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Body, Soul and Spirit
Chapter 4: Education And Revelation
Mind Over Matter and Spirit Over Mind
To discover the purpose of God for our lives, we must first obey Him in the simple practical things of everyday living. Secondly, He must be sought. He is a God who hides Himself, and only those who seek Him will fathom His ways. Our call will become apparent to us as we grow in our knowledge of Him.
One essential difference between us and the animal world lies in our ability to think and derive understanding through education. Animals can only be trained; humans can also be educated. However, a much greater difference is the spiritual faculty by which we know God. This dimension of knowledge is unique to the Holy Spirit. It is the phenomenon of revelation. We are educated via the window of natural senses, but we only know the Lord through the Spirit of revelation via our spiritual senses. Whereas a good mind is required to acquire education, a humble, teachable, guileless spirit is the secret in learning the mysteries of God. One may generalize by stating that animals live by their senses, unsaved mankind lives by his mind and the Christian lives by his spirit. Figure 6 illustrates the processes of education and revelation.
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It is sad to see scientific men and women link their genesis to the animal world, instead of to the One who created them in His likeness. They do so because their spirit is dead. Being separated and alienated from God, they lack insight into the realm of His being. We find God when we seek Him with all our hearts and when, by grace, He reveals himself to us. A necessary step is always revelation. First the revelation that, although we are lost, He loves us even in our sin and has provided the way back for us to again have fellowship with Him. The revelation that undergirds all other revelation is the revelation of His person. Who He is, the glory of His character and the great love He has demonstrated for us on the cross, takes precedence over any other revelation.
What is Truth?
In our humanity we seek truth through the window of our physical senses. We apply our mind in rational thinking, philosophy and reasoning to what we experience and what our senses perceive, in order to know what, to us, is true. Truth is simply whatever we prove or believe to be true.
However, once we become a child of God we discover that truth is a Person (John 14:6)! Through our spiritual senses, as we grow in our relationship with Him, we experience through the spirit of revelation what truth really is (John 16:13). It is not related to logic or rational thinking; it is knowing Christ!
It is easy to accept the validity of what is received through physical senses; however, truth in the fullest sense of the word, are those things revealed by the Spirit of God. For example, it is scientifically true that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen; it is spiritually true that Jesus made water out of hydrogen and oxygen, and sustains it by the word of His power. Thus, truth is more than correct facts. A proud, haughty spirit will not hear from God, for He reveals himself to those who are lowly of heart and poor in spirit. How can a revelation be accepted as truth when it involves things not proven by a demonstration of logic and reason on our part? There is an inner witness of the Spirit when truth is in harmony with God’s word. An unqualified acceptance of revelation is a very real act of faith and there must be a solid foundation for such faith. This foundation is the word of God.
Revelation may occur when reading scripture and a portion is quickened (or made alive) to us. Revelation may also come to us in dreams, visions, prophetic words or through personal, inner impressions. However it occurs, revelation will never be contrary to the written word.
The still, small voice of the Spirit can speak to us when we are not reading the scriptures. He may awaken us and speak to our hearts during the night hours; or a word may come as we reach out to Him for understanding and help during a problem or set of circumstances we are facing. Revelation may burst into our understanding while we are listening to someone preach. It may also occur as we observe some simple event, and the Lord speaks to our heart concerning a spiritual principle. Regardless of how revelation comes, it is the beginning of all spiritual truth we possess. Since Jesus is the truth, the ultimate purpose of revelation is to reveal Him.
All we will ever need to know as children of God is found in Him; to know Christ is to know the mystery of God.
… All the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Finally, there is an environment for revelation and it is not being in a seminary or Bible school; it is simply being in His presence with a hungry heart.
The Place of Education
Education is not an alternative to revelation. It is possible to memorize the entire Bible and yet have no personal revelation of Jesus. Lack of revelation is a key reason why there are so many voices and divisions in Christendom today. Many believers have grown dull of hearing because of too great an emphasis on knowing the letter of the New Testament and too little emphasis on the need for revelation. True orthodoxy is not only a matter of correctly interpreting the letter of the word, but also of placing proper emphasis on the qualities of one’s heart. Knowledge can lead to arrogance, but a hunger for God and the spirit of revelation will establish one in Christ (1 Corinthians 8:1-3).
To hear and to accept uninspired theology as truth is to lay a false foundation for our faith. Some Christians sustain their faith from what they hear from tapes, read from books, or see on Christian TV programs. Such things are not necessarily wrong, but they must never take the place of revelation from the scriptures as a basis for our faith. Possibly the greatest snare in this area, especially to those in leadership, is the logic of making decisions based on how God has led in the past. Tradition can be a hindrance to revelation. It is easier to follow what worked yesterday than to seek the Lord for His direction today.
