Bibliology | Revelation In The N.T. (12/03/2000)

which means he speaks to his children. And fourthly, by the prophets and a true prophet is someone that is not the same as a preacher.

It's a completely different gift. It's one of the gifts that I believe no longer exists, but I believe that it will exist again, just like the prophet

Joel said, that there's the former rain and the latter rain. It will exist again towards the second advent of Christ.

And then it said it was at sundry times and in diverse manners. Basically, that means in many times and in many ways.

So he spoke through the prophets of old. Second Peter 121 says the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the

Holy Ghost. That really gives a great picture of the mechanism. Acts 116 says that the

Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David. So we see clearly that the Old Testament was given to us by God from himself.

It is his word. And he gave it to us through holy men who were

God -breathed. They received the breathing of God into their minds and so that they could write exactly the right thing.

Now let's look at the New Testament method, which is similar, but there are some differences.

So let's start with verse two this afternoon. God, who at sundry time in diverse manners spake in time passed into the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his

Son. And so there is an obvious contrast. Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of majesty on high.

That little phrase by himself eliminates a lot of the heretical positions because it doesn't require the church.

It doesn't require the sacraments. It doesn't require the Roman's road. It doesn't require anything to save a person.

Jesus does it by himself. Now, but let's look at the method about which

God gave us the New Testament and how it is slightly different than the

Old Testament method. So start again here with verse two and let's look at the key elements like we did with verse one this morning.

First of all, it says that you have to take the word

God from verse one because it really is the subject of verse two.

God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. So the first element we see is that once again, it is

God who has spoken. It is God's word. It is not written by man.

It is authored by God. Perhaps we could say it is penned by certain men that he chose to do that for him at the right time and the right place and in the right way and with the right style to express

God's word. So we see it is God once again, who has spoken. Now it says in these last days and that is contrasted with the first verse that says in ancient times, this has to do with these last days.

And then thirdly, we see that he has spoken unto us just as the first verse says he spoke to the fathers.

This once again emphasizes that God is not speaking to the world at large, he's speaking to his own children.

They are the only ones who can understand anything that he's saying in the word of God. And then the fourth thing we see is that it says he has spoken unto us in these last days by his son and that is contrasted with the prophets of the

Old Testament. So it is not given to us by prophets. Now this is kind of an interesting and important point to make as we start out right here.

Is the New Testament, it is not emphasized by God that it was given by prophets.

It is said that it is given by his son. And then he begins to contrast his son with the other prophets in the end of verse two and the beginning of verse three.

Because what prophet can you name that made the worlds? What prophet can you name that is the heir of all things?

What prophet can you name that is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person?

There is no prophet like that. So that is a great contrast that he's given us the New Testament by this one that he describes in verses two and three.

And it is not given to us by prophets, although we do have human penman and we'll study that a little bit later.

So we see that it's given by his son. Now when it says that Jesus is the brightness of his glory, the

Greek word for that literally means radiant splendor. I mean, it's a strong, strong word for brilliance, the brightness of his glory, radiant splendor.

It comes from a word, apo, which means off, and another word, ugazo, which means to beam forth and so are to flash.

And it's like he is the off flashing or the beaming forth, or you might say he's the glory of God beaming forth into this world.

That's who Jesus is. Now when you look at this phrase, the express image of his person, let's look at the word person first.

The word person means essence or substance, and we're talking about the essence of God himself, the essence or substance of the

Father. A lot of people don't think he has any substance because the Bible says no man had seen him at any time, but the

Bible doesn't say that he doesn't have substance. In fact, it implies it very strongly here when it says that Jesus is the express image of his substance.

The word person comes from the Greek word substance. Now this idea of express image gives us some real understanding about who

Jesus was, but it also gives us some understanding about the Father because this word for image in the

Greek language is karaktar, which means engraving. An engraving or a figure that has been stamped or an exact copy.

So if Jesus is the express image of the substance and essence of the

Father, then the Father must have some substance of some kind. Not that I'm saying we can see him in this world because no man had seen him and lived, but my son,

Ben, asked me a question the other day on the way home. And he said, Dad, can you see

God? And I said, well, no man hath seen God at any time. I waxed eloquent with my son, my five -year -old, and I said, no man hath seen

God at any time, my son. And he said, well, didn't Moses see his backside?

And I said, well, okay. So we've seen the glory of God.

You know, in the Shekinah glory. So it's like a fire. He said, so God is fire?

And I said, well, now, not exactly. He's not exactly fire, but it's like just glorious light.

And he said, well, does it have any skin on it? And I'm thinking, where is he going with this?

