The problem with anything important in Christianity is that it can easily become an idol. Jesus is, and must always be, the most important thing. Yet sometimes we can get so excited about revelation that we make it into the most important thing. Many Christians spend all their time going from revival* to revival looking for God sightings. They go to the sites of miracles, or follow miracle workers, or try to do miracles themselves. They construct over-complicated prayer ministries, or pick up bizarre prayer practices. They collect prophecies and follow certain favorite prophets, or try to become prophets for the glory. Or they elevate the scriptures to idolatrous levels.
I know; it’s the equivalent of buying a cell phone to talk to your spouse, then falling in love with the phone. But it happens all the time.
The reason God reveals Himself to us in multiple ways is partly because people are different: For one human, prophecy works best, and for another human, scriptures work best. But the other reason is that no one way should take precedence over every other way.
These forms of revelation need to be compared with one another, weighed against one another, and looked at holistically. It’s not “Everything must be double-checked with the prophet; he’s the final word,” or “Everything must be taken to God in prayer; that’s the final word,” or “Everything must be compared to the scriptures; they’re the final word,” or “Everything must be confirmed with a miracle; that’s the final word,” or even “God has to confirm it personally.”
Holistically. That means every revelation has to jibe with every other revelation. God’s revelations in prayer shouldn’t contradict His revelations through prophecy—or through scripture, miracles, or appearances. They all hold one another up.
Now, many Protestants teach that the scriptures are the final word. You might get a message through prayer, have it confirmed by a prophet and a miracle, and even have Jesus appear to you and say it’s true… but if the bible contradicts it, it’s not God. End of story.
Hate to tell you, but that’s not a biblical teaching. Watch:
Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him,
“Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.” “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.”
But the voice spoke again:
“Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean?
—Acts 10.9ƒƒ NLT
There are biblical commands forbidding the Hebrews from eating certain animals. Peter knew these commands, ’cause he didn’t each such things. And here he had a vision—and a voice that he recognized as belonging to the Lord—where he was clearly instructed to violate the scriptures. Any Christian who believes violating the scriptures automatically nullifies a vision, wouldn’t respond to this vision with “No, Lord,” but “Get behind me, Satan.”
Thankfully, Peter knew better. Rightly, he didn’t violate the biblical command. But, just as rightly, he didn’t ignore the vision. Because, later, he did find out what it meant.
Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile* home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.”
—Acts 10.28ƒ NLT
Whereas God had said those certain animals were unclean, He had never said that people were unclean. And that, unfortunately, was how Jews treated Gentiles: like dirty animals. Peter needed to get over that prejudice, because God wanted him to share Jesus with them.
Now you notice: God did sorta contradict Himself, and He did so in order to get Peter’s attention. And it worked rather well. In the same way, we need to recognize that sometimes God is going to do the very same thing with us. Revelation is not a mathematical formula, where every variable must equal x before the equation is solved. Revelation is a process where we take many messages and combine them into one truth. Sometimes it’s a messy process. But in the end, we get truth, God is revealed, Jesus is glorified, and our relationship with Him gets better.
And sometimes we’re gonna make mistakes and misunderstand Him. Keep the shortcut in mind, and keep an eye out for the fruit that the revelation produces. Next Thursday, I’ll start discussing the point of revelation.