When MacArthur talks about "revelation," he makes two big points.
First, he cites examples of false prophecy to demonstrate the idea that prophecy is not for today.
Second, he argues that if a person believes that prophecy and revelation continue today, he or she must believe that personal prophecy is equal in authority to the Bible.
I disagree with both suppositions. Let me explain.
First, the fact that there are false prophecies today does not mean that genuine prophecy does not exist. I'm sure MacArthur believes that genuine prophecy occurred in the first century, yet there was an abundance of false prophecy and erroneous teaching during that time.
Does that mean that prophecy did not exist in the first century?
Of course not.
The Bible is the standard by which to judge all revelation, prophecy, and teaching.
What is revelation? Do not get spooked out by the term. The New Testament uses the term
"revelation" to mean an uncovering or unveiling by the Holy Spirit.
God inspired the Word of God once when it was written. We call this inspiration. However, revelation means that God breathes on His Word once again--the written or the living Word (Christ), opening it up to a person's heart.
Revelation not only continues in the church, but without it there can be no salvation or spiritual life.
You see, the new birth cannot occur without a revelation from the Father that Jesus is the Christ. "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven did"
(Matt. 16:17).
All who know God know Him through the revelation of the Holy Spirit; a revelation that is confirmed by Scripture.
I realize that some theologians prefer "illumination" over "revelation" to describe this same concept; albeit, this is mostly a semantic issue. See my discussion of "Spiritual Conversational Styles" in my blog series Theology Doesn't Have to Be a Blood Sport.
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The Scriptures contain God's original revelation. They contain the divine truths that serve as both the rule and standard for all faith and practice.
Thus the Scriptures are to be regarded as the measuring rod for all religious teaching, revelation, and practice (2 Tim. 3:16).
I agree with MacArthur that God does not give ongoing revelation today in the sense of disclosing new doctrines that are not based in Scripture (like that of the Book of Mormon).
Rather, the revelation that God grants today illuminates the meaning of what He has already spoken in the past or it is divine insight whereby the Lord shows a person the past, the present, or the future--all for His glory (e.g. Acts 5:3; 9:10-15; 10:19; 11:28; 13:11; 21:10-11; 1 Cor.
14:24-25).
A contemporary example of this type of revelation is when David Wilkerson announced to his Sunday evening congregation in 1987, "If you want to see history being made, go down to Wall Street tomorrow!"
The next day was "Black Monday" when the stock market crashed.
You can also read Wilkerson's amazing book The Vision, where he prophesied about things to come in the USA--most of which have come to pass since he penned the book in 1973.
Others have not yet, but that does not mean they will not be fulfilled in the future.
I agree with MacArthur that the Scriptures are the objective revelation of God's Son. Christ is the central object of the entire Bible. And all Scripture points to Him.(I even wrote a 400+ page book on the subject.)
Moreover, the Spirit of God always seeks to reveal, manifest, and glorify the Lord Jesus.
The gift of prophecy, then, is actually an unveiling of some aspect of the Lord Jesus Himself. For this reason, the Bible states that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." This being the case, all true prophetic utterances conform to the revelation of Christ in the Scriptures.
If you examine the New Testament carefully, you will find that the apostles used the Old Testament Scriptures to confirm or refute the revelations and teachings of their day.
Paul often quoted the Old Testament to either confirm his own revelations or refute false teachings and ungodly practices.
Today, we use both the New and Old Testaments to measure teachings, prophecies, and revelations.
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"Personal prophecy" (a prophetic word given to an individual) functions in the same way it did during the first century.
Timothy was given a personal prophecy that revealed his calling. The same with Saul of Tarsus through Ananias.
How, then, does prophecy today compare to Scripture?
Genuine revelations and prophecies are equal in truth with the Scriptures because the same Spirit inspired them both.
Again, prophecy is not meant to give new doctrinal revelations. As someone once put it, "If someone is worried about post-biblical doctrine, they should worry about cessationism, which is a post-biblical doctrine." The same for dispensationalism. Both are recent doctrines in church history.
