God Of Progressive Revelation And Progressive Sanctification!!!

God of Progressive Sanctification and Revelation !!!

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.- John 16:13

We see our Heavenly Father as a God of both progressive sanctification and progressive revelation in both OT and NT.

Firstly permit me to illustrate by bringing out similarities between the histories of Israel and Modern Day India especially throwing light on transitional as well as pucca Constitution of both the Countries.

Israel and Modern India's history contain some similarities.

1.Though Israeli History begins, from the time of Abraham's Call (Genesis 12:1-3, Joshua 24:1-3, Acts 7:1-4) also known as Age of Promise, yet another milestone event of Giving of the Law (their Constitution ) at Mount Sinai (Exo 19-20) begins to take place *_only after passage of time_* . With the giving of the Law, begins the Age or Dispensation of the Law

For Modern India though Independence came on 15-8-1947, the actual Constitution came into effect _only after some passage of time i,e...on 26-1-1950...after almost 3 years._

2. Though from the Call of Abraham, there were good points in Israeli History (During the Age of Promise) like the Israeli Patriarchs never worshipped Idols, there were some rough edges till The Law was given

like Patriarchs

i) Marrying of Step Sisters (Genesis 20:12) as population was less at that time

ii) Marrying wives who were Sisters like Leah and Rachel which led to avoidable sibling rivalry, domestic brawls et al (Genesis 30:1-24)

iii) Worship (with good intentions, of course )in any place by building of Earthen Altars by the Patriarchs (Genesis 12:7,Genesis 28:18-19), with the risk of the same altar being defiled unwittingly by humans or animals later on.

While good point of "No idol Worship" pertaining to the Age of Promise continued in the Law Dispensation, the other rough edges were smoothened with the Coming of the Law at Mount Sinai (Leviticus 18:9, Leviticus 18:18, Deuteronomy 12:5-14).

In India, from the Day of Independence in 1947 till the coming of regular Constitution in 1950, in the intervening period our First PM Late.Nehru Ji along with his Cabinet of 15 Ministers governed the Country using the British framed Constitution known then as *Government of India Act, 1935* . Though this now extinct Constitution had good points like the recommendation to set up Supreme Court, Reserve Bank of India, Governance Lists (Central, State and Concurrent) to facilitate better adminstration, it had some serious demerits like

A) Special privileges being given to Princely States of Hyderabad ruled by Nizam or Mysore ruled by a King

B) Deprivation of Voting rights to some sections of the society

So Dr.Ambedkar the Father of Prevalent Indian Constitution whilst retaining the good points of Government of India Act, 1935 erased it's demerits.

Now coming to NT, do not we see Progressive Sanctification and Revelation of our Lord at work with the "rough edges of Gospel and Book of Acts" time ironed out in the Epistles Section, with the Sacrosanct part that is...teachings of our Saviour and the Doctrine of Atoning Work of our Saviour at The Cross retained??? Yes!!!

In the Epistles, it emerges that in the matter of

I) Customs

A) Circumcision-This ritual is no longer required (Luke 2:21 vs Galatians 3:1-3, Galatians 5:1-2, Galatians 6:14)

B) Congregating- No longer of public gathering on Saturdays to worship the Father (as per Jewish tradition), rather on Sundays the day our Saviour Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected. What is seen as having begun in the "transitional period" (which events in Book of Acts symbolize-Acts 20:7) is further authenticated in the Epistles and beyond. (Luke 4:16 vs 1 Corinthians 16:2, Revelation 1:10). Book of Acts is indeed a transitional period of Church history with concrete views on acceptance of Gentiles (and practices to be followed by them) into the pre-dominantly Jewish Church emerging only from the Jerusalem Council of Acts Chapter 15.

II) Communion

Reading of Scripture portion before administering Communion from 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 is now done globally rather than from the parallel section in the 3 Gospels where warning (serious consequences) for partaking in the Communion even while living immorally was not yet revealed (Matt 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:17-20). With progressive revelation, the truth emerged that those partaking in the Communion even while living unholy lives would be subjected to severe punishment (1 Corinthians 11:29-32). Thus now, globally in The Universal Church before administering the Communion the Pastor reads from the Epistles Section (1 Cor 11:23-32) rather than from the parallel Gospel portions of The Lord's Table.

III) Consceretion

No more appointing of Pastors or Elders from the batch of new converts (Paul and Barnabas had no other choice- Acts 14:22-23- as everyone in the 4 Churches of Lystra, Iconium, Derbe and Antioch were "born again" at more or less the same time). Ones who had not walked with the Lord for sometime or studied NT so as to first grasp what Christian life is all about, how can they preach about Christianity to others??? Plus, there is an added danger...quick elevation of a new believer in a Church, can lead to birth of pride in him. Hence, the Epistles Section makes it absolutely clear...