The graphic above illustrates the progressively greater light received by each of the individuals and groups on the timeline, culminating with the greatest revelation of all, which we get when we reach heaven. Let's look at what the Scriptures say about the progressive nature of God's divine revelation.
Adam, Noah, and Abraham
The light that Noah received was greater than the light that Adam received. And the light that Abraham received was greater than the light that Noah received. God made a covenant with each of them, but He also revealed more light to each of them as well. Jesus said of Abraham, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." (Joh 8:56). So Abraham saw a glimpse of Jesus' Day and it made him glad. But He probably didn't have the full revelation of all that Jesus would do and teach. That was reserved for those who would come later, namely His Twelve apostles, and other disciples, including those of us who follow Him today.
Moses
Moreover, Moses certainly received more revelation light from God than his predecessors -- Adam, Noah, and Abraham. God appeared to him and called to him from within the burning bush. Later, he received from the Lord and wrote the Torah -- the first five books of the Bible, including the Ten Commandments. Scripture says, "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend." (Ex 33:11a). After he would speak with the Lord, his face would radiate the glory of God for a period of time (Ex 34:29-35). He even foretold the coming of the Messiah, a Prophet like him, to whom everyone must listen or else be completely cut off (Dt 19:15-19; Ac 3:22-23). Who can deny that God entrusted him with a greater measure of revelation than all who came before him?
David
Yet the Lord gave King David revelations with regard to the sufferings, death, resurrection, coronation, and glorious kingdom of the Messiah that he didn't give to Moses (Ps 2:6-7, 10-12; 16:10-11; Ps 22, 69, 72, 89, 100, 110, etc.). The apostle Peter said:
"But [David] was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay." (Act 2:30-31)
Certainly David received even more light than the famous Lawgiver did on Mount Sinai.
Like David, the prophets received revelations beyond the scope of what they received through the Law of Moses, including revelations with regard to the gospel and the future of Israel. As Paul said, God promised the gospel through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures before He revealed it to us (Rom 1:2). Yet even the prophets did not fully understand the revelation they were given at the time. The apostle Peter put it like this:
"Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." (1Pe 1:10-12)
One example would be the prophet Daniel. He was given an exceedingly great revelation of frightening events that would occur during the end times. Yet he didn't understand what the final outcome of it all would be, since that was sealed and hidden from him. He said:
"I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, 'My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?' He replied, 'Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end.'" (Dan 12:8-9)
John the Baptist
According to Jesus during His earthly ministry, John the Baptist was the greatest prophet that ever lived in all of history up until his time (Mt 11:11). Consider the fact that he prepared the way for the Lord (Mk 1:1-4) in fulfillment of what the prophet Isaiah foretold (Is 40:3-5). God actually revealed to him who the long-awaited Messiah was, by letting him see His Spirit descend upon Him and remain upon Him, so that he could identify Him as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29, 36). It was he who got the revelation from God that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt 3:11; Lk 3:16; Mk 1:8), so that he could introduce the world to Him. He was sent from God to testify as a witness concerning Christ the Light of the world (Jn 1:6-7). No other prophet before Him had this privilege, and none of his predecessors had ever had such a great revelation from God.
When the Lord Jesus Christ came, He gave us the greatest revelation of the Father that the world had ever received. He was the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15), the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of His being (Heb 1:3). He was the Word who was with the Father in the beginning and who was God (Jn 1:1:1-2). "Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. in Him was life and that life was the light of men." (Jn 1:3-4). He was God the only Son at the Father's side, who made Him known (Jn 1:18). He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6) apart from whom no man can come to the Father.
Up until then, God had spoken to them through the prophets at many times and in various ways, after which He sent His own Son into the world to speak directly to us. The apostle to the Hebrews put it like this:
"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe." (Heb 1:1-2)
However, even Jesus Himself spoke in parables and figures of speech to the multitudes and only explained things to His Twelve Apostles. Toward the end of His ministry, even the Twelve rejoiced to find that He was no longer speaking in figures of speech to them, and they realized then that He knew all things (Jn 16:29-30). Therefore, we can observe a progression throughout His earthly ministry in the clarity level of the revelation He gave to His disciples.