I wish his mom were here to answer these questions. But he says, does it have any skin on it? And I said, well, no, it doesn't have any skin on it.

And he said, well, I have to ask you this. And I said, what? And he said, dad, can Jesus see his father?

And I said, tell you what, son, let me study a while and I'll answer that one later.

Interesting question, wasn't it? No man hath seen him any time. He said, all right, then, well, can

Jesus see his father right now? Very good question, my son.

But I think there's a clue to it here in this anyway, because it says that Jesus himself is the brightness of God's glory.

He is the resplendent light of God, but it says that he is also the express image, he is the engraving, he is the figure of God stamped out.

He is an exact copy of God's essence and of God's substance.

It still doesn't tell us how it all works, but it tells us some amazing things about who

Jesus is. And it certainly contrasts him with the prophets, doesn't it?

Because can you name a prophet that God said he is the express stamp image of God?

There's not one like that. And this is who gives us the New Testament, Jesus Christ.

He is also called the one who upholds all things by the power of his word, isn't that amazing?

So he gives us the word because he is the word. He is also the one, now, this is important that we notice the very end of verse three, sat down on the right hand of majesty on high.

This is the position from which Jesus Christ gave us the

New Testament. It was not given to us while he was on the earth. It was given to us from being seated at the right hand of God.

Very important that we understand this as we go on. Now, so he was in what the scholars call his session at the right hand of God when we were given the

New Testament. Now, what is the method by which he revealed these doctrinal truths?

Let's go to John chapter 16 and verse one and we'll take the rest of this afternoon's study from this passage.

We see some real revelation into how God revealed himself in the

New Testament. First of all, as we go into John chapter 16, verse one, it says, these things have

I spoken unto you. We have to ask who the you is because these things are eventually going to be the things that show up in the gospels and the epistles of Paul in what is now our

New Testament. These things have I spoken unto you so if we can find out who you is, then we'll know who

God used to pen the New Testament and we can begin to answer some of our other questions that we asked this morning, like is the

Bible finished or is it being still given and things like that.

Well, if you means Christian people, it could still be given through some of us perhaps.

We could add a few more pages to the Bible if God so chose to reveal them to us if the you means all

Christians. However, if the you happened to mean a certain group of people, then that would then negate the possibility of any more

Bible being given. Now, one of the key rules to Bible interpretation is to ask who's being spoken to.

So let's look at this and answer the question by going up one verse, which would be chapter 15, verse 27.

And let's look at it. It's very clear. It says, and you also shall bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.

So whoever these people are who eventually penned the New Testament were with Jesus from the beginning, from the time that he was on the earth, let's put it that way, and saw him and were in proximity with him when he was physically in the world.

So that begins to show us that we don't have any people walking around right now who are writing scripture, even though they claim to be.

Joseph Smith claimed to do that. David Koresh claimed to at least be inspired. He didn't claim to be writing scripture,

I don't think, but he certainly added a few ideas to what he said

God was saying. And that's how we know these people are false because they were not in this group that's being spoken to.

So the first thing that we see is the Father gave the revelation of the Son through those who were with the

Son from the beginning. We see that in chapter 15, verse 27, and chapter 16, verse one.

Now let's go on. There's some more clues about who these people would have to be. Look at verse two. They shall put you out of the synagogues.

So whoever these people were were put out of the synagogues. Now, how many people nowadays do you think who claim to be writing great truths and recording them and putting them on the radio and TV were in the synagogue when they started out and then were cast out of the synagogue?

You do see very clearly, don't you, that that's speaking of the early church when they were Jewish believers who in the early chapters of Acts continued to worship house to house, but also in the temple.

But it wasn't long when they continued to tell those Jewish people that Jesus Christ had died for the sins of the whole world, which means the

Gentiles as well, and that they are the ones who killed him. It wasn't long before they cast them out of the temple and out of the synagogues in the different parts of the world where they had them.

So we see here, this gives us another clue of who these people are. They are at least the people of the first generation of Christianity.

Secondly, in verse two, it says, they shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth

God service. So whoever these people were, they were killed for their faith.

Now we know that all the apostles were martyred except John and they tried to kill

John. Tradition tells us they boiled him in oil, but he didn't die. And then they expelled him and put him on the

Isle of Patmos. Third thing we see in verse four, but these things have

I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things

I said not unto you at the beginning because I was with you. So Jesus was with these people at the beginning, it's very clear through these first verses.

Now this would include the apostles and their associates. They don't have to be an apostle to be a penman of the

New Testament, but they do have to either be an apostle or an associate of an apostle, someone that ran with them, one of the disciples in other words.

