In this piece, we are going to be meditating together on The Power and Purpose of Revelation Knowledge. Let us open our Bibles to the book of 2 Peter 1:1-3. Verse 3 actually, is where we are going to, but let us just read it from verse one for the sake of proper context and understanding. The Bible says: “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ: ² Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue…”

 

Knowledge as used in that place, is not talking about the general knowledge, or the knowledge of physics, chemistry, mathematics or biology, but the kind of knowledge that comes through revelation.

 

Generally, there are two kinds of knowledge. There is Sensual Knowledge and there is Revelation Knowledge. Sensual knowledge is good to some certain degree; however, it is limited when it comes to spiritual application. Sensual knowledge is a byproduct of sensual wisdom, and apostle James warned us that this kind of wisdom does not come from above. If you read James 3:13-16, it says: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” Did we see that? The limitation of sensual knowledge is that it produces all manner of evil things. James said: it is demonic, it is self-seeking, and it produces all manner of evil things.

 

Another limitation of sensual knowledge is that it does not produce in us any spiritual inclination towards God. This was the challenge the people of Galatia had, trying to understand God through their sensual inclination and apostle Paul called them, FOOLISH. Galatians 3:1-5, the Bible says: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? ² This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³ Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? ⁴ Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? ⁵ Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Here, Paul was angry with the Galatian Christians because they were growing increasingly more sensual rather than being spiritual. And that is exactly what it is, foolishness is trying to understand the things of God in the flesh other than through the Spirit.

 

Another limitation of sensual knowledge is that it only puffs up, and does not edify. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 says: “Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. ² And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.” The best sensual knowledge does to anyone is that it makes them proud and pompous, but it does not edify or builds up anybody. For example, if life throws a serious challenge at you, it is not the knowledge of physics and chemistry that would save you, or the law of demand and supply. In those instances, sensual knowledge is completely limited and unapplicable.

 

REVELATION KNOWLEDGE is that knowledge that is revealed to us by God through His Holy Spirit. Revelation knowledge is the knowledge of God Himself and it is the highest form of knowledge. It is this kind of knowledge that helps you to know God for yourself and not that somebody is trying to interpret God to you. It is the kind of knowledge that also brings you into that vital fellowship with God Himself. If a man knows everything else, and he does not know God, such a man has not known anything. Paul prayed for the people of Ephesus in Ephesians 1:15-17. It says: “Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶ do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him…”

 

There is a direct relationship between our faith in God and our knowledge of Him. How much faith we have is dependent on how much of God that we know through revelation knowledge. Now, Paul prayed that they receive “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Why did he pray this way? Because he knew that the more of God they know, the more their faith increases, and the more they are able to go through life and fulfill their God-given destinies.

 

The Power of Revelation Knowledge

#1. Revelation Knowledge Transforms Us completely and set us on the path of Destiny pursuit and Purpose fulfilment. Now under this point, we are going to consider two case studies (Paul, Moses) and see how revelation knowledge puts a man on the path of purpose and destiny fulfilment.

 

PAUL

Now, Paul was a well-trained lawyer, and a Pharisee by profession. He was a kind of man that you could say he’s knowledgeable enough when it comes to sensual things. However, that knowledge didn’t produce anything in him other than violence and the persecution of the church of Christ. Paul actually thought He knew God, but he knew Him the wrong way, just like many of us too today has received the wrong knowledge of God from people we thought knew God wholeheartedly. But when the revelation knowledge of God dawned on him on his way to Damascus, everything about his previous lifestyle and experience changed. If you open your Bibles to Galatians 1:11-17, Paul himself wrote this to us:

 

“But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. ¹² For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³ For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵ But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.”

 

MOSES (Acts 7:22-36)

“And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds (in other words, Moses was educated and well knowledgeable). ²³ “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. ²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. ²⁵ For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. Well, the reason why they did not understand is actually simple – because it was not revealed to them because there is no way we can fulfill the purpose of God with our natural/sensual knowledge. The plans of God and God’s purpose for your life must be revealed to you by God.

 

²⁶ And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ ²⁷ But he who did his neighbour wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. Did we see that? Moses needed to run because he thought he could execute the purpose of God by the knowledge he had acquired through the Egyptian system. But all the while, God was just looking at him.

 

Verse 30: “And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he marvelled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him…” the voice of the Lord came to him loud and clear, and direct to him. This is an example of what it means to have a first-hand experience of God. This is God Himself revealing Himself to a man, and not through a secondary means.

 

³² saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. ³³ ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴ I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.”’ ³⁵ “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.”

 

After this revelation of God to Moses in the burning bush, he went back to Egypt and boldly declare the counsel of God to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh. At the end of the day, the children of Israel were allowed to exit Egypt. So, revelation knowledge transforms us and set us on the path of destiny fulfilment and purpose pursuit.

 

To be Continued!

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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