Brothers/Sisters, A chapter from that "little book" of Revelation Chapter 10.
There are, according to the witness of explicit verses, three levels or degrees of inspiration, two of which were utilized in the giving of the Scripture. Of the first the Lord said, “Blessed by the Spirit are the poor people, because the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs to them” (Matthew 5:3). And so every poor man on the surface of the planet does receive the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit which witnesses to him, though in non-verbal form, all those truths, however infrequently confessed by word, recognized as self-evident in the heart by the whole of the lower class, children of the Kingdom, be they ever so alien and therefore ludicrous or repugnant to the children of the evil one. And of this type is the witness of I Peter 4:6, “For this very reason is the Gospel preached also to those who are dead, so that they, though having been judged according to the judgment of men through the flesh, might yet
live according to the will of God through the Spirit” — for those who, having been predestined to be conformed to His image, are found like Him in this world (Romans 8:29; I John 4:17), being of the lower class and so children of the Kingdom and its heirs, already having the true form of the Gospel written on their hearts but without words, will accept it, recognizing it as the same as the inward witness always known to them, whenever they find it presented verbally, and so will become at that point in this life or the next “born again” or “regenerated” by the breaking through to the level of consciousness through the witness now of the word of the Scripture of the message given them of old by the Spirit; and as in I Peter 1:23-25.
The second level is the result of a powerful impulse from that same Spirit, the reception of which automatically transforms the recipient into a prophet. Yet the message from the Hidden World delivered in this manner is given in a non-verbal form and filters through the personality of the prophet involved before being committed to writing, where it can become distorted to some extent by his prior inclination or bias or where elements of his prior education can adhere to it. Of this type was the communication that came to all the prophets of the Old Testament, and all the authors of the New Testament books as well with the sole exception of the apostle John when he received the book of Revelation from the Holy One, the True One. And Paul clearly witnesses of the distinction between this level and that higher one of verbal inspiration to be introduced later at the time of the giving of the perfection of knowledge and prophecy, saying in I Corinthians 13:8-13, “Love will have no end. But whether there are prophecies, they will be done away with; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be done away with; because we know partially and we prophesy partially. When that which is perfect comes, however, that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see things enigmatically through a looking glass; but then face to face. I know now partially; but then I will know fully, just as I am fully known. So there remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Thus the book of Revelation, in which we find written out for us in unmistakable detail the course that history has in fact taken and the institutional forms that have in fact arisen during so many ages as have passed since its giving, emerges as the apex of the whole prophetic process and as the lens through which all concepts and predictions of the whole Bible are to be observed and analyzed and as the touchstone by which they are to be measured, in which the Old Testament latter-day prophecies are reapplied to the group of the true elect and purified of their Israelite and Judean nationalist discoloration, and in which the whole eschatological content of the remainder of the New Testament is structured and ordered.
Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!
Who will not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your Name?
For You alone are the Holy One.
For all nations will come and worship before You
because Your judgments have been revealed!
— Revelation 15:3-4
—Barry I. Hyman
CHRISTIAN REVOLUTIONARY BROTHERHOOD
Peace Be with You All
DanJudge
ON THE NATURE OF INSPIRATION
There are, according to the witness of explicit verses, three levels or degrees of inspiration, two of which were utilized in the giving of the Scripture. Of the first the Lord said, “Blessed by the Spirit are the poor people, because the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs to them” (Matthew 5:3). And so every poor man on the surface of the planet does receive the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit which witnesses to him, though in non-verbal form, all those truths, however infrequently confessed by word, recognized as self-evident in the heart by the whole of the lower class, children of the Kingdom, be they ever so alien and therefore ludicrous or repugnant to the children of the evil one. And of this type is the witness of I Peter 4:6, “For this very reason is the Gospel preached also to those who are dead, so that they, though having been judged according to the judgment of men through the flesh, might yet
live according to the will of God through the Spirit” — for those who, having been predestined to be conformed to His image, are found like Him in this world (Romans 8:29; I John 4:17), being of the lower class and so children of the Kingdom and its heirs, already having the true form of the Gospel written on their hearts but without words, will accept it, recognizing it as the same as the inward witness always known to them, whenever they find it presented verbally, and so will become at that point in this life or the next “born again” or “regenerated” by the breaking through to the level of consciousness through the witness now of the word of the Scripture of the message given them of old by the Spirit; and as in I Peter 1:23-25.
The second level is the result of a powerful impulse from that same Spirit, the reception of which automatically transforms the recipient into a prophet. Yet the message from the Hidden World delivered in this manner is given in a non-verbal form and filters through the personality of the prophet involved before being committed to writing, where it can become distorted to some extent by his prior inclination or bias or where elements of his prior education can adhere to it. Of this type was the communication that came to all the prophets of the Old Testament, and all the authors of the New Testament books as well with the sole exception of the apostle John when he received the book of Revelation from the Holy One, the True One. And Paul clearly witnesses of the distinction between this level and that higher one of verbal inspiration to be introduced later at the time of the giving of the perfection of knowledge and prophecy, saying in I Corinthians 13:8-13, “Love will have no end. But whether there are prophecies, they will be done away with; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be done away with; because we know partially and we prophesy partially. When that which is perfect comes, however, that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see things enigmatically through a looking glass; but then face to face. I know now partially; but then I will know fully, just as I am fully known. So there remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Thus the book of Revelation, in which we find written out for us in unmistakable detail the course that history has in fact taken and the institutional forms that have in fact arisen during so many ages as have passed since its giving, emerges as the apex of the whole prophetic process and as the lens through which all concepts and predictions of the whole Bible are to be observed and analyzed and as the touchstone by which they are to be measured, in which the Old Testament latter-day prophecies are reapplied to the group of the true elect and purified of their Israelite and Judean nationalist discoloration, and in which the whole eschatological content of the remainder of the New Testament is structured and ordered.
Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!
Who will not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your Name?
For You alone are the Holy One.
For all nations will come and worship before You
because Your judgments have been revealed!
— Revelation 15:3-4
—Barry I. Hyman
CHRISTIAN REVOLUTIONARY BROTHERHOOD
Peace Be with You All
DanJudge
