This
lesson is borrowed from the booklet “Seven rules for Bible Interpretation”,
written by REV. M. L. LOWE, D.D. with supplemental material by David W. Holden.
(My words in Red)
Rule 4: The Bible is a Progressive Revelation
We come now to the middle link in this
chain of seven practical rules for studying God’s Holy Word. It is very appropriate that this link should
be connecting the first three with the last three. We are finding that no one link is of less
importance than any other; and, conversely, no one link is actually stronger
than its mates! All are vital, and each
has its own place in the Bible Interpretation chain. We pick up the notes as given by our beloved
teacher:
Mark 4:28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of
herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
In Mark 4:28, Jesus gives the comparison
from the realm of the natural—the seed sown first produces the blade, then the
ear, and after that the full corn in the ear.
So with the Bible revelation: it is progressive.
Study the progression concerning
prayer: In the Old Testament we find
David, and others, praying three times a day, with their faces towards
Jerusalem. Taken alone, we would follow
this as an injunction, but there is much more:
Matthew 6:6 But
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy
door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly.
1Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
There is a time for regular prayer (three
times a day); a time to enter into the closet (and shut the world out), but as
believers we are to always be in “prayer communication,” no matter what we are
doing. “Praying always…”
In other words never say “AMEN” in your
own private prayer life!
The subject of the revelations which
are progressively given throughout the entire Scripture is exceedingly broad in
scope. From Genesis (4:26) to Revelation
(14:6) there are literally hundreds of references on the agenda of PRAYER. That this must be treated as a “progressive
revelation” seem clearly apparent. If it
is not handled in this manner, what have we?
Perhaps we would, like Abraham, pleading for the preservation of Sodom,
try to always “bargain” with the Lord as the number required to persuade God to withhold judgement! Or, perhaps, like the so-called “Christian
scientists” (neither Christian nor scientific), we would do away with all public
prayers on the basis of Matthew 6:6. Or,
if we isolate Revelation 5:8 from the rest of the Book, and consider only “golden vials full of odours, which are the
prayers of saints,” we would soon intrude into the formal worship with much
incense, and allow the odor of the incense to do our praying for us. Or, if we take one thought from Romans 8:26,
and center our supplication on the “groaning
which cannot be uttered,” our prayer time would be a bedlam of miserable
sounds (even though it says they “cannot be uttered”)!!!
How can the believer come to a
proper balance in the understanding of prayer?...the posture?...the
perseverance?...the pressure?...the perimeter?
Only by recognizing that the Psalmists knew more about prayer than the
Patriarchs; the Disciples than the Psalmists, and the New Testament church than
the Disciples. The Epistles are our
final authority on the subject of prayer.
How can we apply the truth, once we
have examined this progression of revelation regarding prayer? We follow the teachings in the Epistles, and
we use the prayers of the prophets for helpful instructions. We do not disregard any truth revealed in any
part of the Book, but we align each teaching with how the truth is applied to
believers in the Age of Grace. We need
it all; and we learn the lesson in the light of the progressive revelation!
EXAMPLE:
The
Trinity: In the O.T., the Trinity is only
intimated through the use of the plural noun, Elohim, and the plural pronouns (Us, Our, etc, Gen. 1:26,3:5, etc).
But a declaration is made in the N.T. where only the intimation was made
in the O.T. At the baptism of Jesus: He
is in the water; The Holy Spirit is revealed as a dove; and the Father speaks
from Heaven.
EXAMPLE:
Study
what is revealed about The Holy Spirit:
1. In the O.T., the Spirit came “upon”
believers, and in a few instances, “filled” them; but in no case is it revealed
that He abode with them in the sense of “indwelling”. It could then be rightly prayed:
Psalm
51:11 “…take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.”
Unmindful of the
revelation concerning The Holy Spirit (which we are now in the process of
studying in detail), many uninstructed believers live in fear that He shall be
taken from them, and that, by His Departure, they will lose their
salvation. Many equate the prayer of
David under the Law with the terrible fact of the unpardonable sin. If this is your problem, what lies before you
on the next pages is of inestimable value to you! Although it is true that The Holy Spirit can
be “greived”, (Eph. 4:30); He can be “quenched”,
that is, not given His rightful place in the local church assembly (1 Thess.
5:19); and He can be insulted, held in disdain—“…hath done despite to” (Heb.
10:29), He is never from any true believer!
So PSALM 51:11 should never be included in the prayer of any child of
God in this Age of Grace! To see why
this is so, follow the progressive revelation concerning The Holy Spirit:
2. In the days of Christ’s flesh, He gave the disciples
the privilege of receiving the Spirit by asking:
Luke 11:13 “…how much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
Think of the
difference it would have made in the lives of the disciples if they had been
alert and responded to their Lord’s magnificent offer. But they were unaware of the Person of The
Holy Spirit. (They were much more
concerned about who would have the place of honor at the right hand and the
left hand of the Lord when he would be seated on His throne during the coming
Kingdom Age!) How much they missed
because…
3. None of the disciples asked, so we
read:
John 20:22 “…he breathed on them,
and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:”
which is the indwelling of the Spirit.
4. Then we read o the baptism and filling,
in
Acts 2:1“…the day of Pentecost…4they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost,…”
5. This is followed
by
Acts 8:17 “Then
laid they their hands on them,
and they received the Holy Ghost.”
Here The Holy Spirit is given by the act of
laying on of hands.
6. But, in Acts 10:44, we find The Holy Spirit is
given immediately upon conversion without human aid.
Acts 10:44 “While
Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the
word.”
7. Then, in Eph. 1:13, The Holy Spirit is given
upon conversion, apart from human ceremony.
Eph. 1:13 “In
whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”
And that’s where we stand now!
This chapter will continue in my next
post
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