The conclusions arrived at now are clear and need only to be briefly
stated. We have seen that no book of the Old Testament, although all
are written and preserved for the instruction of the human race in all
ages, contains anything that is of such a nature as to exclude further
revelation. Not one single passage, nor all the passages combined, are
so written as to exclude the necessity of the revelations contained
in the New Testament, for instance. On the contrary, one revelation
leads to another, God always giving "line upon line, precept upon
precept," imparting knowledge as men are willing and able to receive
it. For it is through revelation that God educates His servants and
His people; and as in any branch of study we are led on from the
fundamental principles and find that each new truth suggests others, so
here, each new truth revealed leads us to others, until--were such a
case possible--we have been permitted to exhaust the entire fulness of
divine knowledge.
We have also seen that the servants of God in the old covenant declare
the continuation of revelation. They do not consider the prophetic
gift or the gift of receiving revelations as peculiar to their own
dispensation. They point to "the last days" as a time in which the
Spirit of the Lord is to be poured out more abundantly than in any
former period. And His presence is to be manifested through "dreams
and visions." The withdrawal of these they designate as a calamity.
They speak of the time in which such heavenly gifts are withdrawn,
as "night" and "darkness" while consequently, the presence of them
indicate day and light. Now, are day and light necessary for the
physical welfare of man? If so, revelations are also necessary for his
spiritual advancement.
We have further seen that the establishment of new economies requires
new revelations. Moses was familiar with the revelations given to the
patriarchs before him. But when he was called upon to usher in the
dispensation of the law, he could not do this without new revelations.
Nor could Zerubbabel re-establish this dispensation after the return
from Babylon without the aid of revelation. Through the revelations
given to the Prophet Haggai the people "prospered" and were able to
complete their work as commanded by the Lord (Ezra vi, 14). {371}
Without this, they would not have been able to prosper.
Sometimes we see that revelations are given to faithful servants of
God as a special favor to them. In such cases, what is seen or heard
must not be recorded--as was the case with some visions of Paul in the
New Testament--or, if recorded, is sealed up in mystical expressions,
unintelligible to the common reader, until the Spirit of revelation
gives the true interpretation thereof. This was the case with some of
Daniel's visions, and with at least one of the visions of John (Rev. x,
4, 5).
Are revelations, then, given in order to establish new economies, to
preserve the children of God from falling into darkness, to instruct
them about things known to God alone, in one word to lead men unto
salvation? Surely, there never can be a time when revelation is not
necessary.