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Progressive Revelation
God could have written the Bible so that any child could pick it up, read it, and easily understand everything God wanted mankind to know. However, He did not do that because it was His plan that certain things be concealed until the time arrived when He wanted mankind to know them. In order to conceal information God had to intentionally use difficult language and write the Bible in such a way that it is not easy to understand. In fact, it is even written so that it is very easy to come to wrong conclusions about what is truth.
God Conceals And Reveals Truth
The Bible does teach that God conceals certain information in the Bible:
“And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” (Daniel 12:8-9)
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2:3)
“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” (Proverbs 25:2)
The kings in view here are the believers. They spiritually reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4-6). They are the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).
And it is God who controls the revealing of spiritual truth:
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7)
Prior to Pentecost, God would pour out His Spirit on the prophets so that they had a special ability to bring the Word of God:
"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5)
However, Pentecost brought about a change in God’s plan to evangelize the world. He poured out His Spirit on all believers (Acts 2:17) so that now any believer is qualified to proclaim the Word of God. This does not mean all believers have sufficient Biblical knowledge to be a teacher, but that all believers are qualified in God’s eyes to share the Gospel:
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)
The point is, Amos 3:7 isn’t saying that God will only reveal His secrets to “special” believers. It’s teaching that this possibility is open to any believer who approaches the Bible without any preconceived notions on what it teaches. We need to let God’s Word teach us rather than reading it in light of what we already believe it says.
We do not make sense of Scripture because we are smart. It is God who grants understanding:
"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:45)
“Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” (2 Timothy 2:7)
“But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” (Job 32:8)
“Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God.” (1 Chronicles 22:12)
“Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?” (Job 38:36)
Therefore, it is God who controls the timetable of truth being revealed.
God Hides Truth Even In Simple Statements
Sometimes once we are granted understanding of a passage it seems like the teaching is written in very plain language but until that time we had never understood it. The Bible is very mysterious in that way. God even hides truth within seemingly plain language.
Recall Jesus foretold to His disciples what would happen to Him:
“And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31)
That was very plain language, but they did not understand the statement:
“For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.” (Mark 9:31-32)
It was not until after Jesus had risen that the disciples were given understanding:
“He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words” (Luke 24:6-8)
Progressive Revelation
Theologians call this “progressive revelation.” You know, there have been many theologians in the past who were true children of God that diligently studied the Bible. Yet, they came to some wrong conclusions about truth. This is not because they weren’t careful in their study. It just wasn’t God’s plan to reveal certain truth to man as of yet and so we can’t fault the theologians of the past. As they studied, they did the best they could to explain what they believed the Bible was teaching.
True, there have always been cases where a false doctrine was being taught in one church while the truth on that matter was being taught in another church. Some denominations that have a large foundation based on inaccurate teachings still hold some truth, and in some cases have been teaching the truth all along on matters that we are just now beginning to come to truth on. This doesn’t mean that the rest of their teachings were right as well. The accurate and inaccurate doctrines are all over the place and mixed together throughout the Christian community. We just need to study God’s Word with an open heart and a willingness for God to teach us new things.
We are now living in a day, because we are right near the end, when God is removing the seals from the Scriptures so that Bible students everywhere are able to more accurately understand them. These are new truths that were once hidden:
“Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.” (Isaiah 48:6)
We must approach the Bible with an open heart and let God teach us. If we continue to read the Bible in light of what we already believe to be truth, then we are putting ourselves in a position that prevents us from being shown new truths.
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