God’s Great Gift: Progressive Revelation
Janet, my friend, my mentor, and senior pastor’s wife, asked me to share this morning in her stead. When I asked if she had something in mind, she encouraged me to share whatever God puts on my heart.
I’m currently taking my fourth Berean Bible class. That being said, God’s pressing a lot on my heart these days. J Seriously, if you ever want to really grow in your relationship with Jesus, take a few Bible courses, it will blow your mind!
Last week I was reading about Progressive Revelation in my Hermeneutics class. The more I got to thinking about it, the more in awe of God I became. So much so that I had to stop reading and just worship Him for a few moments. I quickly came to the realization that Progressive Revelation is one of God’s most awesome gifts to humankind. My textbook defines Progressive Revelation as God revealing truths over a long period of time, according to humanity’s requirements, and at a pace slow enough that people were capable of understanding them.
So basically, Progressive Revelation is God’s divine plan to not overwhelm us with His presence, rather to reveal Himself to the human race in bite sized portions that His people can understand. Such a gracious God we serve! In His infinite wisdom He knew that confronting us full-on with His glory and majesty and righteousness would be heart-attack inducing. So instead, He formed a plan from the beginning of the Old Testament to slowly reveal Himself; His love and His perfect plan in a way that we could grasp.
1 Corinthians 13:12 frames it perfectly “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
Think about it. Old Testament believers had the law, and other than brief encounters with a few select people, that was their understanding of God. He performed some incredible miracles along the way, but they did not have any idea of the capacity of His love. They did not understand that the law was motivated by love. Love sets boundaries to protect us.
Then, when Jesus came to earth, as a tiny precious baby boy, more of God’s love was revealed. That He would send His only son!! To a filthy stable!! Incredible.
His love was even more greatly magnified when Jesus went to Calvary. We get a deeper look into the heart of God when we revel at the pain He must have endured in the dark hours on the cross.
But then, after the joyous resurrection, when the Holy Spirit came and filled us with power from on high; divine truth and light living right here inside us, oh what love He has for us!! The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is such a precious gift! And the amazing thing about the Holy Spirit is that it continually reveals more of God to us within our own lives.
Which brings me to the other side of the coin that is progressive revelation. An interesting character trait that I’ve noticed about God is that He has a deep appreciation of systems, and when He finds a good working system, He seems to enjoy re-implementing it in another area of creation.
You see, progressive revelation works so well on a humanity-wide level, for the good of all mankind, that God decided to duplicate within us as well. How so?
It’s probably best explained with an example. My six year old, Sarah, knows that God is good. She knows He loves her and has a plan for her life. But her capacity for understanding is so small still. Pouring God’s full revelation of love on her life right now would be similar to holding out a Diet Coke can and expecting it to hold the Pacific Ocean. God understands this, and so He reveals Himself to Sarah in ways that she can grasp. And as she grows and trusts and leans on Him, her capacity for understanding will increase simultaneously. And by the time she’s my age, and has been serving Jesus for most of her life, she’ll have a greater understanding of the character of God.
I know this because that’s exactly how it worked in my life. I understand His heart so much more now that I’ve spent a few decades walking with Him. But still, studying these Berean courses, I keep throwing my hands in the air and saying “the more I study and learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know!!”
In the same thought, our sweet saints of the church are so full of God’s glory because they have been walking with Him for so many years. I say that with great respect, I am so looking forward to being a saint of the church!
Can you see how progressive revelation works within our own intimate relationship with God?
So how does this tie in with Christmas? Well, take a moment and to thank God for His gift of progressive revelation, a gift that began in the garden, and was so beautifully unwrapped in the manger 2000 years ago, that grew to take the place of our shame on the cross, and when the gift returned to heaven, He replaced Himself with His Spirit, living in our hearts.
How can we thank Him for this gift? We can use what He has given to walk in His love and by His grace every day. We can use our prayer language often and earnestly seek revival in our own hearts, and then pray that it will spread to our families, our friends, our churches, our neighborhoods, our nation.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find’ knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
And God, in His infinite wisdom, will reward us with more a greater understanding of Him. Because He’s found a system that works in progressive revelation.
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