This Sunday we continue our summer sermon series, “Shaped by our Story,” as we look at the topic of revelation and the manner in which God makes Himself known to us. As a bit of listener prep (“expository listening”), here’s a very short video clip from John Piper discussing the difference between general revelation and special revelation:
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As you know, I think Piper rocks. I have found many people along the way who do not believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit are for today (cessationists), or at best they are suspicious of them; yet these same people will talk freely about how God has “put something on their heart” or “just led me to this place” or “spoke to me in the Scripture or through that sermon” or how they just “had this feeling like they were supposed to call this person” and it was right when they needed the call. But they would not label this “special revelation” anymore than they would call it “prophecy” or a “word of knowledge” or the operation of any “gift of the Holy Spirit.” Steve, do you know where Piper stands on the charismatic experience and operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit like the revelatory gifts?
Dwight, great observation and good question. On the former, I find it fascinating and amusing the lengths to which some will go to avoid using (biblical) language that might make them appear contradictory to their theological perspective. Many times I’ve prayed with cessationists who clearly employed a word of knowledge but passed it off as “something the Lord laid on my heart” instead. On the latter, here’s a long snip from a previous sermon given by Piper on the supernatural element of the things of the Spirit:
“I think what needs to be said today is that some Christians expect more miracles than they should. They may think, for example, that God never wills for his children to be sick, but that believers should always be miraculously healed. That goes against what we see, for example, in Romans 8:23 where Christians groan with unredeemed bodies.
Now what about today? Should we be expecting the same miraculous confirmations of our witnessing today? My answer is yes, but not in the same measure that the apostles experienced this miraculous power. The reason I say yes is that I don’t see any compelling reason given in the New Testament that God has declared a moratorium on miracles. But I do see lists of miraculous gifts for the church (not just apostles) in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. So I think God intends to bless his word and his people with miracles in our day—extraordinary works of divine power that go beyond the laws of nature.
But the reason I say, probably not in the same measure that the apostles experienced this miraculous power, is that there is good evidence that miracles were especially prominent in the early days to vindicate the deity of Christ and the authority of the apostles as they laid the foundation of the church. For example, Jesus said in John 5:36, “The works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.” So it seems that the miracles of Jesus had a special function role to play in confirming that the Son of God was here.
Then there is evidence that Paul saw his miracles as a special validation of his apostleship. For example, in 2 Corinthians 12:12 he says, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.” So it seems that Paul saw the signs and wonders God worked through him as a special mark of his apostleship. Not that God only uses apostles to do miracles, but there was something extraordinary in how God blessed his founding apostles.
So when the Lord Jesus returns to heaven and the apostles have laid the foundation of the church in the New Testament and are taken off the scene, I think what we have is not a de-supernatualized religion. Not at all! The Holy Spirit has been poured out, and he is still fully capable of doing signs and wonders. Rather, we have a centralized focus on the word of God, the gospel, because all the central acts of salvation are now in history and it is the word that connects us with these saving acts of God in the past.
But on the other hand—and I think this relates to us at Bethlehem—some Christians expect too few miracles. We slip into a naturalistic way of thinking that makes the devil and the Holy Spirit almost irrelevant. When we pray, we are almost afraid to ask God to heal people—directly, miraculously. As long as we are submitted to the freedom and sovereign goodness of God to do as he pleases, I think we should regularly pray for the miraculous intervention of God. And we should expect that some will have a gift that makes them more fruitful in this than others.
As long as we keep the word of God in its properly central place, I think it would please the Lord for us to pray the way the early church did in Acts 4:29-30. Here’s what they said, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness [cf. Acts 1:8], while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” We don’t dictate when or what kind or how many miracles God may do among us. But not to ask for them seems to me to be more secularistic and naturalistic than biblical.”