Building up believers and the New Testament church

All Begins in Revelation

Revelation - The Controlling Factor in the Church

It is the revelation that will determine the course that we take, whether we be young or old. The revelation will determine where we move in God, and how we move in God. It will determine what we say and what we do.

The greatest weakness in most local expressions of the church is that there is no prevailing revelation. May we let the Spirit speak to our hearts. What does it mean to see the revelation? It begins with Jesus. Some believers could tell all that they know about Jesus in five minutes. But if we have seen the revelation, we will understand that God builds revelation on revelation. We see more and more of Jesus, until He fills our vision. As we behold Him and His glory, we will be changed into that which we see. Some would say, "Don't get so spiritual that you can't come down to move in practical things." I would say, "Unless the revelation possesses our vision, we will never get down to anything pertaining to the kingdom of God and His working."

So, let us get down to where values are values. Let's get down to where truth is truth. Unless the revelation of God possesses our soul and directs our life, whatever we might do for God will be worthless. The revelation must be the controlling factor, with Christ Himself being the revelation. Colossians 1:16, "For in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him."

In these last days God is shaking. Only if we have a revelation will we stand. Nothing short of a revelation will cause us to continue to work to the point where our life is as the life of Jesus was--laid down. Only as we love as Jesus loved will the body of Christ come into the full expression of what God's Word says the body is. Ephesians tells us that the body of Christ is "the fullness of Christ that filleth all in all." He was the fullness of the Godhead revealed in the flesh, and the Spirit is filling the church with the fullness of Him. So, when we look around and see things falling apart, when we see lives that are coming loose from one another, we can plainly see why, by looking at the source of their strength. There is no revelation, nothing to grip the heart, nothing that can take a believer on in his walk in Christ. He may grab a truth here and there, and know it in his mind, but that is not revelation. Revelation demands obedience to truth because the Spirit has spoken and revealed Christ to us.

Everything that God is doing is based upon revelation. The revelation of Jesus Christ to each one of our hearts is given by the Spirit of God. Only the spiritual man, the one who is under the control of the Spirit, can understand the things of the Spirit. God's church is spiritual, and there is no way that we can get into the church and its working except by the Spirit. We can function only by the Spirit.

I was reading just the other day the comments of one brother in the Lord who said that certain manifestations of the Spirit were only for babes in Christ. Then I read what another brother said: "Unless we continue on with the same fervor that they had on the day of Pentecost with the burning presence of the Holy Spirit, the church will never be brought to maturity." There we have two exactly opposing views. I would say that one brother had only an opinion, which is not enough to minister life, and the other, a revelation. Revelation brings us into the reality of His life.