[This post is in a weekly devotional series called Everything New. Sign up here if you’re interested.]
The so-called “special revelation” that God gives includes Jesus Christ himself, the Word that was from the beginning and was with God and was God. Jesus put it this way: “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” The other major example of special revelation is the word of God in Scripture, the living testimony of truth given through people with the special calling of prophets and apostles. This is the way the book of Hebrews puts it: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets in many and various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
The salient points are simple: God is real. God has spoken. We must listen.
We could philosophize about who God could be, and settle on the alternatives that seem most reasonable, but if God has spoken in the revealed word and in the Word made flesh, then doesn’t all other knowledge about him move to the margins of the page? The fingerprints of God may be evident in a spiral galaxy, in the wildflower petals of an Indian Paintbrush, and in the spiritual impulses that we experience, but what are fingerprints compared to Voice and Face? Give me the galaxies, for sure, but I will be able to know and adore and love a God who actually speaks.
There is a kind of “general revelation,” which the apostle Paul talks about in Romans when he writes, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:20). These and other biblical passages say that we as human beings have plenty of evidence that God exists and that he is powerful and superlative and beautiful as designer of the universe. But apparently this is not enough. Human beings easily turn away from the mere fingerprints of God with indifference. A fingerprint doesn’t call out to you, it can’t lead your life, and it does not embrace you when you need to be comforted.
So God spoke. He revealed. He pulled back the curtain, uncovering what was shrouded (“revelation” in the Bible means “an uncovering”). He spoke from heaven (that is, his realm of existence), but not by taking us up a ladder to heaven, but by extending heaven to earth in the person of Jesus.
Excerpt from Putting the Pieces Back Together. Click For More
I totally agree that God has spoken in the past by His prophets, His Son, but did He not also build the ladder to heaven for John the Revelator and possibley Paul who visited the “third heaven”? Does He not now speak/revela Himself by His Holy Spirit?
Certainly, The Holy Spirit is the “translator” of the Word. He is also the Conviction agent, Is He not also the one who continues to reveal truth to individuales that are seeking understanding? What would the Holy Spirit’s role be in modern day revelation.
What role would visions play in God’s modern day revelations? Is there no longer prophets as there were in the post Resurrection NT Church.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. How does a child listen to a parent if the child cannot hear the parents voice? This child will set his eyes upon the parent to be validated in communication. God speaks to us all in different ways because we are all created unique. Our world is full of distractions that drag our attention away from setting our spiritual eyes upon the Lord. When the focus is not on Jesus; one relies on our circumstance and emotions– and they always mislead us.
Let us not be lead by the sinful flesh, but let our minds be continually renewed in the things of God. For this reason, we must seperate ourselves from the things of the world and redirect our attention back on developing our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is only then, when we focus our time and energy on Him that we recieve a true revelation.
Mark, those are great questions.
1. Are there no prophets in today’s world? (Not including TV “profit-prophets”)
2. If there are, where are they? Are we just not aware of them?
3. How would the presence of Paul, Peter or John affect us if we met them today?
4. Are we ALL prophets and not doing our job? Is there a really big fish waiting to swallow us?
It’s difficult to trust those who “claim” to be prophets, when so many false prophets have been seen in the last 40 years. We were warned about those.
Thanks!
J
the lord will open the windoms of heaven for those who wants to know him matt .17 .3 and this is life. that they might know thee the only true god. and jesus christ. whom thou hast sent jer. 29 _13 and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart
I think that the Word of God is total and complete and when studied thouroughly one realizes there is nothing left to reveal through prophets that is vital for us to know for our salvation. That is not to say that we have every single iota of information or we have no questions or unresolved thought. But the general big picture is complete. Prophets were used in Biblical times to reveal something that had not been known as of yet. Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets. I don’t think we are to expect any “new revelation” as that would leave the new testament believers without a clear picture or full knowledge of God’s Word.
As far as visions are concernced I think individuals will continue to have visions as described in the Book of Joel but will be more along the lines or fine tuning prophecies already given and not new revelation. Visions such as a glimpse of heaven or a dream of end times. Something that points toward an already given prophetic event. We can all look at the state of the world today and the prophetic events that are unfolding before our eyes and know that it’s time to look up for our redemption draweth nigh !
Please email me if you can help me with this ..I have it in my bible..I copied it my self and I think it works here??
LATHBURY-
O Send Thy Spirit , LORD , Now unto me
That He may touch my eyes and make me see (touch my ears and make me hear)
Show me the Truth concealed within thy word
And in thy book revealed I see thee Lord
Fill me with your love and direction
Help me to really listen for you Lord…. Is my prayer always and forever ..AMEN..
That was a great answer to life’s unanswered questions and our thirst for God.
@ John
Sure there are, prophets and healers risen by God, is just that we are most of the time skeptical about this. Is different today, because most of the prophet we know were risen by God to write what we know today as holy scriptures.
We are aware of them, but again we tend to be skeptical about them, is on our nature, once we let God speaks, he opens our eyes to the truth, and then, and only then we can distinguish the false from the truthful.
Is hard to say , it would depend on the situation, the bible speaks clearly on how people reacted when they were near them, including that fortune teller that was shouting behind one of them “This a man of God”.
4. Without any doubt we are not prophets, if we are not doing what God tells us to do, this is to preach his word, once we start doing that the holy spirit will land upon us and then we will be prophets of the Word of God.
God bless you and may the Lord guide our footsteps.
This was so on-time. Thank you.
There are many voices out there, some prophesying: “Thus saith the Lord”. We are not to blindly trust those voices, we are to test every Spirit, no matter who delivers the message. We need discernment everyday in order to know when it’s truly God who’s speaking.
As His children, we are all given spiritual gifts but we are told that above all we should desire to prophesy, not that we have necessarily been called to be a prophet. In that way, we should be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit should He desire to speak to someone through us. What an honour. Thank you Jesus.
This is beautiful and said so much better than I have been able to put it: simply and completely! Thank you!!!!
How easy it is to turn our back on the lord and seek our own explanations for His work, even with Jesus Christ revealing God’s true nature. We must remind ourselves constantly to look toward Jesus, lest we forget.
oh! How great my God His, in heaven and on earth. May God help us. Thanks. God bless.