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Topic: Progressive Revelation
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Carol Swenson
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Progressive Revelation
The true description of biblical progressive revelation is as follows:
Progressive revelation in Christianity is the concept that the sections of the Bible that were written later contain a fuller revelation of God compared to the earlier sections. For instance, the theologian Charles Hodge wrote, "The progressive character of divine revelation is recognized in relation to all the great doctrines of the Bible. .. What at first is only obscurely intimated is gradually unfolded in subsequent parts of the sacred volume, until the truth is revealed in its fulness."
The ultimate revelation of God is understood to be found in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospels. Hence according to this idea, the New Testament should be used to understand and interpret the Old Testament, even though all sections of the bible are believed to be accurate according to conservative theology. - From Wikipedia
Throughout the penning of the Bible, God had opened up the revelation of Jesus Christ continuously. For example:
(Num 24:17 KJV) I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
(Isa 7:14 KJV) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
(Micah 5:2 KJV) But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
(Mat 1:22-23 KJV) Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, {23} Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
(Mat 2:1 KJV) Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Now let us look at this particular thread. Numbers was penned by Moses about 1400 B.C. when he wrote the words of Balaam. Notice that Balaam says that he shall see him, but not yet. Then we skip to Isaiah 7:14 where we are given more information about the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah prophesied approximately 750-680 B.C. So in 700 years we are given the fact that Jesus would be born of a virgin which was a major sign to identify Him. Then next we jump to Micah where we find another major piece of information, His birthplace was to be Bethlehem. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and God gave him the additional piece of information of the birthplace. Then we jump 700 years ahead to Matthew 1:22-23 where we are told that Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin birth has been fulfilled. Then we see in Matthew 2:1 that Micah’s prophecy of the birthplace of Jesus has been fulfilled. This is an example of progressive revelation and a very important principle to remember concerning progressive revelation is that it is not extra-biblical. Progressive revelation is only possible within the confines of Scripture and not after the completion of it. Let us look at one more:
(Dan 12:9 KJV) And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
(Rev 22:10 KJV) And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
The book of Daniel was written anywhere between 605-530 B.C. In Daniel 12:9, we read that the words are closed up until the time of the end. Then in Revelation 22:10 which was penned about 95 A.D. we read that Jesus is commanding that the words of the prophecy of this book (the whole Bible) are not to be sealed. So here we have a sealing of the word for about 500-600 years but when the book of Revelation has been penned, the words are not to be sealed anymore, in other words, there will be understanding by true believers, not a select few. I have done a verse by verse study in the book of Revelation which is on line and I did not come across any interpretations which would fall into line with Camping’s total heresy. He has taken the book of Revelation and butchered it by adding his own ideas thus fulfilling 2 Peter 3:16: (2 Pet 3:16 KJV) As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
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At this juncture I want to include a very good article written by Thomas Golda who has given some very good insight concerning Camping’s extreme misapplication and misunderstanding of progressive revelation.
The doctrine of "Progressive Revelation" after the Bible was completed, is a false gospel that is believed by many apostate groups.
1. The Latter-Day Saints
2. Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches
3. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church
4. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
5. The Watchtower
6. The Bahai Faith
7. All Christian cults, such as David Koresh and Jim Jones
8. All Date-Setting Groups (There are literally thousands today)
9. Family Radio, Harold Camping and all their disciples..
10. All the websites supporting FR's, like Latter Rain, E-Bible Fellowship, Bible Only, Paul Aarons.
All the progressive revelationists share the same belief that God is revealing additional truth today (a new light) that was not revealed when the Bible was completed around 95AD. They believe the seals were closed to John on Patmos, despite Revelation 22:10 saying otherwise, and they feel that "they" or some other person or group that they "worship" is the instrument which God brings the final revelation to the masses, as they all violate Revelation 22:18
When you look at the disciples of FR, they hold the same idea as the Christian cults, and apostate churches, past and present.
" there should be no question that God is unsealing His Book in this day in a unique way, at the promised time of the End, and through Harold Camping alone" Tom Holt of Latter Rain
"In this time of the end when God is opening up the Scriptures..." EBibleFellowship
"......The Holy Spirit is unsealing the Book of Revelation and the entire Bible, allowing it to be understood as never before." Revelation Explained/Bible Only
"The complete 17 yr latter rain , Biblically correct understanding of-No man knows of the day hour..." 2011 Studies
"The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established." The shining of the light has been PROGRESSIVE, just as the light of early dawn gives way to sunrise and the full light of a new day. Viewing matters in the light that was available, they have at times had incomplete, even inaccurate, concepts. No matter how hard they tried, they simply could not understand certain prophecies until these began to undergo fulfillment. As Jehovah has shed more light on his Word by means of his spirit, his servants have been humbly willing to make needed adjustments.-- Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1993; p.146)
"In conclusion, the process of Salvation has been a “progressive” revelation of God...." Fagan, “The Writings of Livingstone Fagan: David Koresh as Messiah,”
"The subject of Revelation is God's last effort to bring into unity all the diversified bodies of opinion that claim to be under Christ. So there's only one acid test for anybody that claims to be enlightened in regards to the knowledge of God. Show me the seals and if they can't they have to wait then they have to wait until somebody can." David Koresh - FBI Negotiation Tape March 1993
"See that's the thing about these groups. Again they have this concept called "progressive truth". Truth is always in flux, progressing, advancing. "New light" is coming." David Bunds - Former Branch Davidian
"Truth is an advancing truth. There are mines of truth yet to be discovered by the earnest seeker." Ellen G. White
"....That God is active throughout history, bringing new truths to light. Historically, Adventists have understood that God is active in our own time, using the term 'present truth' to denote truths which were not present in earlier times, but which God has led his people to discover. Further, there is the parallel idea of 'progressive revelation,' which suggests that God has not revealed all truth at some previous time, that revelation is not confined to the thought and behavior patterns of the prophets and disciples of old, but that God lives and is active today and tomorrow" Seventh-day Adventist Doctrines and Progressive Revelation," Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 2/1 (Spring 1991):77-92.
