PRAISE AND PRAYER
THE SPIRIT OF REVELATION
Part Seven of Sixteen
CAN A MAN by searching find out God? Is humanity
endowed by nature to discover the Deity? Can he perceive Him in Creation?
Can he learn to know Him by logical deduction? Is God revealed to all who
read the Bible? Is the saint fully equipped to comprehend Him if he
searches the Scriptures? Many have tried all of these, yet have fallen far
short of a knowledge of God and His highest revelation of Himself in His
present operations. Therefore we should emulate Paul and pray, as he did
in the first chapter of Ephesians, that God would give the saints the spirit
of revelation.
Before Adam
sinned and offended God, he was in close communion with his Creator.
Endowed by nature with all the faculties which raised him above the rest
of earthly creation, undimmed by disease or deterred by dread, he far
surpassed his progeny in natural powers. His eyes could see, his ears
could hear, and all his perceptions were perfect to a degree which no
other mere man has ever known. He conversed on intimate terms with his
Creator, Who crowned all His other gifts by giving him a complement as his
companion. Did he come to know Him? Did it teach him to trust Him? Did he
learn to love Him? No! A single insinuation from the serpent showed
that his heart had never appreciated his great Benefactor. By nature, even
under ideal conditions, man cannot make acquaintance with the Deity.
Since Adam’s
day man has made an intense study of nature, on earth and in the heavens.
He has pried into the structure of the tiny atom, and tried to comprehend
the mighty celestial spheres. He has searched the depths of the earth and
the waters of the sea for minerals. He has catalogued and systematized and
investigated the flora and the fauna in the oceans, on the land, and in
the air. He has amassed tremendous amounts of knowledge concerning God’s
handiwork, with its multitudinous marvels and awful wonders. But has he
met the Creator of all this walking in His garden, as Adam did? By no
means! Great scientists are often atheists. Those who see Him in His
achievements have met Him elsewhere first. They have learned to know Him
through His written revelation.
But cannot
men use their minds to reason their way into His presence, or deduce His
purpose and His plans from His methods with mankind? Alas, men’s minds
are feebler than the faculties of sensation. Since their knowledge of God
in creation, which displays His imperceptible power and divinity, does not
lead them to glorify Him or thank Him, their reasonings are vain and their
heart is not intelligent. Alleging themselves to be wise, they are made
stupid. Their logic is illogical, and leads them away from the Deity.
Without a knowledge of Him and His ways they lack the major premise on
which all reasoning must be based.
But even if
a man cannot find God in nature or by reason, surely he can find Him by
the Bible! Here, indeed, is a means of acquaintance with the Deity which
is ideal for the purpose! It is better even than the personal communion of
Adam in the garden. No greater boon can come to any people than the Word
of God. Israel’s primary prerogative consisted in this, that to them
were entrusted the oracles of God (Rom.3:2). Yet they did not all find
Jehovah. On the contrary, when His words first came to them in the
wilderness, they did not desire His presence and refused to believe His
word, so their corpses marked their trail through the desert.
No people
have ever prized their holy books as the Jews valued their sacred scrolls.
They were copied with the greatest care and preserved with religious zeal.
Many memorize much of them. Yet how few really grasped their import? This
might be understood, if the lower classes, the poor and the ignorant, the
stupid and the foolish, failed to become acquainted with God through His
holy law and other literature, but, when our Lord came, He acclaimed God
because He had hid these things from the wise and intelligent,
and had revealed them to minors (Matt. 11:25). The rabbis among the Jews,
past and present, are often intelligent men, made wise by their knowledge
of the sacred scrolls, nevertheless, how few have come to the knowledge of
God! None of our Lord’s apostles came from this class. Even Peter and
John were unlettered, unlearned men.
The staff
which worked on the Concordant version delved into the details of the
divine records as has seldom been done. The books, the words, the
elements, the grammar, all were analyzed in minute detail. Surely that
should enable all to enter into the innermost precincts of God’s
oracles! Would not that open up His revelation as no other effort of man?