Moreover, Jesus did not even say everything there was to say to His disciples before He went to the cross. Of course, there were many more things He taught them during the forty days between His resurrection and the Day of Pentecost. But even after that, He still left many things unsaid, which the apostles would need to receive later from the Holy Spirit, after His resurrection and ascension to heaven. Once He returned to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit, they would continue to receive more revelation from Him, much of which they later wrote in what have now become the books of the New Testament Bible. He said to them:
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you." (Joh 16:12-15)
Thus we see the ongoing increase in greater revelation following His ascension. Not only that, but even with all that is written in Scripture about what He said and did, it was not all recorded in Scripture. Amazingly the apostle John wrote:
"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (Joh 21:25)
Teachings of Jesus
Having said all that, let's back up for a moment and look at the progressive nature of what Jesus taught. In other words let's observe the progression in His teachings themselves. One example is in the Sermon on the Mount. Toward the beginning of it, after He taught us the Beatitudes, He said:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mat 5:17-20)
He laid a foundation that the Law and the Prophets were not going anywhere, since He wasn't going to abolish them but fulfill them. Then you look at the way He lived His life and He did fulfill the Law by perfectly obeying God in every area of His life. He truly loved God with all of His heart, mind, soul, and strength, and He loved His neighbor as Himself. He fulfilled the Prophets in that their prophecies of Him were fulfilled by Him, but He also fulfilled the way they taught us to live before God.
He then warned anyone who sets aside the least of these commands from the Law and the Prophets, and He promises great reward for those who practice and teach these commands. So that was the premise for the rest of His Sermon and His other teachings as well.
Then He taught that our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Do you realize what that means? It means that He was going to give us a greater revelation of the Father than what they had received up to that point. Up until then, they had understood the Law a certain way, which was mainly external and superficial. But He was about to teach them the deeper meaning of the Law and give them a greater revelation of what God requires of them.
Then He proceeded to cite various commandments and decrees in the Law, telling them that they had heard such-and-such said, but now "I say to you", and He would show them the fullness of the standard for heaven, which was higher than they had ever understood before. This was a new revelation. For example, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." (Mat 5:21-22). And one by one He gave more and more examples just like that with a deeper revelation of what God requires of us. He gave us a more complete understanding of what God considers to be murder, adultery, not keeping your word, and unfaithfulness, etc. He taught us how God sees divorce and how God expects us to love our enemies, as well as many other things that had been misunderstood by those who taught the Law and those who learned it (Mt 5: 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44). All of this was a progressive revelation in the sense that they had heard one thing, but now He was saying something much more than that.
You clearly see a progression in what Jesus taught even if you just look at it from the beginning of His ministry to the end of it. It seems that at the beginning of His ministry, before He had said much, there were many who followed Him. But the more He taught them about what God requires and what it meant to follow Him, the more people fell away and no longer followed Him. Perhaps they became disappointed and realized that His requirements were not what they had signed up for, or that His commands were too hard for them.
Perhaps a couple of His parables about the nature of the kingdom of God will help explain progressive revelation both on a macro scale, such as we see from Genesis to Revelation, as well as on a micro scale, such as we see over the course of Jesus ministry, for example.
Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches." Again he asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough." (Luk 13:18-21)
Do you see the progression from tiny to great? Whether it was the little mustard seed becoming a great tree, or a little bit of yeast leavening the whole lump of dough, we see that this is what the kingdom of God is like. The same applies to the progressive nature of divine revelation.
The Twelve
We also see a progression in the revelation that the Twelve apostles received. For example, when He taught them about His future sufferings and crucifixion, they didn't grasp the meaning. "But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it." (Luk 9:45; cf., Lk 18:34).
Later on in the book of Acts, we read how the apostles came to understand that the baptism with the Holy Spirit that they received on the day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of Joel's prophecy found in Joel 2 (see Ac 2:16). They progressed into a greater light.
For the first ten years after that time, they thought the gospel was only for Jews until the Holy Spirit gave Peter a revelation in Acts 10 and instructed him to go to the home of Cornelius the centurion with the people whom he had sent to get him. Peter then realized how true it is that God does not show favoritism (Ac 10:34).
The same sort of progression may be found in passages about other disciples besides the twelve. For example, when Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after He rose from the dead. Initially "They were kept from recognizing him." (Luk 24:16). But after He had broken the bread with them, "Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and He disappeared from their sight." (Luk 24:31)
The Apostle Paul
Another example is the apostle Paul. Initially he was a Pharisee, living under the law, and as for righteousness based on the Law, he was faultless (Phil 3:6). He lived to please God the best he knew how with the limited light he was given. He was there giving his approval as he witnessed the execution of Stephen, even as the light of Christ was revealed to him in the face of Stephen, who looked up to heaven and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Ac 7:55-56, 58; 8:1). He saw the love of Jesus in Stephen as that martyr, just before he died, forgave those who put him to death (Ac 7:59-60). That was an increase of the light Paul had received up to that point, and yet in his zeal for God, he launched a great persecution of the Church (Ac 8:1).