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So, the reason why groups like Latter Rain, E-Bible Fellowship and Bible Only (who thinks every verse is a depart out message) have such bizarre doctrines is because they are a false gospel to start with, as they believe in progressive revelation after the Bible was completed.
When it comes to the many date setters of today, they are using their own human wisdom to try to calculate when they think the end will be. The fact is, God's ways are outside our ways and outside our thinking, and Christ will come in an hour we think not - Matthew 24:44
http://www.scionofzion.com/progressive_revelation.htm
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Carol Swenson
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What is Progressive Revelation?
It is important to understand how God chose to reveal Himself if we are going to understand prophecy. To quote Charles Hodge "The progressive character of divine revelation is recognized in relation to all the great doctrines of the Bible. One of the strongest arguments for the divine origin of the Scriptures is the organic relation of its several parts." In other words it is very important to understand that God revealed Himself progressively, and not all at once. This may seem fairly obvious by looking at the diverse authorship of the books of the Bible, and the many years that God's truth took to be written down, but the understanding of progressive revelation is important in relation to prophecy. The fact that the Millennial Kingdom is to be 1000 years isn't revealed until the 3rd to the last chapter of the Bible. That doesn't make it any less true.
Probably the best example of progressive revelation in the Bible is the doctrine of the trinity. The Old Testament only alluded to this truth, but the New Testament explains it more fully. In Genesis when God said "Let us make man in our image", He doesn't go on to explain why He would speak as if to Himself in this way, but it is evident that He is speaking with Himself as if there were more than one person there. We know that He wasn't speaking with angels or any pre-existent beings, as some would say, because Genesis goes on to say in 1:27 "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." He went out of His way to tell the reader that man was created specifically in the image of God, and not God and someone else. After all, no being is equal with God, and therefore could not share in God's statement.
So at this point there is somewhat of a question mark about how much one could know about the person of God. Not everything about His person was revealed. The revelation about the person of God continues over time through references to 'the Angel of the Lord'. Many times deity is assigned to this angel. The Psalms begin to make this clear as well. Psalm 45:6 says "Thy throne O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee." Hebrews 1:8 tells us that this was God the Father speaking to God the Son. The complete understanding of the triune God is spelled out in the New Testament. It seems that Jesus had to explain this for years to His disciples. They couldn't seem to grasp it, and I'm not sure they did grasp it until after the resurrection. We have more revelation then they did after the resurrection since the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells us in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus "...is the image of the invisible God." What better way could there be to describe a being that is equal with God than to call one the image of the other. Of course He was speaking of the second person of the trinity, who became a man, Jesus.. No person or angel can be called the image of the invisible God, or as it says in Hebrews 1:3 "the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of his nature". God is so far above His creation that only a very small view of God can allow for a lesser created being to be said to be the image of the invisible God.
Colossians 1:16 tells us that Jesus created all things, everywhere, in heaven and earth. Interestingly it also says this... "all things have been created by Him and for Him" You have to jump through a lot of hoops to not see the uniqueness of Jesus here.
Hebrews 1:1 says this... "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world."
You see, now we know that God the Father, Yahweh, made the world through His Son. They are distinct persons in the Godhead, and yet one, as is the Holy Spirit. Now we have the full revelation about the person of God, but obviously during the OT times they didn't have as much revelation as we do now. It's nice to know that God held them responsible for the revelation that they had, and not what they did not have. I'm sure that there is yet more to know about God that we just can't understand in our current state.
How has God revealed Himself?
Some might wonder whether people that don't accept Jesus Christ as Messiah will be held responsible by God. The Bible answers this question in Romans chapter 1. Listen to what God says in Romans 1:18
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them: for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."
Before the time of Jesus Christ God held man responsible for knowing Him (through creation) and seeking Him. However, the Bible explains to us that man doesn't seek after God, even though God has revealed Himself in creation. Instead, man covers over any thoughts of God, preferring to go with one of the various scientific theories. There may have been a big bang, but it was the intelligent, personal God, creator of time and space that caused it by an act of His will.
God worked in different ways during different ages, requiring different things from man, based on the amount of revelation that man had at that time. Now that Jesus Christ His Son has been revealed, man is responsible to believe in His Son. Of course the plan of salvation has never changed. It has always been faith in God through His revealed truth. Where more revelation comes, more responsibility comes. This subject is actually intertwined with Dispensationalism, since we see the work of God inseparable from the revelation of God. Take a look at Acts 4:12:
And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.
Has salvation always been by faith?
Definitely. According to the book of Genesis, and the book of Romans, Abraham was justified by faith, and he was called righteous. How did he become righteous? Was it by doing good? It wasn't by doing, but by believing God. There was obedience where there was true belief, so we're not saying that salvation was by mere profession. Was it by keeping the Jewish laws handed down to Moses? How could it be? Moses wasn't born yet.
Here it is: God counted true belief in Him as righteousness. He could do that because He knew Jesus would die for the sins of mankind. Abraham showed his faith by putting God before even his own son. He accepted God as the King of his life. This faith is what saved him, and not the good works that he did. He responded to God in willing obedience, and that obedience showed his faith.
God makes the rules, we don't. If God decides that the correct response to Him is faith, then that's what it is.
http://www.endtimes.org/progressive.html
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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