And it includes the apostles and people like Luke and Mark and Jude who were not apostles, but who penned part of the

New Testament, but they certainly were with Jesus from the beginning. In fact, Jude was the brother of James who was the brother of Jesus.

And we know that Mark traveled with the apostle Paul and other apostles and we know that Luke did the same.

So the next thing we go to, these are the same who were scattered at his death.

I want you to jump forward to chapter 16 in verse 32. Whoever these people were who

God used to pen the New Testament scriptures, it says this of them in verse 32, behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own and shall leave me alone.

And yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. That's very clear who these people are. These are the heroic apostles who all scattered and ran when

Jesus was arrested. They were the biggest cowards you've ever seen in your life when that happened.

One of the greatest proofs of the resurrection by the way is the change in the character of these same men because within a three day span, they went from being the greatest cowards on the face of the earth to being the boldest men who ever walked the earth.

All 12 of them were killed for their faith and gladly died in various horrible ways.

Some of them were sawn in half while they were alive. Some of them were flayed, which means their skin was cut from their living bodies.

Some of them were boiled in oil. Some were beheaded, some were crucified upside down, but all of them died for what they believed.

Now, why would they have done that if they thought that Jesus did not come out of that grave? And the thing that made the difference in their life was they saw him.

They saw him after the resurrection and they changed from being cowards to being the most powerful, amazing men that ever walked on the face of the earth.

And so these are the ones who were scattered and these are the ones who then therefore penned the

New Testament. So we start to see the qualifications that God lists of these people.

They certainly could not have lived in our generation. Now, so we see then that the father gave the revelation of his son,

Jesus, through those who were with him from the beginning. Second thing we see is that the revelation was given after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

He gave us the New Testament from heaven, not from the earth. Now, there is a way in which he somewhat gave it from the earth, but let's look and see how that happened.

First of all, look at chapter 16, verse 12. He says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.

So some of the things that were later penned and placed in the New Testament canon were actually things he taught them while he was with them before he was killed and before he went into the heavenlies.

But some of the things were things that he didn't teach them because they were not able to bear these things.

You see at the end of verse 12, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. So there are some things he did not even tell them on the earth.

I'm convinced that many of the things that the apostle Paul learned while in the desert for three years were never even taught by Jesus during his earthly ministry.

They were given to him straight from the heavenlies because they could not bear these truths. They couldn't have handled them while Jesus was with them.

And that's what verse 12 says. Now, another thing is we can see from this is these revelations were in some cases things which

Jesus had told them and then he caused them to remember them later. Let's go back to chapter 14 in verse 26.

14, 26 says, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom my father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever

I've said to you. So not only will he reveal new things to them that he had not taught them physically while he was with them, but he will teach them from heaven.

But also the things he did teach them, the Holy Spirit brought them back to their memory so they could pin them and write them down and put them in the different books of the

New Testament for us later. But the point is that they were pinned after Jesus was already in heaven and that's where he gave us the

New Testament from. Third thing I see along these lines is these revelations were in some cases about things to come, about things that were in the future as given by Jesus through the

Holy Spirit to those who were with him from the beginning. So chapter 16 again, look at verses 13 through 15.

Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself.

That's a great thing to learn about the Holy Spirit contrary to what the Charismatics and some Pentecostals act like.

The Holy Spirit does not elevate himself, he does not point to himself, he always points to Jesus.

But whatsoever he shall hear, that is what he shall speak and he will show you things to come.

So as Jesus Christ sends this information from the other dimension, the outside of time dimension, he sends it into our dimension through the

Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit speaks only what Jesus told him to speak and that's what he gave these penmen and that's exactly what they wrote.

But some of them had to do with things to come about the future such as the book of Revelation was given to John somewhere around the year 90

AD. John had, no one on the earth knew that stuff yet except possibly Daniel had alluded to some of it in the

Old Testament and this was given to John and then given to us through that method.

So we see then that these writers were all people who were with him from the beginning.

Secondly, this revelation was given to them after Jesus had died, was buried, was resurrected and ascended into heaven.

The third thing we see is this, that this revelation was given plainly and not in parables and that's important.

Look at verse 21 of chapter 16. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour has come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for the joy that a man has come into the world.

That's obviously not the verse I was looking for. Let me see here, look at the next one, maybe it's, no,

I got the wrong verse down here. Okay, whoever finds it first, tell me.

It's probably, okay, 25, there it is, thank you.

Drop down to verse 25. These things have I spoken to you in Proverbs, but the time cometh when

I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the

Father. At that day you shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the

Father for you. So the next, verse 26 goes into prayer, but verse 25 shows clearly that these are not gonna be taught as parables.

