What’s the Point?!
Recently, we began a Wednesday Night Bible Study on the Book of Revelation (Not Revelations! There is no “s”). Oftentimes, we like to jump into the chaos of the seals and trumpets, asking ourselves what the prophetic unfolding of it all will look like. But before we get into those things, we must ask ourselves another question. One that may not seem quite as exciting, at first glance, but is what is no doubt just as (if not more) important. The question is a simple one: What is meant by the revelation? Better yet, what is a revelation? To put it simply, a revelation is an unfolding. It is a revealing. A full-disclosure, if you will. A revelation is anything that opens up the proverbial windows of heaven and gives insight into the heart and mind of God.
The most common example has often been called Natural or General Revelation. Imagine that you find yourself walking through the park in the early weeks of Autumn, when suddenly you are overcome with the beauty of the changing leaves. Maybe they cause you to momentarily reflect on the fragility of time and the seasons of life itself. Perhaps your mind goes further and thinks of the seasons of your own life and what awaits when that fateful day finally comes and you open death’s door. You think about the afterlife and, depending on your spiritual condition, either rejoice or tremble at the thought of eternity. This entire progression is an example of General Revelation. Do you see how it is possible for a common, natural observation to lead directly back to God?
This answers the question: What is a revelation? A revelation is a removing of the veil, as it were, enabling us to see God. We can follow General Revelation to a solid foundation and awareness of God. But because of things like our finite nature and the effects of sin in creation, General Revelation cannot take us into a full understanding of the deeper things of God. We cannot discern the fullness of God’s Plan of Redemption or the Trinity through General Revelation alone. That is why God steps in and gives us what we call Special Revelation.
This Special Revelation is broken down into two categories. First, there is Biblical Revelation and then there is everything else. It is important to remember that this type of Special Revelation, namely, Biblical Revelation has been completed. The full revelation has been given. Therefore, there will be no more given. The “canon” is closed. You may be familiar with the beginning of Hebrews?
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…” (Hebrews 1:1–2)
These two verses from Hebrews, among many other things, distinguish between the two covenants. There was a covenant established on Special Revelation given through the prophets. And there was a progression and fulfillment of that previously given covenant unveiled through the Son of God. This is the fulness of Biblical Revelation. There will never be anymore Bible than there is now.
But is that all that there is to Special Revelation? You may ask yourself but what of those times of divine inspiration in my prayer life? Or what about those wonderful visions, dreams or impressions that I have heard of or maybe experienced personally? This is where we need to be careful.
Are you familiar with 1st Corinthians 14:29? “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” Let the prophets speak and others judge. Now, this is speaking expressly to the spiritual gift of speaking a corporate message in tongues and another practicing the gift of interpretation of those tongues. However, the point stands. If they are prophets and they are functioning in an aspect of divine revelation, why are they being judged by others? The answer is pretty simple. They are not perfect. Therefore, they are capable of completely missing the mark. They could get it wrong, not have heard at all, or be guilty of adding their own opinion or theological position into the “prophecy”. A pastor once shared a story where an individual gave a corporate message in tongues. Immediately, there was an interpretation given aloud. All pretty textbook, right? What followed next was not. As soon as the second man sat down, a third man stood up. His words? “Thus saith the Lord, “I didn’t say that.””. How ridiculous is that! But obviously, at least one of the three self-acclaimed “prophets” missed the mark.
Does that mean that we need to write off the gift of prophecy in general? Not at all. I cannot stop believing in cars because there are bad drivers on the road! Therefore, I can’t stop believing in spiritual gifts because there are those that abuse or misuse them. We simply need to acknowledge that there is a difference between the inspiration that the Holy Spirit gave unto those who wrote the things contained in the Bible and the prophetic gift that we see otherwise. What is the difference? Well, you may have heard Alexander Pope’s famous line, “To err is human.” Which is certainly true on some levels. However, humans are capable of doing things without error – even if it is the exception! For example, my wife has sent me to the grocery store with a list before. And, believe it or not, I have made it back with everything on the list. (That one time…) But nevertheless, I did something without error. This is the difference. In the inspiration of the Scripture, the Holy Spirit ensured that there was no error. He didn’t eliminate personality or writing style, God doesn’t do that. No, He worked through the individual to accomplish the communication of divine revelation. Not everything that the Biblical Authors wrote was error free – only everything that they wrote that was included in the Canon of Scripture. Paul wrote other letters that were not included. Did they have revelation? Im sure that they did. However, they were not determined to be guarded by the Holy Spirit to be without error. Therefore, they were not included in the Bible.
Ultimately, this is why in theology we distinguish between the prophetic categories of Revelation, Inspiration, and Illumination. Typically, we would reference everything outside of Scripture as being either general revelation or illumination. Meaning this: If you prophecy, or preach, the revelation you communicate is not new special revelation from God. It is the Holy Spirit illuminating the reality of the text and showing you what He is speaking in the moment. We get into problems when we people make assertions that they have received “new” (Biblical) Special Revelation. That is how cults like Seventh Day Adventism, Mormonism, etc. are formed.
The book starts out, “The revelation of Jesus Christ…”, which is that special revelation that we have been discussing. All revelation, whether it be general, special, or even illumination must be fixated and focused on the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.