先知、教師和啟示錄─啟示錄

要瞭解聖經預言，我們需要詩人般的想法，而非數學家的頭腦。許多神學家和神學院比較多數學家而非詩人，他們很難瞭解心靈的語言，甚至予以信任遠勝過頭腦的語言。雖然建立教義有其必要性，卻無法應用在預言上。這似乎是何以許多人試圖瞭解、教導啟示錄，有時卻離真正意思越來越遠的主要原因。

我們需要先知也需要教師；然而，當先知和教師在安提阿學習同來敬拜主，便導致新型態使徒宣教的誕生。先知需要教師讓他們堅固在健全的聖經教義上，教師則需要先知來瞭解屬靈領域與聖靈的語言，當其被瞭解時，就可以同時對頭腦和心靈說話了。

使徒同時需要擁有先知和教師的心，知道何時分開或一起使用。對於純粹的先知或教師而言，就比較難以理解與他們不同之人，但只要謙卑向與他們不同之人學習，就能經歷瞭解的敞開領域，遠超過他們從前的限制。教師可以變得更先知性，而先知也可以從瞭解更多系統性方法而大大受益。

我們也需要純粹的先知與教師成熟到足以向與他們不同之人敞開，教師需要謙卑來接受有先知性之人的洞見。有先知性恩賜的人也需要謙卑來接受教師的洞見，這可能是何以主賜給教會不同卻又互補的執事領導階層的主要原因。

真理的愛好者不會單接受瘋狂的推測卻沒有清楚的聖經根基，就算有許多人視自己的聰明方式超過聖靈的角色，來帶領我們走向真理，但有些方法根本是與聖經一致的，只是我們愚昧到沒有留意。詮釋聖經的原則，包括聖經預言，的確有助益，卻不能取代我們對聖靈的倚靠來帶領我們走向真理。

為何我要在此插上這些話？因為我們所談論的內容已足夠來看這些問題，也有根基來瞭解它們。先知和教師有時會受到挑戰，我們將會面對我們先前從未聽過的洞見，但在過去二世紀中，許多這些洞見幾乎從沒被教導過。在1844年復臨運動之前，有許多對我們可能是新的遠見，幾乎被全球前進中的教會所接受。

我屬於三所末世論學校（研讀聖經末世預言），但當我完成此研讀時，很有可能會被這些學校開除，我相信這些學校都有其價值，也都有一些問題。我在這裡提出的是我所相信的價值，同時具有聖經詮釋原則與歷史明證，我堅信是真理的聖靈將我引至如此的結論。繼續向前走，會幫助我們謹記在心，就是我們若不時而受到新的或不同看法的挑戰，就很有可能成為舊皮袋。

聖經常常證實在啟示錄所使用的象徵，卻不是全部。約翰看見未來的事，許多都不是來自他那時的事。一些人相信他所使用的象徵是為了隱藏來自羅馬書的信息，他知道屬靈人將分辨他所講的東西。這有可能是其中的一些例子，初代教父以廣泛並驚人的相同瞭解來分享此象徵的一些意義，或許他們都與聖靈相通到足以擁有如此的啟示。畢竟，啟示代表『顯明』，主顯然想要此被人瞭解，而不是被隱藏起來。

為著這些原因，我們不時應該期待受到挑戰。有智慧與受教的人不單會接受此，更會為之興奮。讓我們超越一切與我們的教師聖靈相通，知道接下來什麼是從祂而來的。

 (摘自喬納 word for the week,Week24, 2016)

 
Prophets, Teachers, and Revelation—The Book of Revelation
Week 24, 2016
Rick Joyner

         To understand biblical prophecy, we need the mentality of a poet rather than that of a mathematician, or that of a prophet more than a teacher. Many theologians and theological schools are mathematicians more than poets. They have trouble understanding, or even giving credibility to, a language for the heart more than the mind. Although necessary when establishing doctrine, this doesn’t work when applied to prophecy. This seems to be a main reason why many who tried to understand, teach, and write on Revelation sometimes get so far from its actual meaning.

         We need both prophets and teachers, however. When the prophets and teachers learned to worship the Lord together at Antioch, it resulted in the birth of a new type of missionary apostle. Prophets need teachers to keep them moored to sound biblical doctrine. Teachers need prophets to understand the spiritual realm and the language of the Spirit, which when understood, speaks to both the mind and the heart.

         The apostle needs the heart of both a prophet and a teacher, knowing when to use each one separately or together. To the pure prophet or teacher, those unlike them can seem incomprehensible. Yet those with the humility to learn from those different from themselves can experience opened realms of understanding far beyond their previous limits. Teachers can become more prophetic, and prophets can greatly benefit by understanding the more systematic approach.

         We also need the pure prophets and teachers to be mature enough to be open to what those unlike themselves see. It takes humility from the teachers to accept insights from prophetically oriented people. It also takes humility from prophetically gifted people to accept insight from the teachers. That is possibly a main reason why the Lord gave the church a leadership team of different but complementary ministries.

         A lover of truth won’t accept wild speculation without a clear, biblical basis. Granted, many esteem their witty methods over the Holy Spirit’s place to lead us to the truth, but some methods are consistent with the Scriptures, and we are foolish not to pay attention. Principles for interpreting Scripture, including biblical prophecy, can help, but they cannot replace our dependence on the Holy Spirit to lead us to the truth.

         Why am I interjecting this into the study now? We’ve covered enough to see these issues and to have a foundation for understanding them. Both prophets and teachers will be challenged at times. We will all face insights we have never heard before, but in the last two centuries, many of these insights have just been rarely taught. Many perspectives that may be new to us were almost universally accepted by the advancing church before the 1844 Advent Movement.

         Of the three (and some say five) schools of eschatology (the study of the end-times prophecies of Scripture) I belong to all of them, but may get kicked out of all of them too when this study is complete. I’ve studied each school of thought and believe there is some merit to each one and also some problems with all. I present here what I believe has merit both by the principles of biblical interpretation and historical verification, and by the belief that the Spirit of truth led me to this conclusion. Going forward, it will help to keep in mind that we will likely become an old wineskin if not challenged at times by new or different perspectives.

         Scripture often corroborates the symbolism used in Revelation, but not all of it. John was shown things to come, much of which he had no grid for from his own time. Some believe he used symbolism to veil the message from the Romans, knowing the spiritual would discern what he was talking about. This could have been the case with some of it. The early church fathers shared a wide and amazingly uniform understanding of the meaning of some of this symbolism. Or perhaps they were all in tune with the Holy Spirit enough to have had this revealed to them. After all, “revelation” means “to reveal” and the Lord obviously intended for this to be understood, not hidden.

         For all of these reasons, we should expect to be challenged at times. The wise and those still teachable will not only accept this, but be thrilled by it. Above all let us stay in tune with the voice of our Teacher to know what is coming from Him.