Progressive Revelation and the New Humanity: New Humanity Part 11

Joh 16:12-13  "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  (13)  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come."

Was Jesus earthly ministry the ultimate revelation of the kingdom? There are many who say yes. I have met some so called, "red letter" Christians that emphasize Jesus and play down the apostle Paul. I admit that evangelical dogma, especially the dispensationalists, have missed the boat. Especially in not taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously. But what about the revelation that Paul received? What about justification and grace. What about the abolishment of the law? What about the righteousness of God? What about Jesus Christ being the end of the law for righteousness? What about peace with the Father? How exactly does the indwelling Holy Spirit transform? What about continuous progressive revelation? Is the Holy Spirit still declaring things to come? These are all valid questions based on the above verse. One thing is certain, His disciples at the time had not received the complete revelation of the kingdom. In fact, he told them that he still had things to tell them that they could not bear now and this was allegedly within days and hours of his crucifixion. So what were these many things that He had to tell them?

Many liberal theologians, who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus and rather just believe that he was a great prophet and moral teacher have arrived at these conclusions because they think that there are two Christianity's. One of the Jesus of the synoptic gospels and the other of Paul. There is however, two very important witnesses that resolve the apparent chasm as I see it. One is Doctor Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke as well as the Acts of the Apostles, and the Apostle John. Luke shows a stark difference between the period of his gospel, and Acts, where on the Day of Pentecost, the beginning fulfillment of the passage from John's gospel was fulfilled. The Gospel of John then begins to allude to justification by faith without using the term and the importance of faith in Jesus.

What was the difference in Luke's writings? It was the role of the Holy Spirit. In Luke's Gospel, it is written that the Holy Spirit came and alighted on Jesus upon his baptism. So then, during Jesus earthly ministry his disciples saw and felt the influence of the Spirit as they were with Him. I believe that the source of the great love they had for Jesus was His great compassion for the disenfranchised and His willingness to stand up to the religious authorities and point out their monumental hypocrisy. They were amazed by the miracles He wrought and were completely taken with the powerful anointing he had. He was the prince of peace, and wherever He went their was peace even in the middle of a storm. The spiritual power he had was so strong that his mere saying I AM HE knocked down a Roman Cohort which is at least 500 soldiers and there were also temple police with them as well. The fact is that his disciples were continuously in the presence of the Holy Spirit when they were with Him. It was a charisma that had it's own powerful attraction. In fact, the Greek word translated anointing is Krisma. When the Holy Spirit arrived on Pentecost the entire dynamic changed. It began to indwell the saints. In the presence of the Spirit there is love, joy and peace and Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians that there is freedom/liberty. It must be noted that at Pentecost and later at Cornelius home it was the preaching of the cross that brought the anointing. Paul says that the preaching of the cross was God's dynamite. It is foolishness to the world but it is the transforming power of God. The word translated power is dunamis, where we get the word dynamite from. So yes, the difference in large part is the Holy Spirit, but how exactly does the indwelling Holy Spirit operate in believers who are striving to be disciples of Jesus? How is the transformation accomplished? And what about the revelation of things they could not bear before the cross event?

First, let's look at the case of Paul. We are all familiar with the story. He was a Pharisee, a Hebrew's Hebrew who was zealous for the Torah beyond most of his contemporaries. He could trace his linage to the Tribe of Benjamin, and he studied at the feet of one of the most important Rabbis of the first century, Gamaliel. He lead a search to rid the world of the blasphemous followers of Jesus, and was the leader no doubt of the stoning of Stephen. We are also familiar with the story of how Jesus Himself met him on the road to Damascus while he was on yet another quest to kill, punish, and raise havoc with Christians. But, it is what happens directly after that encounter that has import in this topic of discussion. Sorry, but here I need to give you a fairly large portion of the New Testament scripture.  Eph 3:1-13  "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles  (2)  if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,  (3)  that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly.  (4)  When reading this, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ  (5)  (which was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit),  (6)  namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.  (7)  I became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power.  (8)  To me – less than the least of all the saints – this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ  (9)  and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan – the mystery that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things.  (10)  The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.  (11)  This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,  (12)  in whom we have boldness and confident access to God by way of Christ’s faithfulness.  (13)  For this reason I ask you not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, which is your glory." Here Paul speaks of mystery. I have underlined and emboldened parts of this long passage because I want to emphasize what I see in it. This will make it easier, for you the reader, to see what I see although no doubt you would see it on your own, but perhaps my emphasis will aid the process.

The first emboldened underlined part of the above passage is "the stewardship of God's grace." In the King James it reads the dispensation of God's grace. The Greek word rendered stewardship here is οἰκονομία which means according to Strong's (administration (of a household or estate); specifically a (religious) “economy”: - dispensation, stewardship.) Paul is stating that he has had a new economy or stewardship revealed to him. I want to emphasize that I am not a dispensationalist as it is understood in evangelical theology. I would call myself a proponent of New Covenant theology without the Calvinistic trappings so common with the movement. Never the less, I do believe that there was a drastic change after the resurrection.  But, it was still partial with and already/not yet eschatological focus that was awaiting the New Heaven and Earth, or the age to come. Hopefully I will untangled the New Heaven and Earth a little later in this article.

