What is inspiration? What is revelation? The meaning of the Bible being God’s inspiration is that at one time God breathed His breath upon this book. Without God’s inspiration, the Bible could not be called the Bible. Inspiration is the basis of the Bible. God inspired Paul to write the book of Romans. It was through God’s inspiration of and His breath upon Paul that he wrote Romans. What then is revelation? It is God’s breathing upon the book of Romans once again as we open to it two thousand years later. Through revelation we touch God’s word once again. Inspiration is a once-for-all occurrence, but revelation is a repeated occurrence. When God breathes His breath upon His word a second time, when we find light again through the Holy Spirit and the anointing upon His word to see what Paul once saw, we have revelation. Revelation means God is doing something today; He is reviving today what He once gave to man through inspiration. This is a great matter.
Brothers and sisters, this is something exceedingly glorious. What is revelation? It is when God’s Spirit revives His word in such a way that it becomes as living and full of life as when Paul wrote it. When God wrote that word through Paul, life was vibrant in both the writer and the writing. Today the same words can be released once again. God can fill His word with the Holy Spirit once again. His anointing can once again act upon His word. When this happens, the word becomes as powerful, enlightening, and life-giving as it was before. This is what revelation is all about. It is useless to merely study the Word. If a man does not have revelation, he can study every word from the first page to the last without hearing a single word from God. The Bible is the word of God. At one time God spoke this word. But if you want this word to be God’s word today, you have to ask God to speak this word once again. This speaking will bring in many things—God’s word, light, and life. If there is not this kind of speaking, the Bible will remain a closed and dead book to you.
Suppose one hundred brothers and sisters gather in a place, and God is speaking through them. It is possible that not everyone will hear God’s word. Everyone hears the sound and the words. But some may hear God’s speaking, while others may not. Some may be in touch with things of both realms, while others may be in touch with things of only one realm. Some may hear the doctrine, the truth, conveyed through the sounds and the words. They may understand the thought, and those with a good memory may be able to recite the words over and over, but they may not have heard God’s speaking at all. Hearing God’s speaking is an altogether different matter. Brothers and sisters, God’s word is not just a doctrine or a teaching. We need to hear the doctrine and the teaching, but in addition to hearing these things, we need to hear something else. We need to hear God’s personal speaking to us. Only after we have acquired that kind of hearing can we say, “Thank God, I have heard Your word.” Only then can we say that we have touched something real.
Suppose one hundred people listen to the gospel. Ninety-nine may hear and understand everything that is said. They may know the doctrine, the teaching, and the truth. They may nod their heads and say, “Yes, yes.” All ninety-nine may know these things, but it is possible that only the hundredth one, the one apart from the ninety-nine, receives a teaching beyond the teaching that the others receive, hears a voice beyond the voice that the others hear, and grasps a word beyond the word that the others grasp. He hears God’s speaking in addition to hearing the teaching, and he bows his head and confesses, “I am a sinner. O God, save me.” Such a man has heard God’s word. The other ninety-nine have only touched things related to the human and physical aspect of the word; they have not heard God’s word. There is a fundamental difference between the two.
The same thing can be said about reading the Bible. It is true that the Bible is God’s word. At one time God spoke to Paul, Peter, and John through this word. But when some read this word, they only find words, expressions, doctrines, truths, and teachings. They have everything except God’s speaking. They can read the Bible for ten years without God having spoken to them once. Brothers and sisters, have you ever heard someone testify, saying, “I have been reading the Bible for twenty years, but I still do not understand what it is saying”? Have you ever heard someone stand up and say, “I have been reading the Bible for five or ten years. I thought I knew everything about it. But one day, God was merciful to me. He spoke a word to me. Now I know that I did not know anything before”? Brothers and sisters, an experienced person can readily tell the difference between these two. One must have God’s word in addition to man’s word. In addition to man’s speaking, there must also be God’s speaking. If God does not open His mouth, nothing will avail. These are two entirely different realms. One is the realm of doctrines, truths, teachings, words, language, and expressions. In this realm anyone who is diligent and intelligent, who has a good mind and a sharp memory, can get by well. But in the other realm, God has to reiterate His word to men. Brothers and sisters, do you see the difference between the two? God has spoken, and the words He has spoken are recorded verbatim in the Bible. But God also can speak to men a second time through the words of the Bible. This is what we call God’s speaking today. God has to speak to us a second time through the words He once used. He has to enlighten us a second time through His revealed light. He has to grant us fresh revelation within His established revelation. This is the basic principle of the ministry of the word. Without this we do not have the ministry of the word.
Lest some among us do not understand the relationship between the Scripture and God’s present revelation, I will use another illustration. Suppose you realize that God once used you to speak something for Him. It might not have been anything dramatic, but at least you can say that you had a definite sense that the Lord spoke something through you; there was definitely a special kind of speaking. Suppose two months later you encounter a similar situation. You face the same kind of people, and the same kind of need arises. You may feel that what you said two months ago is the most appropriate word for these people today. You may have great assurance that you can help them in this way. But when you spoke two months ago, the anointing of the Spirit was with the word. When you repeat the same word today, however, you feel that you have failed. The power in the word is gone. What is wrong? Since you are speaking the same words that were so full of anointing, you think that the Holy Spirit will surely continue to anoint your word. But this does not happen. The Holy Spirit may have anointed your word at one time, but this does not mean that He will anoint it whenever you speak the same thing.
We must remember that a man can receive a word of revelation. But this does not mean that it will be a word of revelation whenever he speaks the same word. The words may still be there, but the revelation may be gone. We can repeat the word, but we cannot repeat the revelation and the anointing. Revelation and anointing are in God’s hand. We can only repeat and recall the words; we cannot repeat or recall the revelation. We have to see the relationship between the ministry of the word and the Scriptures, or the relationship between the Bible and the word. A sinner may come to us today. If we speak John 3:16, he may readily confess that he is a sinner. A little later another person may come to us. We may be in the same room and quote the same verse, but the Holy Spirit may not speak, and the second person may not be saved. John 3:16 has not changed. The question is whether or not the anointing and the revelation are still present.