I dream of...

...Jeannie

...Falling

...being naked in public

...specific revelation?

I will admit to the top 3, but the 4th; not so much. So i had this conversation today... Actually i opened my big mouth when i knew better and got into a long, worthless, waste of oxygen debate on whether or not God still speaks to His children in dreams. I say "still", because the first obvious observation on the discussion is that the Old and New Testament are full of recorded dreams that God used to communicate any number of different things as general as the rise and fall of a nation to specific as "there will be a guy showing up to your house, he has killed Christians in the past, he will not be able to see, you will heal him, he will be a great man of God..." (obvious paraphrase)

So why not now? Why can't we expect God to reveal things to us in dreams now? Obviously the question is not about ability. The fact that He has, and that He is God makes it more than possible. Not that anything is hard for God, but if you had to rank dream weaving on a scale of difficulty for God, I doubt it makes the top 1 billion.

So the question becomes need and purpose, wouldn't you agree? God does nothing simply to do it, all things are in His sovereign control for the purpose of working out His perfect will. The answers to need and purpose will give us the best idea of whether or not it in fact happens.

Lets start with need first...

Does God need to reveal anything to human beings? YES! The biggest being that we are created, our original parents sinned, they represented every last one of us, we all die because of sin, we cannot have a relationship with God because of sin, God had to fix it, He did fix it, we have a way to fellowship with God, it is an exclusive way, and once we begin that path, it is narrow and there are expectations that God has for those He has redeemed, oh and finally in the end God turns out to be the winner and rules forever...
Cool thing is, He reveals all that too us and so much more than we can ever grasp or understand in that thing we call the B I B L E (yes thats the book for me...) The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to man. In that Bible God, through a human author (which is so amazing it makes my head hurt) said this; and i quote... " His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. " And if you aren't sure what he is talking about finishing reading the rest of the chapter... He is talking about truth. Ahhh what is truth? The Bible tells us that too!

So in this revelation that God has so graciously (seriously, He didn't have to reveal a freaking thing to us!) reavealed to us, He makes it clear that what He has revealed should be enough for us lil ol human beings while we live our lives out here on earth. So He did need to reveal himself to us, YES! and HE DID!

Does He still need to? Well i guess that depends. Do you believe that what the Bible says is correct? Yes?

GOOD!

Well then if the Bible claims sufficiency, then its safe to say that's all we need. Here is my problem with saying that God still uses dreams to reveal specific revelation to human beings... That implies that this direct revelation given to you was so important that God had to give it to you and you alone, and that also implies that what He had given you before this (the Bible) wasn't enough by itself. Honestly there is no way to resolve it! Trust me i have thought it through and tried! You can't say that the Bible is completely sufficient and all you need and in that same breath claim that God is revealing things to you directly that are specific to you and your situation and not already revealed to you in the BIBLE! HE HAS NO NEED TO DO SO IF WHAT HE GAVE YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE WAS ALL YOU NEEDED! (sorry im still worked up)

Second issue: Purpose

What would be the purpose in direct revelation apart from scripture? If there is no need, then there is no purpose. I realize that is sort of a straw man argument, but if you really think about it, the only real issue is need. If there is no need, it undermines purpose. God does everything for a reason. If you want to argue that He doesn't; do me a favor and stop reading my blog, you're wasting what little time you have left before eternal judgment. God had a very specific purpose every time He revealed himself directly to a human being. If you go back and read those amazing OT stories of Joseph, Jacob, Abram, Moses, Joshua, Daniel, you can see the need and purpose for why God did what He did. If they had had the Bible in the form we have it today, they wouldn't have needed it, and most of them had a better understanding of what little they did have then we will ever have of the whole thing that we have.

The reason this is such an issue for me is because I LOVE the Word of God!! And I HATE anything that would cast doubt or call into question the Word of the Almighty! It is the most precious possession we have, and as post New Testament believers we are blessed beyond measure with what we have. I can't imagine what Moses, Daniel, David, or Nehemiah would have done to have what we have!

The sad thing is... and we all know it... we waste it. We take it for granted. I am so spiritually rich and yet i act just like the Hilton sisters in all their glory. Spoiled as can be and dumb as a rock...

God forgive me...