Revelation, Inspiration, and Illumnation

REVELATION, INSPIRATION, and ILLUMINATION.

 

We have often heard any one of these words used to discuss portions of the Bible, which is the written Word of God. But a closer look at the actual meaning of these three words will show you that they cannot be used interchangeably because they all have a different meaning. I recently read in a book by Chuck Swindoll entitled "The Church Awakening" a proper definition of these three words. So I would like to pass on the information to those who might read this article. We will take each word separately, and list his different meaning of each word which is often used to describe scripture. 1/ Revelation---This word should be used only to describe the Bible, which is the one and only "revelation" our Creator ever gave to mankind to follow in order to obey Him, and walk in His ways. I have heard some people tell about some "new revelation" they have received from God, but as I understand the truth there is no such thing as a new revelation from God. He revealed everything He wants us to know in the Bible, the Written Word of God. 2/ Inspiration--- This word is used in (2 Tim 3:16-17) Where we read about how God used certain chosen people to write the scriptures for Him by the Holy Spirit inspiring them. "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work". The third word is 3/ Illumination---Since Revelation and Inspiration have both been completed by our Creator, the only one of these three words to consider is "Illumination". This can only come from the Holy Spirit that was given to us by the Father the moment we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and Father "adopts" us into His family, and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit as a seal to that transaction. Since the Holy Spirit we receive is the same Spirit that inspired the authors of scripture; all we need to do is to ask Him to show us what any portion of scripture really means. This is how we receive the correct understanding of any passage of scripture. My experience since I started asking the Holy Spirit for Illumination on certain passages of Scripture, has been that my understanding of what I had previously been taught, had changed quite drastically from what I used to believe!!

 

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                    05/02/16