It is safe to conclude that Paul was teaching this mystery that was only revealed to him. In the beginning, he brought this gospel of grace to the Jews as was commanded, "to the Jew first and then to the Gentile." But when the Jews began to try to kill him for this gospel, he was given leave by the Holy Spirit to take it to the Gentiles. Here is where the already/not yet tension comes into play. It appeared for all intents and purposes that God had two competing yet sanctioned programs in the earth. It was the Torah and the Temple, and it was the Christ followers of the New Covenant. Certainly Moses, the Torah and the Mosaic Covenant were given by God. It was in the Torah that one was made familiar with Adam and Abraham and Moses. But Paul, and the other apostles were patiently awaiting the "manifestation of the sons and daughters of God." It was really eye opening for me to read about this "manifestation" in the NLT. Rom 8:19 NLT  "For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are." Of course, they were awaiting the time when Jesus prophecy about the Temple and Jerusalem would be fulfilled and God would by the destruction of the temple place his seal of approval on the Christ followers who were a temple made up of living stones providing a tabernacle for God's Spirit on earth so that He could dwell in them by the Holy Spirit. Until such a time you had the non-believing Jews saying that they were the sons and daughters of God, and likewise, you had the Christ following Jews and Gentiles saying that they were the true followers of God. Interestingly, all of the first century apostle's either were killed or quit writing before the temple's destruction since it was a center point of the final weeks of Jesus teaching, and they would have surely mentioned it had it already happened. 

Here is where I believe that another mystery is being revealed by the Holy Spirit in this age. It is the mystery concerning the New Jerusalem, the New Heaven and Earth and the New Covenant. Could it be that even here in our time the Holy Spirit is still revealing the ramifications of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus? Paul eluded to it in the already/not yet period that he taught in. Gal 4:23-26  "But one, the son by the slave woman, was born by natural descent, while the other, the son by the free woman, was born through the promise.  (24)  These things may be treated as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar.  (25)  Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.  (26)  But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother." The mother of all even during the already/not yet period was the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, a Spiritual Jerusalem if you will allow. The death, burial and resurrection had inaugurated the New Jerusalem but it was awaiting the manifestation of the real sons and daughters of God when the Temple would be destroyed. We have not had revelation heretofore on the New Jerusalem, and yet, it was prophesied in Isaiah to coincide with the time of the New Covenant. Could it be that the Holy Spirit continues revelation as people advance to be able to bear it? Could the Holy Spirit be using a reaffirming and refreshed understanding of the original gospel of grace revealed to Paul, to further our understanding of the New Jerusalem, and the New Heaven and Earth? This would require a revelation of how the Holy Spirit transformed in the first century.

Here is how I believe the Holy Spirt transforms by the preaching of the cross. It transforms through the proclamation of God's grace in Christ. It transforms by confirming the fact that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself not counting sin against humanity. It transforms by the further knowledge that God made Jesus, the one who did not even know sin (unbelief) to be made sin for humanity so that therein, the first declaration of God about humanity in Genesis 1:31 would be the accepted standard. You are righteous because I declared it way back then and I have not changed my mind. The Holy Spirit confirms this to us, and it brings instantaneous peace with Father. It ushers in the Sabbath Rest. After all, Jesus said come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He went on to say that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The Holy Spirit confirms easy yoke light burden. From this declaration confirmed by the Holy Spirit when one hears the gospel of grace, cause one to love God.

My experience in preaching over the years is as follows. When I would proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected, and proclaim the benefits entailed in that, there was/is a powerful peace that attends the message that I have always thought of as the "real anointing." It is true charisma that had nothing to do with me or the way I spoke. It changed the entire atmosphere. When the gospel is proclaimed the glory cloud travels up into the atmosphere and brings peace all around. Saints rejoice and praise God for real and begin to have genuine love for God and each other. I believe this is what took place in the first century church and is precisely why the author of Hebrews encouraged the saints to meet often. It was to renew the mind to the mercies of God. The reason, the Holy Spirit used confirmation of the mercies of God to bring about transforming change in the people, and in this setting, the setting of no condemnation, the setting of sabbath rest, the setting of absolute peace with Father sprang a supernatural love that allowed the saints to effortlessly love one another. It became easy to love their enemies, to do good to them that despitefully used them, to go the extra mile, to turn the other cheek, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless and visit the sick and those in prison. It was a natural out flow of the preaching of grace to give of their substance to those who had needs, and it is the transforming force that the Holy Spirit wishes to create a New Humanity with.

Revelation is on-going, and a community willing to wrestle with fresh revelation is the order of the day.