What does the word 'manifest' mean in Scripture?
Manifest in Scripture means to put the spotlight on what is hidden, making the invisible visible. It pictures a microscope slide illuminated from beneath, so that things once unseen are clearly exposed. Ultimately, it describes God's sharp light of knowledge penetrating the heart and revealing its counsels.
Les explains that the word manifest is like putting on a spotlight. He uses a microscope as the perfect example: a slide does no good until you turn on a bright light beneath it, and then it manifests everything on the slide, making invisible things visible. In Scripture, manifest almost always depicts the coming time when the sharp light of God's knowledge will penetrate even into the very hearts of our being. At the end of time when the Lord comes, He will make manifest the counsels of the heart—an area only God can see. The result is that every believer will have praise of God, and this is what we are to live for. Les also contrasts this with our present age of materialism and wrong priorities, reminding us of the Lord Jesus' words to seek first.