger for the “bread” that not only feeds them – but heals the way they “see”. Are you poor in the things of the Spirit? Or are you so rich spiritually that you don’t need His Bread? Can you see Jesus? Can you hear His Voice? Can you recognize when He knocks? May I suggest paying the price to get alone with Him for Him to eat with you and you with Him? He really does prepare a table in the midst of your enemy. Are you hungry to hear His Voice? Hungry to see Him? Hungry to hear Him knocking?

The Difference

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Philippians 2:1 “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life,…” – The Message 

I found the following article on a website titled: www.clcaugustamo.org that describes a famous children’s story: “The Prince and the Pauper is a classic tale. Written by Mark Twain in the 19th Century, it tells the story of two boys in 16th Century England. They were identical to each other in their looks, but one of the boys lived in the king’s palace and the other lived in a shack. As the tale goes, one day the boys decided to switch places. Keeping it a secret, the prince put on the pauper’s ragged clothing and the pauper put on the royal garments of the prince. And for a while each boy lived in the other boy’s shoes. The pauper lived as a prince and the prince lived as a pauper. The story is intriguing and worth reading and it resembles the true story of our life in Christ. “The Word became flesh,” writes St. John. St. Paul says, “Our Lord Jesus Christ… though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor that you through His poverty might become rich.” Isaiah writes, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord…for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has clothed me with the robe of righteousness.” What does all this mean? It means that the Prince became a pauper, and we paupers are now clothed as a prince.“

When you realize Jesus traded places with you, becoming a pauper in order for you to become rich; in order for you to become a prince or princess – it should cause you to pause. His crucifixion and suffering should cause you to pause. As we approach the holidays, of Thanksgiving, and Christmas, this time should cause you to ask, “Has His love made any difference in my life?” Am I living up to who He created me to be or am I still living as a pauper? Is my life an expression of gratitude? Do I live wholeheartedly seeking to say, “Thank you!?”

Do you ever remember a time in which your parents or a loved one presented you with a gift that you had really wanted and desired? A gift that you had treasured in your heart? What was your response? Did you go to your piggy bank, wallet or purse and try to pay them for the gift? Absolutely not. What you did do was express as much heart-felt gratitude as possible. If you were a child you may have even been prone to work especially hard at any chore or responsibility you had been given simply as a way of saying, “Thank you!” Isn’t that the way your life should be lived towards Christ?

Has Jesus’ love made any difference in your life? Can anyone tell the difference it has made? More importantly, can Jesus see that you live a life of gratitude for all He has done for you and all He continues to do? Or are you still living like a pauper?

The Starfish

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Proverbs 21:20 There are precious treasures and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a self-confident and foolish man swallows it up and wastes it.

Critics of Jesus’ ministry could have said that He was wasting His time on the likes of one woman caught in adultery, or the Samaritan woman, Blind Bartimaeus, Zachaeus, or the Gadarene Demoniac. In fact, any thoughtful observer of Jesus’ twelve disciples may have been tempted to advise Jesus to invest His time elsewhere. For that matter, any casual reader of the gospels will note that it does appear He wasted His time, and ultimately His life. Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied knowing Him, and all but one ran away from Him in His hour of greatest need. These 12 were mentally and spiritually dull falling asleep on Him while He was sweating drops of blood in prayer. Truth be known, critics of you and I could say the same. Just like the aforementioned, not including the countless masses of humanity throughout the ages, we have all begrudgingly yielded our precious time – to God. Some have stated, I’ve got to go to church, pray, read the Bible, spend time listening to this person, etc. The list goes on and on. Yet, we have no problem with being entertained with things that waste our time. Ultimately we are betrayed by the wealth we have surrounded ourselves by neglecting the true heavenly treasures – the people around us.

Thank Jesus, truly, and reverently with a gratitude that comes from the depths of your soul knowing that Jesus never saw you or me as a waste of time. Although many so-called followers of Jesus are very proud of the lack of investments they’ve made in others those whom He has met in the dust of their own disgust know better. The wealthy are often blindly, and ignorantly proud of their spiritual nakedness and poverty. But the truly poor in Spirit are hungry for more of Him, and hungry to see more of Him in others. Ephesians 5:15-17 states: Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people),16 Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.17 Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf’s edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide. The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to die.  As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the ocean.As he came up to the person he said, “You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, “It sure made a difference to that one!”

Hungry!?

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You can imagine the meager rations of those exiles on the Isle of Patmos. Whether it’s coincidental, or because of the meager rations, the theme of food comes up often enough to warrant attention. Consider the following passages: Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols…NKJV

Revelation 2:17 To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. NKJV

Revelation 2:20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. NKJV

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. NKJV

If I had been hearing these words from the Lord I would have been tempted to ask the Lord for mercy. I would have asked Him to possibly choose other analogies and references. But Jesus didn’t stop there. He “hid” a food reference in plain sight – yet it’s hard to see. Several months ago I noted a distinction in translating Revelation 3:18. The AMPC translation reads: Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see. Take note of this last boldened, phrase:…and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.

Now take note of how the NKJV translates the same passage: I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

The first thing to notice is that in the AMPC translation they were to purchase refined and tested gold, white clothes, and eye salve. But the NKJV separates the gold, and clothes from the eye salve. In fact the NKJV states that they should purchase the first two, but anoint their eyes with eye salve. In the NKJV translation, anointing the eyes appears to be a separate topic. Why are there two different verbs: purchase and anoint?

When you study the original meaning of the word for salve you discover something that is quite startling. You discover that it was an extremely small, “coarse bread roll.”  Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words states: Hence an “eye-salve,” shaped like a roll….The word is doubtless an allusion to the Phrygian powder used by oculists in the famous medical school at Laodicea. Which led me to ask another question, What was considered coarse bread to John’s readers? Basically there were two sources of grain used for making bread, wheat and barley. What does this have to do with our eye salve? Bread made from barley was considered the poor man’s bread, while bread made from wheat was for those who were wealthy. Now keep in mind Jesus is addressing the wealthy, self-sufficient Laodiceans. They have no need, or lack. Yet, Jesus is stating that the cure for their spiritual blindness is salve shaped like a roll or loaf of barley bread. What does this remind you of? Matthew 5:3,6 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

What’s the interpretation? Those that are spiritually poor – are spiritually hungry. Those who are spiritually poor will ENTER through the DOOR of Jesus; the DOOR of Revelation 4. Those that recognize their spiritual poverty and blindness will be moved to make room for Jesus; will be moved to overcome the Laodiceans, do-it-yourself righteousness; will be moved to open their spiritual senses: sight, hearing, and feeling. The spiritually hungry will be moved to be zealous; to be on FIRE with the FIRE from the Man whose legs and eyes burn with HOLY FUEL.

Bread throughout Scripture has typically been a symbol for the Word of God. Those who are aware of their spiritual blindness will seek to “anoint” their spiritual “vision” with the revelational, living, out of the Mouth of God – Word of God. This is the Spiritual Manna that comes down out of Heaven and feeds the spiritually hungry. Are you hungry for more of Jesus? Are you hungry to be closer to Him? Are you hungry to see more of Jesus? Are you hungry to be hot, on FIRE, in love with Jesus? Are you hungry to hear His Voice? Hungry to fellowship, commune and have a daily, intimate love relationship with Him? Then cry out for the poor man’s “bread” to “rub” in the way you see.