WHAT DIVINE REVELATION IS NOT.

InSpired

WHAT DIVINE REVELATIONS IS NOT!

Revelation is a body of thoughts given by God to a man for a specific purpose.. it is what is known to God and then revealed by God's Spirit so that it can be known by a man.

This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. I Cor. 4:1.

God is the initiator of revelations and not the Receiver of the Revelations. A man may know things, gather data of information by reading the Bible just as Daniel testified in Daniel 9:2

in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

In this instance, Daniel was the initiator of the process of gathering information. He gathered that particular knowledge by studying books which contained the revelations God gave to another prophet called Jeremiah.

Daniel was a prophet too but in that instance, the revelations that prompted his praying to God was gleaned from reading books. This information was given as a revelation to prophet Jeremiah about future events but Daniel knew by studying Books.

This statement " l knew by books' shows that Daniel's source of information is by studying what God reveal to others in the past about that event.

On the other hand, Prophet Jeremiah  knew that Israel would go into captivity for 70 years through interactions with The Spirit of God who gave him this supernatural utterances.

He did not know about the captivity of Israel by studying books. He did not gather this prophecy through empirical evidences in the environment by systematic research.and study  of avaliable data.

He did not gather this body of knowledge by interviewing the learned to glean from their web of wisdom.

Rather God revealed these secrets; mystery to the prophet therefore it becomes a revelation.

A revelation starts from God, it is God' s secrets and it is mostly meant for divine purpose.

 

The distinct difference between revelations and general knowledge is: While revelations are also body of knowledge from God, they are usually revealed by God and not gotten through intensive study of books.

Apostle .Paul said God entrusted some mysteries into his care. How did God gave this mysteries to him?' The mysteries were  REVEALED. I Cor. 4:1.

Our LORD Jesus Christ told Apostle John to write what he saw.  And how was the meaning of what he saw communicated to him; it was REVEALED! He did not know the meaning of what he saw by pondering or meditation

 He got it by our LORD revealing it to him.

"The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Abraham had not had Isaac nor Ishmael,  when he knew by revelations that his descendants will  be slaves in Egypt for 400 years.

We may be in doubt of it been a revelation If it was Joseph or Jacob that received this body of information of Israel's  400 years captivity.

We can rationalise that Joseph arrived at the above conclusion because he knew the operational system of  the Egyptians and that they will maltreat his descendants after his death.

 But then, Joseph cannot have the intrusive ability to predict the exact amount of years for the captivity.

This revelation was purely an act from God communicated to Abraham.

The only singular encounter Abraham ever  had with  Pharaoh had a favourable outcome because Pharaoh returned his wife with riches.

Therefore the Revelation of Israel in Egypt for 400 years is not a product of Abraham's imagination and deductions. It was purely divine.

Divine revelations rest on this premise: it defers human reasoning and it is never a product of your thoughts, desires or imaginations. 

It originates in the spirit of man as revealed by the Holy Spirit. It is the thoughts of God revealed to a man.

A.L. Hephzibah.