Knowing the Bible: What is Progressive Revelation?

Transcription

1 Knowing the Bible: What is Progressive Revelation? The progress of revelation is key to the foundational view of Christianity that the Word of God is a work from God that reveals His salvific plan and purpose throughout human history. The Word of God, being written in time and space, will naturally have a certain beginning point as well as an ending. The beginning (Old Testament) will logically communicate elementary spiritual realities that are ultimately fulfilled in the completeness of revelation which comes at the end (New Testament). For example, the sacrificial system of the Old Testament is fulfilled in Christ through the final sacrifice made by the offering of His own life on the cross. The book of Hebrews in the New Testament drives to Christ s superior sacrifice (Hebrews 10:1-25). Later developments in Scripture will naturally have a greater weight than those revelations that came at the earliest points of biblical record keeping. The Christian s ability to trace the progress of revelation throughout Scripture will not only provide a strong anchor for his/her life in the midst of great challenges brought on by the weaknesses of the flesh, the assault of the worldly culture, or satanic oppression, but it will also enable him/her to accurately engage the culture and show the precision of God as He worked through multiple authors to communicate one message over several thousand years. Now let us pick up a few more pieces of how to understand God s revelation as it was communicated to Moses and was then passed on to Joshua. Fellowship Group Leader: Read: Hebrews 1:1-2 Answer the following: What is meant by progress of revelation? Example: Deuteronomy 29:29 Activity: Reference the Table of Contents and look up Deuteronomy 29:29. Answer the Following Questions: 1. Did God reveal to Moses everything there is to know about Him? 2. Can we know the secret things of God apart from the Bible? Using Your Bible Better: Take a moment to look in the middle column of the page where Deuteronomy 29:29 sits. Down the middle of the page a column may be present with numbers and abbreviations. The column is called a center cross reference. Most Bibles will have a center cross reference down the middle of almost every page. The center cross reference is a

2 handy tool that enables the reader to find verses throughout the Bible that are directly related to the verse being read. For example, take notice of Deuteronomy 29:29. A superscript may stand out that looks like the example below: o Deuteronomy 29:29, a The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but b the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. Now, look down the center column of the Bible and look for the break in the center column reference where chapter 29 begins. The break will be identified either by the words Chapter 29 or 29:1. Once the chapter break has been identified scroll down the center cross reference until verse 29 is found. Note: Bibles differ from one to the next in regards to the information in the center column reference. Some Bibles will have more information than others. Therefore, if the verse cannot be found in the center column reference, it may not be included. Does the center cross reference have verses listed that apply to Deuteronomy 29:29? If so, list them in order in the space provided below. Look up the verses listed and discuss how they apply to the passage. Do the verses in the concordance help in understanding what is meant by the secret and/or revealed things of God? Take time to share with one another as some may not have a Bible that contains the center cross reference information. Example: Numbers 12:1-8 Activity: Reference the Table of Contents and look up Numbers 12: When God came down to the tent of meeting, how did He communicate with Moses, Miriam, and Aaron (12:6)? 2. Who decided whether or not a prophet was among the people of Israel (12:6)?

3 3. How did God speak to prophets versus Moses (12:6-7)? 4. How did God speak to Moses (12:8)? 5. What kind of respect was to be given to Moses, the one whom God spoke with mouth to mouth (12:8)? Note: In the recent sermons on 1 Peter 1:17-21, how did Peter admonish and even warn believers to live in relation to the Word of God they had received from the Apostles? God s Warning: Activity: Reference the Table of Contents and look up Deuteronomy 18: How much is at stake in denying the word of God spoken to the people by a prophet whom God has chosen to speak through (18:15-19)? 2. What prophet(s) was God referring to (18:15)? 3. What were the qualifications and/or limitations God set for the one whom He was to speak through (18:15)? 4. Why did God use prophets to speak to the people of Israel (18:16)? 5. How serious does God take the act of misrepresenting Him by speaking words that one claims are from His Holy Spirit (18:20)? 6. What was the consequence for one who spoke presumptuously on behalf of God (18:20)?

4 7. How will anyone know that God has spoken through one who claims to be a prophet or has the Holy Spirit speaking to them or through them (18:21-22)? Checks and Balances: Based on the Scripture in the book of Deuteronomy, when someone tells us they have received a word from God we should right away place that word on hold and not believe it until it has been verified as being from God. How can we verify a prophetic word? According to Deuteronomy the word can be verified by requiring its specific details to come to pass. How specific should the prophetic word be? In the Old Testament, if a word was truly spoken by God there would be no generalities or ambiguities about what God had spoken. How specific was the entire Law God gave to Moses? Fellowship Group Leader: Turn to Leviticus 14:33-57 and read the specifics God gave regarding how an Israelite was to take up residence in a house that was contaminated with leprosy. This is one example used to demonstrate how God spoke in specific detail that could be verified by anyone regardless to whom the prophet had directed the word. Activity: Turn to Deuteronomy 13: Were there such things as false prophets in the Old Testament (13:1-2)? 2. Did God use false prophets so as to test His people (13:3)? 3. What was the first thing God said the people should do when a false prophet was in their midst (13:4)? 4. How were the people to treat or handle a false prophet (13:5)? 5. What is the motivation or the desire of the false prophet or what would the false prophet want the people of God to do (13:2)? Conclusion: The Word of God is divinely revealed information that came from God to man through those whom He had handpicked to speak to the nation of Israel. Such men were the voice pieces of God and they always sought to turn the people of God to Him in obedience.

5 Prophets, priests, kings, and/or national leaders were the means by which God furthered the progress of revelation. God ensured the recording of the revelation by using the men He had chosen as instruments through which He wrote each book of the Bible in the Old and New Testament (1 Peter 1:10-12). False prophets were present during the time when the progress of revelation was active in human history. God provided checks and balances for the people to discern who spoke on behalf of God and who did not. Those who spoke and claimed their words were from God, but were not, were killed for their crime of putting words in God s mouth that were false. Today, God s revelation is closed and will not undergo any more change. Therefore, God speaks to us in only one way, by His revealed Word. Question: For what reason did God give revelation to man?