3. Revelations here on Earth Foretell God's Heavenly Joys

Matthew 16:17 - Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you....

but My Father who is in heaven revealed it to you....

According to the Bible, all true revelation is supernaturally given to us within our minds by God through the Holy Spirit. Revelations are special Divine impartations placed into the spirit of our minds of His truth regarding particular matters.

Daniel 2:22 -It is God who reveals the profound and hidden things....

A supernatural revelation is a Divine moment in our life when God opens the spirit of our mind (quickens something to us within it) to the greatness of  His deeper knowledge, understanding and / or wisdom about a particular matter than that which we can ever in any way garner with our own devices. 

2 Corinthians 12:7 -....the surpassing greatness of the revelations....

A supernatural revelation is an outstanding experience because it is a joyful event for believers. Revelation brings us new, wonderful, penetrating knowledge, wisdom or understanding about a particular matter directly from God who is in heaven (the place of the utmost joy). It brings us into great joy with Him because it is an unveiling from Him of things new to us within the mind of our spirit.

1 Peter 4:13- ....at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

However, there is another side to supernaturally given revelations. This other side to them is that they can also bring us into fear and trembling because revelations are sometimes given to us by God about upcoming trials and / or difficulties. 

Daniel 7:15 - ....my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.

God utilizes supernatural revelation to bring to a chosen person awareness of deep seated things that He has so far hidden from others in this world. 

Ephesians 3:3- ....by revelation there was made known to me...

Of course the deepest seated, most hidden thing in this entire universe, is God Himself.

Genesis 35:7 -He built an altar there....because there God had revealed Himself to him....

Often when God reveals Himself to a believer, He does it by utilizing just His word or by audibly voicing it or His word to the believer.

1 Samuel 3:21- ....the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel....by the word of the Lord.

Sometimes however, God uses an angel to bring forth a revelation....

Revelation 1:1- The revelation of Jesus Christ....He sent and communicated it by His angel....

God may also use one or many angels to give a revelation....

Luke 2:9 - Suddenly an angel appeared among them, and the landscape shone bright with the glory of the Lord. They were badly frightened, but the angel reassured them.

“Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you the most joyful news ever announced, and it is for everyone! The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem! How will you recognize him? You will find a baby wrapped in a blanket, lying in a manger!”

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God: “Glory to God in the highest heaven,” they sang, “and peace on earth for all those pleasing him.”

The whole point of this teaching is that it is only by a supernaturally given revelation from God, in whatever spiritual manner that He in His sovereignty decides to give it, that we can come to a TRUE knowledge of any of the things of God. 

Ephesians 1:17- (My prayers are) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
Our own knowledge and understanding of a matter, even if it is thoroughly and exhaustively researched and studied by us in the Scriptures is not necessarily the truth of God about it even though the Scripture says....

2 Timothy 2:15 - Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

This is because even when we study the word thoroughly for ourselves, we are not to rely upon our own understandings of it. Instead we are to look to God for His revelation of what the word really means.

Proverbs 3:5 - 6- ....lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

God, can elect to keep His secrets from us but in His Divine Sovereignty, He can also elect to reveal them to us.

Deuteronomy 29:29 -The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us....

Simeon who was an old man of God who came to the temple when Jesus was being circumcised, said to Mary & Joseph that he had been given a revelation from the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. When he laid his eyes upon the baby Jesus, he told them that Jesus Himself was the Savior and that He would be...

Luke 2:32 - ....A Light of revelation...

The prophet Isaiah implied that Divine supernatural revelation was necessary in order for any of us to believe that Jesus Christ was God's very own right arm.

Isaiah 53:1-  Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

And Jesus said that revelation from Him is also absolutely necessary for us to even realize that there is a Father God.

Matthew 11:27 -....no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

Jesus also told us that the Father God is the One who gives us the revelation that Jesus Himself is the Son of God and the Messiah.

Matthew 16:17 - ....for flesh and blood hath not revealed (that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God) unto thee, but the Father which is in heaven (revealed it).

So we can never boast that we on our own came to the realization that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior. His divine glory must always be revealed to us by God.

Isaiah 40:5 -....the glory of the Lord will be revealed....

My prayer for all of you who read this blog is that you will be given revelations from God so that you may gain more wisdom, knowledge and understanding about Him with whom we have to do.

Ephesians 1:17- that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

The following words are most of those that various translations of the Bible use synonymously in their efforts to explain to us just what revelation is and / or how or in what form its recipients are given it....

            
          quickening - unveiling - unfolding - reviving - prophecy - vision - dream