Now, let me get you to turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter two and verse seven. And while you're turning,

I'll just mention some other places. You'll see things along this line that show that as Jesus began to reveal the

New Testament truths by the Holy Spirit to these men, they were not revealed in the same manner that he taught when he was on the earth.

Because when he was on the earth, he taught in parables. But when he began to reveal by the Holy Spirit the New Testament doctrines to his men, it was very clear and plain to these men.

It was made clear and plain. It was no longer a mystery to them. So we see then that the

New Testament was given after Jesus had ascended, because while he was on the earth, he spoke in parables and they did not understand all these mysteries.

And we know that. We've watched them ask the questions and we've watched Jesus ask them questions that they couldn't answer.

And yet now after he goes into the heavenlies and the Holy Spirit brings these truths, it becomes crystal clear to these men and certainly to Paul.

1 Corinthians 2 .7 is a great illustration. Paul says, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which

God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the

Lord of glory. But as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man of things which

God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his

Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yea, even the deep things of God.

And Paul's saying, I've got them and I'm bringing them to you. And so we see then that this revelation differs in that it's not given in parables, but it's given plainly.

And that is verse 25, not verse 21. I need to fix that. Okay. Romans 16 .25

talks about that also. So does 1 Corinthians 4 .1 where Paul said, let a man so account us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

And Ephesians 3 .1 talks about it all the way through verse 10. Ephesians 6 .19,

Colossians 1 .26 and other places. Now let's look at Ephesians chapter two, verse 19.

So what do we see is the slight difference? I mean, there are some real similarities in how

God gave the Old Testament and the New. He gave them both through the Holy Spirit, didn't he?

Because it says that the Holy Spirit by the mouth of David spake, that's the Old Testament. And then it says that the

New Testament was given to us after Jesus ascended into heaven. And he said, I will send the

Holy Spirit to you who will teach you all things that I say. Whatever I say, he'll bring them to you. And it'll help you remember the things

I taught you when I was here. And secondly, it'll give you new things that I didn't teach you because you weren't ready yet. And thirdly, it'll give you things of the future that no man has seen before, but you'll get those as well.

And so, but the difference is that to the New Testament penman, they were given this revelation straight from Jesus Christ himself by his spirit, as opposed to it being the prophet that it came through.

It literally came through Jesus, even though Jesus was at the right hand of the father, that by the ministry of the

Holy Spirit, the very words of Jesus were either brought to the remembrance of the apostles who walked with him, or he taught them new things like he did the apostle

Paul out in the desert, but it came straight from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's the subtle difference.

Now, Ephesians chapter two, verse 19. Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. This verse gives us the foundation.

One is the most recent to this writing would be the apostles and the more distant would be the prophets.

And so we see once again that it mentions both how the Old Testament and the New Testament was given.

The Old Testament was given in sundry times in diverse manners to the holy men of old by the

Holy Spirit as God spake to them. And the New Testament was given by Jesus Christ directly to those that he walked with through the ministry of the

Holy Spirit, bringing these things back to remembrance and so forth. And now I'm gonna stop there for today, but let me tell you where we're headed next time.

We're gonna get into some of the other, couple of the other questions, the last two questions that we asked this morning.

We will talk about, was the Bible completed by the end of the first century?

And we will then talk about, is God continuing to give new revelation outside of or independent from the

Bible? We'll get into those issues next time. And we'll talk a little bit about the apostles, what the qualifications of an apostle was, how we know that they are no longer alive, whether we don't have apostles today.

And we will also discuss something that's even more controversial than that. And that is, do we have prophets today?

Although there are groups who believe both, that we still have apostles and we still have prophets. I say we have neither.

And I believe the Bible teaches that clearly. And we'll look at that next Sunday. Let's stand and have prayer together. Father, we ask you to bless the teaching of your word today in our hearts and in days to come, that as we have need for these great truths, we always have need for it in our own lives.

And sometimes we'll get the opportunity to share these things with others who haven't studied these things yet. But Father, may you use them in our hearts primarily to create that solid, strong foundation about the word of God that we need before we go into it and study other doctrines.

Help us to be totally convinced that this is God's word and it is God who spake to us.

And that these men, some 60 different, some 40 different men who wrote the 66 books of the

Bible were simply penmen and your agents for bringing it into this dimension of time.

We thank you that you've protected it, that you inspired it, that you have brought it down all the way to us 2 ,000 years after it was canonized and we still have the perfect word of God and we can rely upon it.

It is our authority for life and our faith. And we thank you that it is in this book that you first revealed yourself to us.

And we thank you for our salvation. We ask you to continue to teach us each day as we study this marvelous book.