Revelation or Deception
Gtcotr/ss021305
In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul and his partner, Silas, were in Thessalonica teaching both Jews and Greeks about Jesus.
This upset the towns people who ganged up and started a riot.
That night Paul and Silas were slipped out of the city under the cover of darkness and traveled on to the near city of Berea.
Acts 17 NIV
10 ¶ As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
12 Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
13 When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.
14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.
Our Key Scripture: Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Here begins a pattern for the serious minded convert who eagerly embraces the marvelous message of Jesus, but does not want to be deceived.
How do we as listeners determine if something new we are hearing is Revelation or Deception?
2 Peter 2:1 ¶ But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
How can we beware of false teachers and false prophets who secretly introduce destructive teachings and ultimately destroy peoples’ lives?
The bible gives us a fair test for these things.
When dealing with spiritual matters, it is very important that we be eager for and open to new revelation while we at the same time guard against deception.
Deception, by the way, does not have to come from a false teacher. It can come from our own thoughts which may be demonically, carnally or soulishly inspired.
Deception can also come from ignorance.
Hosea 4:6 ¶ My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
The bible is full of people who were challenged to believe things which were seemingly impossible, impractical or unimaginable.
Any list of bible characters who were challenged to embrace new concepts and un-before seen ideas would not be complete without including at the top of that list, the Apostle John.
John, the son of Thunder as Mark recalls him, had a most unusual experience. As a result, he wrote what is for the Christian a most difficult to understand and yet the most spiritual and inspiring prophetic message the Church has today … which is:
The Book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation is an Apocalyptic book.
We get the word Apocalypse from the Greek word which is translated Revelation: Revelation or Apocalypse
Means: to lay bear, uncover, make naked or disclose the truth
Revelation is:
Uncovering truth we haven’t known before
Hearing truth we haven’t heard before
Seeing truth we haven’t seen before
Understanding truth we haven’t understood before
Believing truth we haven’t believed before
Embracing truth we haven’t embraced before
But how do we know that it’s truth?
How do we know it’s revelation and not deception?
Let’s look at the book of Revelation, Chapter One, and see if John can help us with this question.
Revelation 1 KJV
1 ¶ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
3 ¶ Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
If we continued reading it would get pretty spooky really quick
Almost unbelievable, certainly unimaginable and not very practical
It challenges the mind to make sense of it all
And yet John said that he bore witness to these things
He mentions three things which he bears record of:
The Word of God (The Father, Word & Spirit - 1 John 5)
The Testimony of Jesus (the spirit of prophecy, Rev 10:19)
Personal Revelation (The things Jesus had shown to John Gal 1)
In all of the word of God these three things continue to resurface over and over and over again as simple tests in one form or another which we use to determine --- revelation or deception.
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.
This is one way we identify false teachers, false prophets, destructive teachers with secret agendas, hidden motives, demonically inspired.
We ask ourselves Three Basic Questions when hearing the impossible, impracticable or unimaginable.
#1. Does it line up with the Word of God
#2. Does it line up with the Spirit of God
#3. Does it line up with the truth we already know in Christ
If so, we have a sound and solid reason to embrace it as truth.
If not, some adjustment may be necessary before we can embrace it.
Every single individual is or will be challenged to believe in something they cannot see, something they have not heard before, something they can’t touch and something many others don’t know yet.
This is the challenge to have faith in Jesus and a spiritual approach to Christianity.
We cannot accomplish the will or work of God without more Revelation. Let’s just do our best to make sure what we believe and teach others is the truth.
2 Corinthians 12:1b I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