However, prophetic utterances are not equal in authority to Scripture because the Scriptures are given to be the judge of all revelation and the basis for all doctrine.
The same can be said of a sermon or teaching. A Bible-based sermon can be equal in truth if rooted in Scripture, but not equal in authority to the Bible.
Thus even in the first century, Christians were exhorted to judge prophetic utterances.
New Testament prophecy is always "in part" and can be diluted by a person's opinion or interpretation if not interpreted or applied correctly (see 1 Cor. 13-14).
The fact that the Scriptures have stood the test of time and scrutiny confirms their role as the standard. This is what the word "canon" means, in fact.
The Scriptures contain the original apostolic teaching and tradition in which all future prophecies and teachings are to be judged.
Hence, Paul commanded the Thessalonians to hold firmly to the traditions that were taught by Paul, not prophesied by him.
MacArthur's logic about the prophetic gift can be described thusly:
Either revelations are always true or there is no ongoing revelation.
Revelations among charismatics are often false or untestable.
Therefore, there is no ongoing revelation.
40 This logic simply does not follow.
Using MacArthur's reasoning, there is no need to use judgment or spiritual discernment in testing revelation. If the gift of prophecy has ceased, then one can simply dismiss all claims of prophetic revelation, healing, or miracles without investigation or critical analysis.
Simple enough. But is it accurate? Is it biblical?
Paul says we prophesy in part, but he also says we know in part (1 Cor. 13:9). So teaching, like prophecy, must be evaluated. Using MacArthur’s reasoning, we should reject all teaching, since so much modern teaching is inaccurate.
The Bible is replete with exhortations to prove all things and to exercise spiritual judgment and discernment (1 Thess. 5:21; Heb. 5; 1 Cor. 2; 1 John 4). More directly, it exhorts us to weigh (test) prophetic utterances (1 Cor. 14:29).
Furthermore, the Bible warns us to "not despise prophetic utterances" (1 Thess. 5:20).
Simply put, the fact that aberrant groups in the past (or present) have embraced spiritual gifts does not mean that all groups that practice spiritual gifts today are aberrant. Neither does it mean that if someone prophesies inaccurately or partly accurate that they are a "false prophet."
According to the New Testament, a false prophet is not a genuine Christian. A false prophet is unregenerate and knowingly deceives people.
Mike Bickle has made the remark that in "manifestation meetings" all over the world, 80% of the alleged manifestations are not real. Yet 20% of them are real.
I do not doubt this number when it comes to the kinds of meetings Bickle is speaking about.
I visited a "manifestation meeting" in Lakeland, Florida in the early 90s before it moved to Toronto and was dubbed "The Toronto Blessing." I also attended one in Melbourne, Florida during the "revival" there. I was monumentally unimpressed with both, but again, I only
attended a few meetings in each place. I have friends who tell me they were touched by God in some remarkable ways in some of those meetings.
Even so, I can tell you that in my experience of meeting in organic missional churches since 1988, the vast majority of spiritual manifestations that were displayed by those I was in fellowship with were completely genuine and the prophetic words were accurate.
The few that were not authentic were given by people who did not have the gift, but who were operating out of presumption and immaturity.
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By the same token, I would say that 90% of the sermons and spoken messages I have heard throughout my life had no anointing or originality. They were merely a regurgitation of someone else's thoughts.
Does that mean that the preaching and teaching gifts have ceased or that they are fraudulent?
So again, I'm not sure what Bickle is talking about specifically, but it certainly does not prove that genuine prophetic utterances and spiritual manifestations do not take place today.
All told, it is easy to dismiss the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit today because mixture is present. But mixture invariably occurs when the Holy Spirit is operating in supernatural ways.
Just read about the revivals under Jonathan Edwards and the Welsh Revival.
The Lord's will is still that we "come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:7).
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