I. We have studied the major doctrines in the communication of God’s word to man:
A. Revelation is God disclosing information about Himself to mankind.
1. General revelation is information about God that God discloses to man through nature, conscience, and history.
2. Special revelation: Special revelation is the information about God that God communicated directly to man by supernatural means.
II. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 2:1-4. In this verse it is important to note that the writer to the Hebrews is saying something very significant. He indicates that the N.T. message was confirmed by those who heard. It means that even at this point that the writers of the N.T. understood that the period of revelation and inspiration were coming to and end. God did bring the period of revelation and inspiration to a close with the death of the apostle John in approximately 100 A.D. Revelation and inspiration are finished for now.
III. But how does God speak to us today? We understand that the Bible is the word of God, but how does God use the Bible in our lives today to speak to our lives and our hearts. The answer to this is through the ministry of the illumination of the Holy Spirit. The illumination of the Holy Spirit is that act of the Holy Spirit in enlightening the mind of the believing Christian to understand and apply the truth of the Scriptures to their own individual lives so that they grow in respect to their relationship with God and are built up in the faith.
A. John 14:26
B. John 16:12-15
C. Luke 24:25-27
D. Luke 24:44-45
E. 1 Cor. 2: 1-16
IV. Examples of Illumination:
A. Mark 8:14-26: When the disciples of Jesus lack spiritual understanding and only see dimly spiritually, they need to go to Jesus so that he can give them perfect spiritual sight for the work He has called them to do!
B. Mark: 4:35-41: While Jesus is in the ship of our lives there are times he appears to be inactive, asleep. At these times, Christ is calling us to a faith in His deity that knows He will not have us perish, or His plans thwarted.
C. John 6:26-64 Jesus is the bread of life. The means of internalizing Jesus is faith in His person and work, specifically faith in the sacrifice of His body and blood on the cross
D. Mark 1:21-28: Jesus came to overthrow, conquer, and displace the kingdom of darkness and replace it with the kingdom of God.
E. John 6:15-21: The Christian life is not a stormless life. It is a life that guarantee's storms and difficulties. But if we receive Jesus into the ship of our life during our storms, he will see us safely through to the other side as we continue on mission with Him.
V. Illumination verses revelation: Modern day Pentecostals/Charismatics/third wave/etc have a problem with the concept of revelation and inspiration being over. They believe that prophecy, miracles, tongues, and interpretations etc, must still be going on today. Because God does not change and the gospel comes with as much power today as it ever has. They believe that for God to speak today, prophecy must still be going on.
A. Revelation is God disclosing information about Himself to mankind.
1. General revelation is information about God that God discloses to man through nature, conscience, and history.
2. Special revelation: Special revelation is the information about God that God communicated directly to man by supernatural means.
3. God’s means of special revelation today is through His inspired word, the Bible.
B. Inspiration is revelation and the means used by God to record his previous revelation. We defined inspiration as: Inspiration means the Holy Spirit so guided and controlled the human authors of Scripture, using their own individual personalities and styles, that they wrote all He wanted them to write without excess or error.
C. Canonicity: Canonicity is the process by which the church recognized (not determined) the books that God inspired.
II. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 2:1-4. In this verse it is important to note that the writer to the Hebrews is saying something very significant. He indicates that the N.T. message was confirmed by those who heard. It means that even at this point that the writers of the N.T. understood that the period of revelation and inspiration were coming to and end. God did bring the period of revelation and inspiration to a close with the death of the apostle John in approximately 100 A.D. Revelation and inspiration are finished for now.
III. But how does God speak to us today? We understand that the Bible is the word of God, but how does God use the Bible in our lives today to speak to our lives and our hearts. The answer to this is through the ministry of the illumination of the Holy Spirit. The illumination of the Holy Spirit is that act of the Holy Spirit in enlightening the mind of the believing Christian to understand and apply the truth of the Scriptures to their own individual lives so that they grow in respect to their relationship with God and are built up in the faith.
A. John 14:26
B. John 16:12-15
C. Luke 24:25-27
D. Luke 24:44-45
E. 1 Cor. 2: 1-16
IV. Examples of Illumination:
A. Mark 8:14-26: When the disciples of Jesus lack spiritual understanding and only see dimly spiritually, they need to go to Jesus so that he can give them perfect spiritual sight for the work He has called them to do!
B. Mark: 4:35-41: While Jesus is in the ship of our lives there are times he appears to be inactive, asleep. At these times, Christ is calling us to a faith in His deity that knows He will not have us perish, or His plans thwarted.
C. John 6:26-64 Jesus is the bread of life. The means of internalizing Jesus is faith in His person and work, specifically faith in the sacrifice of His body and blood on the cross
D. Mark 1:21-28: Jesus came to overthrow, conquer, and displace the kingdom of darkness and replace it with the kingdom of God.
E. John 6:15-21: The Christian life is not a stormless life. It is a life that guarantee's storms and difficulties. But if we receive Jesus into the ship of our life during our storms, he will see us safely through to the other side as we continue on mission with Him.
V. Illumination verses revelation: Modern day Pentecostals/Charismatics/third wave/etc have a problem with the concept of revelation and inspiration being over. They believe that prophecy, miracles, tongues, and interpretations etc, must still be going on today. Because God does not change and the gospel comes with as much power today as it ever has. They believe that for God to speak today, prophecy must still be going on.
What is wrong with this assertion?
1. If God is still speaking in Charismatic/Pentecostal churches through prophecy then all of our Bibles must get bigger.
2. If God is still speaking then we should see the kind of miracles we say in the N.T. time going on today taking place through his spokesmen.
3. The messages of prophecy need to meet all the tests of canonicity and be accepted into the canon of Scripture
4. This is additional revelation, and when you have the Bible plus anything else, you always have problems!
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