That persecution continued to build, as he breathed out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples, until one day when he received a greater revelation. One day as he was heading off to persecute more Christians in Damascus, Jesus appeared to him. The light of that revelation was so great that it blinded him and knocked him to the ground. He spoke directly to the Lord, asking Him, "Who are You, Lord?" The Lord replied, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." (Ac 9:5). So this was the most light Paul had received up to that point in his life. Then Jesus instructed him, "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." (Act 9:6). In other words, there was still an even greater revelation from the Lord yet to come for him, which he would receive in the city of Damascus at the house of Judas on Straight Street through a brother in Christ named Ananias, who was a devout observer of the Law and highly respected among the Jews (Ac 22:12). When Ananias came and laid his hands on Paul, speaking the name of Jesus over him and telling him to be filled with the Holy Spirit, something like scales fell from Paul's eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized into Christ (Ac 9:18).
After spending several days in Damascus with the disciples, he went immediately into Arabia, until he later returned to Damascus. After three years he went to Jerusalem to get acquainted with the apostle Peter for fifteen days. The only other apostle he saw was James, the Lord's brother (Gal 1:18-19). Then he went into Syria and Cilicia. Then after fourteen years, he went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas and Titus. He went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, he presented to them the gospel that he preached among the Gentiles. He had received this gospel by revelation from the Lord through the Spirit, not from the Twelve, and he simply wanted to be sure he was preaching the correct message among the Gentiles (Gal 2:1-2). He also had an experience later when he was caught up to Paradise and received exceedingly great revelations from the Lord. He heard things that he was not permitted to speak about (2 Co 12:1-4). You can clearly see the progressiveness of divine revelation in Paul's life.
He said that God gave him the administration (or dispensation) of His grace for us. In other words, God made the mystery known to him by revelation. He had insight into the mystery of Christ. While this mystery was not made known to people in previous generations, it was revealed to the apostles and prophets of God during Paul's day. He said:
"Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Eph 3:2-6)
Thus more light was given to the apostles and prophets during the first century than had been given to anyone else prior to that time, as God made known to them the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure (Eph 1:9-10).
All Disciples of Christ
The same progression of divine revelation from lesser to greater light is true of all disciples who seek the Lord. Paul the apostle said, "As it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived'— the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." (1Co 2:9-10). This means that the Spirit of God reveals to us things that no eye has yet seen, no ear has yet heard, and no human mind has conceived, even the deep things of God. Did not the Lord promise us, "Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know"? (Jer 33:3) Indeed He will continue to reveal great and mighty things that we do not know, if we continue to seek Him.
As Peter the apostle wrote: "We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." (2Pe 1:19). You see, the message of the prophets is confirmed to us through Christ and His apostles, therefore, we should pay careful attention to the message just as we would to a light when we are in a dark place. And we should continue doing so until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts, which again indicates that we will progress into a greater level of revelation light.
We can learn some lessons about progressive revelation through the book of Revelation. For example, we see how the closest disciple of Jesus, the apostle John, had an even greater revelation of the glorified Christ when he was on the isle of Patmos than he had ever had during the Lord's earthly ministry, even laying his head on Jesus' chest. And even with all that the Lord had revealed to John, there were still things he didn't know. For example, when he was asked who the people in white robes were that he saw in heaven, he didn't know. He wrote:
"Then one of the elders asked me, 'These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?' I answered, 'Sir, you know.' And he said, 'These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev 7:13-14)
Even in his old age, the Lord continued to progressively reveal more and more to John in this way. Yet there were still some things the Lord revealed to him that he was not permitted to disclose to us, such as what the seven thunders spoke (Rev 10:4). We will one day find out what the seven thunders spoke, but until then we are not allowed to know and it remains a mystery to us.
Heaven
Consider the fact that God will make all things new, and that gives you an idea of how much greater the revelation light will be for us in that day. "He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.' " (Rev 21:5). Since everything is going to be made new, then what we will experience there with our spirits, our minds, our hearts, our ears, and our eyes will all be new to us, and what a glorious experience it will be!