It was indeed, a very wise procedure, and evidence of the spirit of
wisdom, but man may be blind in the brightest of sunshine. It needs a
miracle, a special gift of God. No matter how exact our knowledge may be
of dead facts, they need to be vivified by the spirit of God before our
hearts can realize and respond, and enjoy the full revelation of God’s
glory as now made known through the apostle to the nations.
Even when
the Living Word, God’s human Expression, set the Deity before them in
letters of life, so that even the illiterate could read His deeds, only a
few learned to love God through His words and His works. And even after He
had manifested the heart of God, in its deepest depths, by His sacrifice
on Golgotha, the nation to whom God’s oracles were given turned against
Him and His messengers. God repeatedly dulled their ears and eyes and
hearts that they should not understand Him. He did it in Isaiah’s time
(Isa.6:9,10). He repeated it in the midst of our Lord’s ministry
(Matt.13:14), and after the nation rejected the testimony of His apostles
and Paul (Acts 28:27; Rom.11:25). The possession of the Bible is not
enough to insure an acquaintance with God!
Even Peter,
the chief of the Circumcision apostles, found Paul’s epistles hard to
apprehend (2 Peter 3:15), for they dealt with a sphere altogether distinct
from his own. In early days those who did not have this special spirit for
which Paul prayed, twisted it to their own destruction. This is the usual
practice today. Very few leave Paul’s message as it is, or believe it as
it was given. Almost all distort it by mixing it together with previous
revelation. It’s grace goes against the grain. Even those who have God’s
spirit in some measure prefer to be under law, with its righteousness,
rather than realize crucifixion with Christ, and the need for undiluted
grace. This spirit is a necessary foundation for the present revelation,
for no one can possibly merit the glory which has been prepared for us,
but rather the reverse. A rejection of the cross and the grace it involves
locks the door to the spirit of revelation, so that it cannot enter.
Today the
nations have a much greater and grander revelation of our gracious God
than Israel ever had. He actually entreats His enemies to be conciliated
to Him! He does not demand righteousness of the sinner, but imparts it.
Instead of excluding us aliens from His presence, He breaks down all
barriers, even those which kept the mass of Israelites from coming near to
Him. Instead of allowing us a subordinate place of blessing through Israel
on the earth in His future kingdom, He gives us a place superior to the
celestial hosts! How can we fail to respond to such supernal grants of
grace?
This spirit
of revelation is for all the saints, not for one or for a few. It is given
in order that they may realize what God has revealed to them by His spirit
in the Scriptures. It is not that they may get separate revelations for
themselves, or that they receive new ones for others. There have been, and
are, those who claim to receive additional revelations, beyond what is
given us in the Sacred Scriptures. But they disagree among themselves, and
none of them even appear to have the spirit spoken of here, for they have
not been enlightened with the truth contained in this epistle.
No one, not
even the saint in whom the spirit of God makes its home, can grasp the
fullest and final revelations in God’s Word without special equipment.
This is imparted freely to those who pray for it. Paul says that the truth
was made known to Him by revelation (Gal.1:12). God’s spirit imparted it
to him directly and inspired the written record. These revelations
represent the greatest accumulation of riches in the universe. They are
stored in the Sacred Scriptures as in a safe. No one can get at them
except those who have the combination. God does not reveal His secrets to
all, but reserves His glories for those who have communion with Him, and
are led to pray for this special favor. To them He imparts the same spirit
as originally revealed the truth to Paul—the spirit of revelation. They
alone enjoy these treasures now, though they are the common property of
all the saints.
Yet how few
accept God’s proffered favors! As it was in Israel, the wise and
intelligent will not receive it. God, in His wisdom, destroys the wisdom
of the wise and repudiates the understanding of the intelligent. He
delights to save those who believe through the stupidity of the cross. Not
many wise, or powerful or noble are called, so that we should find our all
in Him, and boast in Him, not in ourselves (1 Cor.1:18-31). With the full
Bible in their hands, the nations as a whole do not come to a knowledge of
God. More than that is needed.
