Progressive revelation

The term “progressive revelation” in Christianity means “that the sections of the Bible that were written later contain a fuller revelation of God compared to the earlier sections.” (Wikipedia). God revealed truth over a period of time, rather than giving it all to man at once. He didn’t send Jesus immediately after Adam’s sin.

It’s interesting to look what has happened with that in the church the last few hundred years.

In and before Charles G. Finney’s day*, people would seek God for days or even weeks before they had assurance of salvation. By the start of the 20th century, people believed that one could settle the matter of salvation quickly, hence the concept of “praying the sinner’s prayer”.

It was common before the 1960′s for people to seek God for some time in order to receive the Holy Spirit and their prayer language. By the time I came to Christ in 1976, people came to the point in faith where one could generally receive the Spirit within five minutes – it took me probably about 30 seconds to start praying fluently in other tongues, just like on Pentecost.

Right now, I’d say we are largely in the same place with healing and miracles – the confidence of receiving quickly and consistently is not yet there, either on the part of those praying or those needing healing. But I believe we’re coming up on that same point in faith for healing – some parts of the church are forerunners in this already. Combine that with an increase in the anointing – both in individuals and in distribution throughout the church – and I truly believe we are on the edge of some really exciting times!

* I visited Finney’s gravesite in Oberlin, OH on Saturday, May 30th.

Doug