Pre-Pentecost Examples of Seeking God’s Revelation
The Old and New Testament give examples of God giving personal revelation at select times to people. For instance:
- Genesis 24: Abraham’s servant prayed that God would show which woman was to be Isaac’s wife (based on who offers a drink to him and his camels).
- Gen. 25: Rebekah asked God why there was so much commotion in her womb. He explained the twins in her were prophetic of nations in turmoil.
- Judges 20:18; 1 Sam. 23:2; 30:8; 2 Sam. 5:19; etc.: God’s people ask about war strategies, and He grants it.
- 1 Sam. 9:6-10: Saul inquires which way he should go to find his lost donkeys.
- Note in 9:9 that this sort of inquiring of God via prophets was fairly routine for that era.
- 2 Sam. 2:1: David asked God where he and his company should go. God told them to go to Hebron.
- 1 Kings 14: King Jeroboam’s wife inquired of the prophet whether her son would die of his sickness or live. God responded through the prophet that he would die.
- Jeremiah 42: The people sought God via Jeremiah on where to migrate, and He answered.
- Matthew 26:17-18: Jesus’ disciples asked where they should go to celebrate Passover, and He told them about the house prepared.
- Acts 1:24-26: The early Jesus followers asked God (via casting lots) who should be the next Apostle. He led them to Matthias.
- Though this is pre-Pentecost (i.e. comes before Acts 2), it comes after Jesus breathed on them to receive the Holy Spirit (in John 20) and shows evidence they did have the Holy Spirit indwelling, at least to a degree, since they were able to have understanding of Bible passages that was not there during the gospels before John 20. So I think it is an example that comes after the veil was torn at Jesus’ death and the disciples had the Spirit.
Post-Pentecost Examples of God Granting Revelation
Some might note the above examples all happened before Pentecost, but even after Pentecost (and Acts 2) where the Spirit was freely given to His people, we see consistent examples of Jesus/God giving personal revelation to His people (often at times of prayer):
- Throughout the Book of Acts
- Acts 8:26: An angel of God tells Philip to go to a certain road (where he found the Ethiopian eunuch)
- Acts 9:6: Jesus told Saul to go ahead to Damascus and await further instruction from Him
- Acts 9:11-15: Ananias was told to go to the house of Paul (where he was praying). Afterward, Ananias asks for clarification (implying, “Are you sure?”), and Jesus/God reaffirms the instruction (“Go”).
- Acts 10:1-8: In response to Cornelius’s prayers, he’s told where to go and who to send for.
- Acts 10:9-29: While Peter is praying He is told in a vision (effectually) to minister to the Gentiles. Then after pondering this, he’s told to go where 3 men want him to.
- Acts 11:27-30: A prophet reveals of a coming famine in Jerusalem. Incidentally, this could relate to the offering Paul is collecting for the Jerusalem churches that is mentioned in multiple letters of Paul–all because of this prophecy potentially.
- Acts 12:6-11: Peter is told by an angel what to do, how to dress, and where to go.
- Acts 13:1-4: while worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit/God says Barnabase and Saul are called to a special task (which results in them being missionaries over the next couple chapters of Acts).
- Acts 16:6-10: a vision is given to Paul that tells them to go to Macedonia to share the gospel
- Acts 18:9: Paul is told to keep speaking and stay in Corinth
- Acts 21:7-14: prophets tell Paul he will be persecuted if he goes to Jerusalem
- Acts 22:17-21: similar to Ananias hearing/speaking to God in Acts 9, here Paul is told to leave Jerusalem, implies that he wants clarification (“are you sure?”), then God reaffirms the call.
- In 1 Corinthians 14:29-30, the gift of prophecy is used interchangeably with “a revelation”. That is, prophecy = revelation. This is clearly a different nature of revelation than Scripture, since he’s talking about prophecy given to the local assembly that is not recorded in Scripture (whereas Scripture is ultimate revelation given for all people of all times, and the standard by which all prophecy lives and dies; see Prophecy: Wonder & Warning).
