The Church must reject all Unbiblical and Extra-Biblical Revelations

“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it" (deuteronomy 12:32).

"Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar" (Proverbs 30:5–6).

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book" (Revelation 22:18-19).

One of the prime reasons for the LORD's judgments upon the people of God has been, is and will continue to be for the sin of covenant unfaithfulness. One of the ways that this happens is by a turning away from the written infallible Word of God. For example King Solomon either neglected the written Scriptures or he wilfully denied them by multiplying wives and with that with foreign wives. Judgment came and a rejection of God's Word, it always does. In Jeremiah 1:16 the LORD teaches Jeremiah that judgment is coming upon the house of God because of their "evil in forsaking me" (1:16).

How about sections of the church today? A serious error has crept into sections of the professing Protestant church in accepting unbiblical revelations and even more serious is a quest for unbiblical revelations. The Canon of holy Scripture is complete and there are no more revelations from heaven. The Holy Spirit is powerfully active in raising up preachers to proclaim the written Scriptures and to expound them, to convict of sin, to bring about the miracle of the new birth and to teach people to walk in God's ways.

However, in what ways has revelation ceased?

1. There are no more apostles. This office ceased with the death of the last apostle who was John.

2. There are no more prophets. This office ceased by the end of the New Testament apostolic era.

3. There are no longer extraordinary gifts of men who perform miracles likes Moses, Elijah or the apostles. Though the apostles did not operate on the level of the LORD Jesus Christ and in the Book of Acts, the supernatural signs begin to wane as the church got established.

4. There is no such thing as people being taken to heaven to have visions of heaven.

5. The last person to have a direct revelation of the Lord Jesus was John the apostle on the Isle of Patmos. How did he respond? Revelation 1:17 "When I [John the apostle] saw him [the glorified and ascended Lord Jesus Christ], I fell at his feet as though dead". There are some people today who claim to meet Jesus Christ and it is in a most casual way. However, it is false. He does not reveal himself to people outside of Scripture and that includes to people of other faiths. Some Christians get excited about supposed claims of Muslims having visions of Jesus Christ. We have no biblical evidence that this is a method that the LORD will ever use and yet some naively accept such claims and some Christians get very excited at such possibilities.

6. Supernatural tongues have ceased. However the tongues on the Day of Pentecost were unique, where men spoke the gospel in languages they had never learned. This is not found today and it certainly is not the Pentecostal gift of tongues today which is nothing short of speaking "gibberish", possibly as some sort of soul-excitement. I do not doubt the experience of speaking in tongues, but I doubt its validity and I assert that it has no biblical basis whatsoever. In the New Testament "tongues" were simply languages and if someone spoke in Latin to a Greek congregation, then the apostles insisted that it must be translated so that all could learn and understand.

In conclusion, with this short blog post, let me finish with the words of John Owen. Owen had to contend with the Quakers who became obsessed with extra-biblical revelations and he taught helpfully that: "If their private revelations agree with Scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree, they are false".