The relationship between truth and education is as follows: education brings the logos (word) of God into one’s mind; revelation quickens that word to our hearts, it becomes a rhema to us; once we know that a word is true, we are expected to obey it. Through obedience it becomes experiential truth in our lives. In this way, we become testimonies of truth to the world. It is not primarily what we believe, but what we are, that makes us a light in darkness. The following transitions illustrate how scripture can become visible to others as truth in our life.
THE WORD > REVELATION > RHEMA > OBEDIENCE > TRUTH
God doesn’t want us to discount intelligence, or minimize the training of our minds. He wants us to develop these faculties, but He wants it done out of a right heart relationship to Him. Education is necessary and good. However, to bring life, what we learn must become truth and not remain head knowledge. To be approved of God as a good worker with expertise in wielding the sword of the spirit, requires a diligent study of the scriptures on our part. We will never exhaust the truth it contains, nor will we ever exhaust our need for revelation.
The Spirit of Revelation
The Holy Spirit is the Revelator. His mission is to reveal the Lord Jesus and to glorify Him to us. All revealed truth will glorify and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.
Revelation is simply the Holy Spirit teaching us. His anointing rests both upon the spoken (or written) word, and the ears which hear it. When there is no anointing, only information and concepts are passed on. Revelation is God’s perspective of truth, given to us as we are able to bear it, line upon line and precept upon precept.
And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
The Window of Revelation
Why is it often so difficult to embrace new truth? One cause comes from having received certain traditions as being truth, when in fact they are error. Conviction that is not founded on truth leads to error. It is not good when we are ignorant concerning a matter, but it is much worse when we believe we understand correctly and yet we are wrong. It is a tragedy when one who is deceived closes his heart to further instruction. The one sure safeguard is to keep our heart pure and open to the Lord so we will know His voice and be able to hear Him.
The lamp of your body is your eye; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you may not be darkness.
The most precious faculty we have is “spiritual eyesight,” for if our “spiritual eye” is healthy our whole body will be filled with light. How well we grow spiritually is a matter of being swift to obey what is revealed to us. We cannot expect to receive new truth unless we put into practice what we have already been given. To turn away from revealed truth is to turn toward darkness. The above verses use the word “eye” to describe one’s capability to understand or see spiritual things; this figure of speech refers to our window of the spirit.
But it is a spirit in man, and the breath (Spirit) of the Almighty gives them understanding.
(Job 32:8)
A spirit open to new truth is like a lamp which the Lord can “turn on” to reveal understanding and truth.
The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of his being.
The unfolding of Thy words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
Through revelation, the Bible ceases to be a dry history book with a lifeless philosophy, and becomes an exciting, day-by-day unfolding of the Lord and His purpose for us. Words, written two thousand years ago, become spirit and life to us today.
Only when the Holy Spirit brings scripture to life does it become sharp enough to divide and separate spirit from soul in one’s understanding (Hebrews 4:12). Without a present anointing of God’s Spirit, Christian service will be confined to soulish endeavor; much activity but little life.
God hides treasures of His kingdom from the wise of this world, but reveals them to the simple, to those who are little esteemed by the world. He is not against human wisdom, but He cannot be found through it. He can only be known through revelation. We will not discover His treasures except out of the recognized poverty of our human talents. One who trusts only in his ability to reason and think will be spiritually dull. He assesses himself and the world around him on a soulish basis, where decisions rest on logic and reasoning. The window of spiritual revelation is closed to him. However, God has determined that everything concerning Himself and His kingdom is hidden from man, and can be only understood through revelation. Spiritual treasures must be sought for. We do not stumble upon them by accident. They are revealed to those who seek Him.
For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed) nor has anything been secret, but that it should come to light
Flesh is flesh, and spirit is spirit. You can correctly interpret the flesh by the Spirit, but the reverse is not possible. Paul points this out in his epistle to the Corinthians:
… “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.... But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (or discerned).
One who trains and equips others is to be a living example of what he teaches. People may deny the word of God that is spoken to them, but they cannot deny what they see in the lives of His ministers. How we conduct ourselves can demonstrate truth to those we disciple. If we are not effective witnesses for Christ, either our message or our lives are not what they ought to be. Satan has deceived and blinded the minds of those who are lost, and only the light of revelation can penetrate their darkness.
… The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God .... For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One Who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
It is sad to see a child born into the world without eyesight. Our hearts go out to such a person, knowing that they will never see the beauty of nature or the ones they love. However, it is even more pitiful to see men and women going through life unaware and unconcerned about their spiritual blindness. It is good to remember that we see by the grace of God; for only He can take away the veil from blind eyes and reveal himself. In Him is life, and this life is the light of men. What a privilege it is to see!
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