- with this in mind, Paul tells the believers to eagerly desire to prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1)
- he also tells them to pray for the interpretation of tongues (1 Cor. 14:3), which functions essentially the way prophecy does (bringing upbuilding to the body via God’s revelation)
- thus, it seems that in an overarching way, God does want believers to seek out such revelation — this is revelation that is vetted as true, pointing to God and His word; it’s not divination–see below)
- James 1:5 tells Christians to ask for wisdom where we lack. Such a prayer, it seems, would be of a similar heart to those inquiring of the Lord for revelation on specific/personal life events.
No Divination
In contrast to these examples, divination is condemned by God (Deut. 18:10; 1 Sam. 15:23; etc.).
For clarity, divination is the practice of:
Communication with a deity for the purpose of determining the deity’s knowledge, resulting in clarification of a decision or discernment of the future.
Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology – Divination
There is a clear comparison between prophecy and divination in the Bible when you note that they are frequently mentioned in juxtaposition to each other:
- “There shall not be found among you anyone who…practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD…The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [Moses]…” (Deut. 18:9-22)
- “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.” (Jer. 14:14)
- “Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?” (Ezekiel 13:7)
- Etc.
You’ll notice false prophets practice divination while true ones prophesy in God’s name. And of courses it’s not just the message itself that makes it divination but other practices and heart posture toward it.
At the end of the day, I believe the crucial difference is whether you approach God as Lord or yourself. Who is in the driver’s seat when you seek the Lord? If God is in the driver’s seat, He is not a mute idol to be approached however you please (1 Cor. 12:2). He is a holy God and can show you what He will, how He wills it, and anything He reveals is a sheer act of mercy on His part.
God’s Ways to Seek Him
With this in mind, as shown above, God does allow for seeking Him for wisdom and personal revelation in ways that aren’t divination, but…
- He wants our approach of any revelation He gives to be God-centered, not self-centered: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:3).
- He wants us to firstly study His Scriptures for the purest and only authoritative form of revelation. Jeremiah 23 shows God’s revealed word (pointing to Scripture) as fire compared with the “straw” that is prophetic “burdens,” words, dreams and visions. You’ll notice, actually, that in the examples above many times they start by honoring something that God clearly has revealed, and the personal revelation adds details in HOW to do such a thing. For instance, Christ has shown that we are to take the gospel to the nations (Matt. 28:16-20). But Philip, Peter, Paul, and others were given specific revelation on when and where to fulfill this command. They began by being driven to honor God’s word first and foremost. In fact, you see clear revelation given when people are thinking about Scripture: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2 Tim. 2:7)
- Along these lines, we see a lot of people making decisions in the N.T. I hope this challenges and empowers us who are waiting for a “special word” about this or that. God has spoken far more than we deserve or require through the revelation of Scripture such that God through Paul could say that Scripture is sufficient for knowing salvation and being equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3). I remember praying one time for God to show me if I should work in a specific job over the summer, and then I read Titus 3:12: “I [Paul] have decided to spend the winter there.” Paul decided?! Or when I struggled about whether or not I should marry my (now) wife, and then remembered 1 Cor. 7:39: “she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” Free to choose who I wish to marry (with the Scripture stipulation that they be a believer)?! This was amazing and profound that God entrusts me with such a decision. Of course, it’s undergirded by 1 Cor. 2:16: “But we have the mind of Christ”. That is, we have the Holy Spirit in us to help us choose. Of course this also doesn’t negate the Holy Spirit using prophecy, dreams, and visions (see above).
Use Your Gifts
Finally:
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith…the one who teaches, in his teaching
Romans 12:6-8
Notice that prophets (post-Pentecost) should prophesy and teachers (post-Pentecost) should teach. Similarly, the prayer meeting that launched Paul and Barnabase to missions had prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1-4).
I’m grieved by Bible studies devoid of prayer or seeking of any spiritual gifts. And I’m also grieved by prophecy meetings that lack teachers or true Biblical basis.
In all of this, I’m grieved that we aren’t making God’s written, clear, objective, authoritative standard (i.e. Scripture) the starting point and basis for how we think and walk a lot of this out. Though approaching it in humility and sheer dependence on God to help us see it clearly.
What I wrote here, along with “Prophecy: Wonder & Warning (with Audio)” (see below), reflect some of my feeble attempts at remedying this:
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