Lesson 5 for the 31st of January, 2009

God transmits a message to

someone through revelation, and

that person must pass it on to other

people.

Directly, like He did to Moses.

“the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus, 33: 11)

Through angels, like He did to John.

“And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place” (Revelation, 22: 6)

Through dreams, as He did to Daniel.

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts” (Daniel, 7: 1)

Through visions, like He did to Ezekiel.

“Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God” (Ezekiel , 1: 1)

Among all the ways God uses to reveal Himself (directly and through angels, dreams and visions), visions are which cause physical extraordinary effects in the prophet.

A form took Ezekiel “by the hair of my head” and lifted him up, but he felt no pain (Ezekiel, 8: 3). His body stood before the elders, while he was being carried to Jerusalem by the Spirit.

“The vision happened while the elders remained sitted before the prophet. Obviously, they saw nothing, but Ezekiel was in a condition of vision that prepared them to listen, at the end of the vision, everything that God had showed the prophet”(SDA Bible Commentary, commentary on Ezekiel, 8: 2)

Other prophets lost strength while

receiving vision, like Daniel or John.

Daniel said: “I had no strength left, my face turned deathly

pale and I was helpless”

(Daniel, 10: 8; Revelation, 1: 17)

In the case of Ellen G. White, the physical phenomena that went with visions are faithfully registered.

“As inquiries are frequently made as to my state in vision, and after I come out, I would say that when the Lord sees fit to give a vision, I am taken into the presence of Jesus and angels, and am entirely lost to earthly things. I can see no farther than the angel directs me. My attention is often directed to scenes transpiring upon earth. At times I am carried far ahead into the future and shown what is to take place. Then again I am shown things as they have occurred in the past”. (Selected Messages, Book 1, chapter 2, pg. 36)

“While engaged in earnest prayer, I was lost to everything around me; the room was filled with light”(Testimonies to ministers and Gospel Workers, chapter 17, pg. 461)

Ellen G. White’s testimony:

“Some of the instruction found in these pages was given under circumstances so remarkable as to evidence the wonder-working power of God in behalf of His truth. Sometimes while I was in vision, my friends would approach me, and exclaim, "Why, she does not breathe!" Placing a mirror before my lips, they found that no moisture gathered on the glass. It was while there was no sign of any breathing that I kept talking of the things that were being presented before me. These messages were thus given to substantiate the faith of all, that in these last days we might have confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy.”(Selected Messages, Book 3, pg. 39)

The testimony of those who saw her while she was in vision:

1. She is utterly unconscious of everything transpiring around her.

2. She does not breathe… [This] has been repeatedly proved by pressing upon the chest, and by closing her mouth and nostrils.

3. Immediately on entering vision, her muscles become rigid, and joints fixed, so far as any external force can influence them…

4. On coming out of vision, whether in the daytime or a well-lighted room at night, all is total darkness. Her power to distinguish even the most brilliant objects, held within a few inches of the eyes, returns but gradually”(Life incidents, p. 272)

Once the prophets had received a divine

revelation, how did they pass it on?

In all the cases, the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets to transmit those revealed messages from God by the most convenient mean.

The inspiration is the process by which the Holy Spirit influences the thinking of the prophet and helps him to express by spoken or written word what God wants to transmit.

“After I come out of vision I do not at once remember all that I have seen, and the matter is not so clear before me until I write, then the scene rises before me as was presented in vision, and I can write with freedom. Sometimes the things which I have seen are hid from me after I come out of vision, and I cannot call them to mind until I am brought before a company where that vision applies, then the things which I have seen come to my mind with force. I am just as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in relating or writing a vision, as in having the vision. It is impossible for me to call up things which have been shown me unless the Lord brings them before me at the time that He is pleased to have me relate or write them”.E.G.W.(Selected messages, Book 1, chap. 2, pg. 36).

Ellen White in the dedication of Loma Linda campus. 1905

Country meeting in Eagle Lake, Minnesota, 1875. The Whites, Uriah Smith and others under the baldachin.

Sometimes, the prophet thought he wasn’t able to express or write correctly the received message.

In those cases, they were helped by other people who expressed and wrote those thoughts, under his supervision.

In other cases, the Holy Spirit inspired both, the prophet and his helper.

“Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, all the words of the LORD which He had spoken to him” (Jeremiah, 36: 4)

Paul couldn’t write long letters because of his problems of sight. He just wrote the final greeting, so he guaranteed the authenticity of his letters.

“The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle; so I write”(2 Thessalonians, 3: 17)

He dictated the letters to trustworthy brothers; Tertius’ testimony stands out among them:

“I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord” (Romans, 16: 22)

In exile, John was undoubtedly obliged to use his own linguistic ability to redact the Revelation, so the language in this book is not always pure: sometimes, some Semitic strokes are revealed through Greek, and the author wasn’t always sure of his grammar.

However, the oldest Christian tradition indicates that the Gospel was written in completely different conditions. It was revised by different brothers and it was written by Papiah, his disciple.

(SDA Bible Commentary, introduction to the book of Revelation)

“The books are not Marian's productions, but my own, gathered from all my writings. Marian has a large field from which to draw, and her ability to arrange the matter is of great value to me. It saves my poring over a mass of matter, which I have no time to do.

So you understand that Marian is a most valuable help to me in bringing out my books. Fanny had none of this work to do. Marian has read chapters to her, and Fanny has sometimes made suggestions as to the arrangement of the matter.

This is the difference between the workers. As I have stated, Fanny has been strictly forbidden to change my words for her words. As spoken by the heavenly agencies, the words are severe in their simplicity; and I try to put the thoughts into such simple language that a child can understand every word uttered. The words of someone else would not rightly represent me”.

Selected messages, Book 3, cap. 12, pages 91-92

Marian Davis, Ellen White’s

secretary

Fannie Bolton

Those who compiled information and wrote an organized account of the things that the Holy Spirit impressed them to relate, show another kind of inspiration.

This happened, for example, to the anonymous authors of the books of Samuel, Kings or Chronicles. Tradition shows us that persons like Nathan, Jeremiah and Ezra compiled and wrote those books under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Luke used this method to write his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles:

“It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus” (Luke, 1: 3)

Directly from God.

Through angels.

Through dreams.

Through visions.

The Holy Spirit has an influence on the thought of the prophet to express the received message.

They may use assistants to write or even to word more correctly his words.

The authors can compile existing material, even quotes of non-biblical authors, to compose new divinely inspired material.

(Holy Spirit)