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Special Revelation
Scripture Passage:
Amos 3:7 Attached audio files:
Introduction: General revelation is God’s revelation of truth to all men at all times. It comes through means such as circumstances (or God’s providential working in the affairs of men), conscience (the inner knowledge of men), and creation. Special revelation is God’s revelation to special or particular people at special or particular times (Hebrews 1:1God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
See All...). Special revelation includes the following methods:
- MIRACLES
- Definition:
- They are supernatural manifestations of divine power in the natural world.
- Also called signs and wonders
- Purpose of Miracles
- To identify the true God (Exodus 7:17Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
See All...; Exodus 8:22And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
See All...) - To demonstrate the power of God (Exodus 9:14-16 [14] For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
[15] For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
[16] And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
See All...) - To bring glory to God and His Son (John 2:11This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
See All...) - To demonstrate the love of God (Matthew 14:14And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
See All...) - To confirm the word of God (Mark 16:20And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
See All...) - Times of Miracle Activity – the Sundry Times (Hebrews 1:1God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
See All...) - Moses and Joshua
- Elijah and Elisha
- Christ and the Apostles
- Tribulation
- INCARNATION
- The Son Declared the Father (John 1:18No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
See All...) - The Son Reveals the Father (Matthew 11:27All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
See All...) - The Father is Seen in the Son (John 14:7-9 [7] If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
[8] Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
[9] Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
See All...) - The Father is Known in the Son (2 Corinthians 4:6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
See All...) - DREAMS
- Definition: a vision that comes when one is asleep (Genesis 20:3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.
See All...; Genesis 46:2And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
See All...). - Used to reveal the secrets of God (Daniel 2:28But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
See All...) - Often had to be interpreted (Daniel 2:29-30 [29] As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
[30] But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
See All...) - May be Visual (Genesis 28:12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
See All...) or Verbal (Genesis 31:24And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
See All...) or both. - VISIONS
- Definition: a visual revelation to one who is awake
- A Way for God to Make Himself Known (Numbers 12:6And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
See All...; Ezekiel 1:1Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
See All...) - PROPHECIES
- Definition: as a means of revelation, it occurs when God puts His Spirit on a man and speaks through him (Numbers 11:25And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.
See All...; 1 Samuel 10:6And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.
See All..., 10; Jeremiah 20:9Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
See All...) - Forms
- A foretelling of the future (Daniel 9:24Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
See All...) - A forth-telling of word of God (2 Peter 1:19-21 [19] We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
[20] Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
[21] For 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.
See All...) - SPOKEN WORDS
- When Men Orally Heard the Voice of the Lord (Numbers 12:6-8 [6] And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
[7] My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
[8] With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
See All...; Deuteronomy 4:33-36 [33] Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? [34] Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? [35] Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. [36] Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
See All...; Exodus 20:18-19 [18] And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. [19] And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
See All...) - Most of the Bible was Spoken before it was ever Written.
- Much of the Spoken Revelation of God Never Became Scripture.
- SCRIPTURE
- Definition: the writings of God’s word to be passed down to men.
- God Set Revelation of Truth (John 5:39Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
See All...; John 17:17Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
See All...)
Conclusion: Deuteronomy 29:29The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
See All... – “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Are you allowing God to reveal His truth to you?