Some Words of Caution
While we have learned some very important lessons through this study on progressive revelation, I do want to give a few brief words of caution.
First of all, it is not wise to copy certain behaviors of the patriarchs like Abraham or David that we have now through our greater degree of revelation come to understand to be sinful deeds (eg., lying, polygamy). Since we have more light than they did, we know better than to do those things, so let's not try to copy their mistakes.
Secondly, it is not wise to speculate on what would have happened if certain Bible characters were born in a different period than they actually lived in, for example imagining how Abraham would have lived if he had been born during the time of the Mosaic covenant. Each of the patriarchs, including Abraham, lived to please God according to the light of revelation that they had received, which was not as great as the light that we have now received. Therefore, we who are in Christ have a significant advantage over them and must also live blamelessly to please the Lord, according to the greater light that we have received from Him.
Thirdly, the book of Revelation closes with a grave word of warning from the Lord Himself about the danger of adding anything to the words of the prophecy of that book. He states:
"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll." (Rev 22:18-19).
Let's take heed to that warning. While we know that the Holy Spirit continues to give us greater revelation all the time, He will never contradict what is written in the Word of God. He will not add to or take away from the book of Revelation, or any other book of the Bible for that matter. Divine revelations usually shed more light on what we have already received in the Word, and in some cases they restore lost truth to the Church, but they don't become new books of the Bible for us. On my Eternal Destinations blog, I have written about many different revelations that the Lord has given to His people in recent years, including those who have seen heaven and hell, those who have had supernatural encounters with the Lord, and those who have received prophetic messages from the Lord for mankind. However, we must always check our Bibles to be sure that any revelation we hear agrees with the Scriptures.
Beware of any revelation or prophecy that contradicts the Bible, even if the messenger claims to have received it from an angel of God or from the Lord Himself. The word of God is the best rule by which to judge concerning revelations.
If you would like to see some examples of revelations that contradict the Bible, then see my articles on The Truth of God's Word, such as TGRM Issues and Concerns, Gabriel Doufle Issues and Concerns, HOREMOW Issues and Concerns, The Cult of Mormonism, and Exposing the JMS Cult.
Closing Words
We have learned from God's Word that the revelation light which God has given to man is continually growing brighter and brighter. This has been happening since the dawn of creation until now, and it will continue to do so. The light of God in the earth grows brighter, even as the world gets darker, so that the light now enjoyed by New Testament believers in Christ is greater than what the prophets of old had under the Mosaic covenant. It is greater than what David and Moses themselves had, and their degree of revelation was greater than those who came before them like Noah and Adam. Not only is the light of God's revelation growing ever brighter at the macro level, meaning from the dawn of creation to the end of time, but it also grows ever brighter at the micro level in the life of each individual whom the Lord calls by His grace. That was the experience of His apostles, including Paul, and His other disciples, as well as those of us who follow Christ today.
We saw how the teachings of Christ Himself had a progressive nature to them, bringing more and more light to His listeners, when we view them from the beginning of His ministry to the end. We saw how the apostles had a greater degree of light than the multitudes who heard His parables, because He explained everything to them, but there were still things that even the Twelve didn't understand until later. We saw how the Lord continues to reveal more light to us through the the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, even through supernatural, divine revelations. We learned that heaven is the greatest light of all, culminating the grand progression of ever-increasing light, in that place where all things are made new by God.
I'm sure there are many other lessons as well that we can glean from this study, which the Lord will show you as you take what you have learned here and apply it. I hope that this teaching has helped to broaden your understanding of progressive revelation in such a way that will give you a greater appreciation for it, as well as greater insight and understanding with regard to the Word of God itself. Let us who follow Christ go from strength to strength till each of us appears before God in Zion. May God's glorious light grow ever brighter in the lives of those who have ears to hear, until we all come to the full light of day.
Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission.
Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as The Bible is the Word of God. I also recommend Restored Truth, Baptized with the Spirit, By the Spirit of God Alone, Scripture Alone, The Spirit without Limit, The Kingdom of God is Like This, Mysteries of the Faith, Discerning the Things of the Spirit, and Testing the Spirits of False Prophets, as well as Judging Revelations, Visions, and Prophecies. Lastly, I invite you to take a look at my entire collection of blogs at Writing for the Master.
Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and believe.
Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International. He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.