What is
necessary in order that we may know Him? Three things, first of all. Not
only must we hear, or read, the word of truth, the evangel of our
salvation, but must believe it, and be sealed with the holy
spirit of promise. All believers receive the holy spirit. That is the seal
that guarantees to them, and the earnest that enables them to enjoy
in advance a small taste of the glorious allotment which has been procured
for them. They are sure to get it, and are able to anticipate some of it
in spirit. But, once more, even of them, how few realize the riches of the
grace and glory of their allotment, through which alone we may attain to a
realization of God?
Spirit
is what is needed! We have the holy spirit, which gives us life.
Now we need a special dispensation of spirit to enable us to grasp the
full import of God’s purpose with us, for this enlightens our hearts so
that we enter into a full realization of His character. No previous
revelation has done this. They were all partial and preliminary,
preparatory preludes to His highest unfolding, which is not confined to
the earth, but includes the universe. Even the celestial hosts are
apprized of God’s multifarious wisdom through this secret administration
(Eph.3:10).
This is the
special spirit that searches out the secrets of God. As the truth
for this administration is largely limited to secrets, very few of the
saints have any clear conception of its character unless they have been
endowed with the spirit of revelation. Even some truths, as justification,
which were not secret, are seldom grasped. They are not “mysteries”
which cannot be understood. They are secrets, known only to the initiated.
They are unknown to all who lack this special spirit.
In view of
the almost universal ignorance of the divine mysteries from Paul’s day
to this, we can appreciate the need of his prayer. There is still greater
need today, for Christendom not only ignores the truth for the present,
but powerfully opposes it. Many of those who know Christ as their Saviour,
and have the seal of the holy spirit, are not only devoid of this spirit,
but deem it their sacred duty to condemn all who enter into these precious
and powerful truths, and seek to keep the saints from even considering
them. This must needs be, for it will cap the climax of grace. It makes
the grace more gracious. A lesser quantity or quality of grace would at
least demand that it receive a grateful reception. But this is so vast
that it overflows even its rejection.
Paul prays
that the Father of glory may give us a spirit of revelation. At
that time God had already revealed Himself through the Hebrew Scriptures.
His Son had come and made Him known in living form. Perhaps many in that
day considered that God had fully revealed Himself, and no more was needed
to make Him known. Most of the saints today are in the same position. They
see little more than the kingdom revelation of our Lord and His apostles.
Nor can they do otherwise, if they are not endowed with this special
spirit. The lack of this has almost eclipsed the brightest and most
glorious light that shines in the heavens. The saints mistake the
moonlight for the sun. They grope in the gloom as if the sun were not at
its zenith. Blind guides of the blind led them into the pit.
This prayer
is for the highest boon a creature could conceive—a vital knowledge of
the Deity. The ancient Greeks had a saying which was considered the height
of knowledge, “Know thyself.” If they had managed to do this, they
would have groveled in the dust. But even this cannot be accomplished
apart from a knowledge of God. Moreover, the word knowledge is not nearly
strong enough. We may know much about many things without an intimate
experience. A realization of God is not a fleeting glimpse of a
distant star, but a persistent experience, an everyday intercourse with
Him in view of His vital interest in us, and the expectation, the place,
and the power He imparts to us.
The depth
and thoroughness of this knowledge is expressed in a fine and forceful
figure. As a rule, the eyes are the best and safest avenue of knowledge.
Job exclaimed, “By the hearing of the ear I heard thee, yet now my eye
sees thee” (Job 42:5). Even eyes cannot see in the dark. So the heart is
made the organ of sight, and we are given a special store of light in
order to perceive what God will and has done for us, and the power He
employs in our behalf.
Let us
repeat. All saints have God’s spirit in measure. Yet few, indeed, have
this special spirit, or Paul would not have prayed for them in this
behalf. Let us, then, join our prayers with his, first indeed, for
ourselves, and then for all saints. May all who read these lines enjoy
this priceless boon!
A. E. Knoch
