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Revelation, is simply the, "revealing" of some secret or
otherwise, undisclosed knowledge. Now the Bible speaks of two kinds of revelation knowledge
which do not contradict but rather complement one another.
First,
we understand that the Bible is God's
revelation to man about
Himself, His creation including man and man's disobedience and need for
salvation and the Father's eternal plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus
Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, the course of history, the endtimes,
Eternity Future etc. These are things
we cannot know, except they were revealed to us by God through the Word. This Truth, revealed by the Holy Spirit to
around 40 different prophets over a span of some 1500 years, was written down
and have become the canon of Scriptures.
These are the 66 books of the Holy Bible from Genesis to
Revelation. We, in turn, by the Holy
Spirit again, have had a, "revelation" that this is all truth from
God. So, that's one type of Revelation
which, everyone that calls himself a Christian believes or claims to believe.
A
second kind of, "revelation" which, many in Christendom do not really believe in, is
the kind that God gives about specific, personal
information which the Bible
obviously does not reveal, nor was intended to reveal. Not intuition, which though it be knowledge
apart from reason or previous learning, is still a power experienced at times
by human beings without God, a latent faculty that is yet very much in the
natural realm. No, but revelation from
God is far more glorious and definite and God-honoring.
Now, again there
cannot obviously be explicitly stated, personal details about people's lives of
our current generation in the Bible.
But God, at times gives truth about people to others or about themselves
to themselves which involve details in order to reveal His Power and Concern and
Deliverance or warning etc. The Holy
Spirit is the One Who does this and it never contradicts the Word (Its
principles, implicit or explicit commands etc.).
One should never shy away from the glorious and miraculous things God
wants to do for His children today by way of specific and spiritual revelation
just because it seems, "so mystical and of another era, say the apostolic
age of the New Testament." No, it is all for Today as well and there are
countless testimonies of faithful and sincere and Word-honoring disciples (men,
women and children) who have experienced this.
So much of the
Spirit's power is denied and His workings are quenched by people who
dogmatically refuse the possibilities recorded in the New Testament, as well as
the Old Testament to their own spiritual poverty. God, the Holy Spirit gives
some of that Divine secret knowledge to His servants about events, other people,
their own future etc. He is Sovereign
but He does share hidden knowledge from time to time as He sees fit to those Who
believe and Whom He chooses. It
may come in our waking moments as we pursue our ordinary course of activities,
in our prayer and worship time or during sleep in the form of a dream.
Note that Daniel
did not learn secret revelation from the written or learned scriptures he had at
that time but by the Spirit speaking directly to him as did the other prophets. So
it is not opposite to the Word that is written but complements it. Similarly,
God reveals today things by the Spirit, about things not specifically revealed
in the Word but they complement it and do not contradict it. Now, as you can
read on this very website, there are many, many false prophets who claim to get, "a word from God."
However, that does not negate the fact that there are true prophets today
amongst the host of Baal's false ones.
Also, to certain believers who are not prophets, God may, for limited
time, reveal specific things related to their immediate circumstances such as
the future of someone they encounter, other secrets about people, whereabouts of
lost items etc. which one cannot know otherwise except by God's direct
revelation. There is a school of
thought within the Christian world which teaches that these special giftings all
ceased when the written Word was complete with the record of the Book of
Revelation. These are people who
confuse the operation of the Spirit. There are scores of well known believers of
years gone by and in our current generation, who were and are given specific
guidance by the Holy Spirit in this very manner. Even better than that of course is what the Word says on the
subject. Please read the following
scriptures that support the above assertions. May you, dear reader, not quench the workings of the Holy
Spirit in your life and instead determine to believe all that He shows you and
is willing to reveal to you as you walk closely with Him in obedience to His
commandments.
Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are
revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the
words of this law.
Psalms 25:14 The
secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his
covenant.
Proverbs 3:32 For
the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
Daniel 2:19 Then
was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the
God of heaven.
Daniel 2:22 He
revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and
the light dwelleth with him.
Daniel 2:47 The
king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God
of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest
reveal this secret.
Amos 3:7 Surely
the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the
prophets.
Matthew 13:35 That
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my
mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the
foundation of the world.
Daniel 2:28 But
there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king
Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.
1Corinthians 14:25
And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his
face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
1Corinthians 12:8
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of
knowledge by the same Spirit;
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