Spiritual revelations of the scriptural kind are a normal part of the Christian life. Don’t let anyone rob you of your spiritual inheritance by persuading you otherwise. Three of the most important revelations, in my opinion, are these:
1. The Revelation that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus said that he would build his church on the “rock” of this revelation (Matthew 16:16, 17). Not on Peter (“petros”: stone) but on the “rock” (“petra”: huge rock) of revealed knowledge. Not historical or theological or biblical knowledge alone, but on the Father’s revelation to the human heart that Jesus is His Son.
Jesus builds the person who receives this revelation-knowledge into his Church. If you are struggling to believe in Jesus, then ask God to reveal His Son Jesus to you. One cannot be part of the Church without this happening. This first revelation is given to the person who lacks the assurance of salvation and desires it with all his or her heart.
2. The Revelation of the Father in the Son. (Not that the Father IS the Son, which is modalism.) God is a Spirit and was “in Christ” reconciling the world to Himself. Philip couldn’t see it at first (John 14:7-11).
Thomas finally saw it and exclaimed: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) He saw that Jesus was the Father’s revelation of Himself to humanity. This second revelation is to the one who has believed in Jesus, but who hasn’t yet realized that to “see” (perceive) Jesus is to “see” the Father. Ask the Lord to grant you this perception.
3. The Revelation that the believer is “in” both the Father and the Son (John 17:21-23). By “in” I mean, “in union with” (Colossians 2:12;1 John 5:20; Ephesians 2:6). Fellowship and relationship go together. A father and a son have a legal relationship, but if the son grows apart from the father, he has little or no fellowship.
This third revelation is to the believer who is seeking to experience a greater unity of fellowship with both Jesus and the Father — the kind promised in 1 John 1:3. Are you a child of God in the legal sense through the “new birth”? Wonderful! Are you also a loving child who also maintains unbroken fellowship with your loving heavenly Father through His Son? If so, better still!
Do you know Jesus not only as the Son of God but also as your caring Elder Brother, the one who looks out for you and protects you? When last did you talk to your loving Father and then to your Elder Brother?
The Christian life is progressive: we “go on” in God; we “grow” in the Faith. Christianity is a way of life and as such is dynamic not static. Revelations #2 and #3 above are as life-transforming in their own way as Revelation #1. The answer to everything is to be found in a loving fellowship with both the Father and the Son, through the presence and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. If you’ve been looking for “something more” — these three revelations will help you find it.