Fall 1988
With Vision comes Responsibility
Jim Palumbo
Pinecrest Graduate

Revelation is God's supernatural disclosure of Himself. From this, we understand that initially the person and nature of God are hidden. And, they are hidden for a reason.

The primary reason for this is that the person of God is costly and precious. Portions of a revelation of God are not hastily gained. Therefore, vision and revelation carry a price. These are not intended to be an end in themselves. Instead, the ultimate purpose is to draw man into God, and to burn into his being the nature and character of God.

Saul of Tarsus, while on the road to Damascus, saw a vision of Jesus who spoke to him saying, "But arise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister, and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee" Acts 26:16. Later, Paul declared to King Agrippa, "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision" Acts 26:19. One of the things that Paul had come to understand was, "With vision comes responsibility." REVELATION DEMANDS REALITY.

The key in this word of Jesus to Paul is "make". Paul was not called just to preach sermons, or to parrot the things that he heard, or even to speak from the understanding that he had of the Scriptures. He was called to "be".

Paul was to enter into a state of "being" a minister and a witness. The method by which this was to be accomplished was through his being "obedient to the heavenly vision." He was to allow the revelation he had received to become a personal reality in his life.

Since revelation is God's disclosure of Himself, then we must not allow itto become an end in itself, simply amassing to ourselves great amounts of information about God. Instead, we should allow every increase in vision to bring an increase in our stature. Each precious facet of the Lord’s character that is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit is to become substance and reality in our lives.

Peter gives us a simple object lesson concerning this. Peter "saw" a great sheet let down from heaven, "Wherein were all manner of four footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And thevoice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that callnot thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven" Acts 10:12-16.

Many of the Jewish Christians of that time believed that the Gospel was for the Jew only and not for Gentiles. Peter, being a Jew was of that persuasion. Peter explains the meaning of the vision later saying, "God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean".

From this vision, Peter understood that all men were to have an equal opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel, Gentile as well as Jew. Later, Paul said "But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed" Galatians 2:11.

Peter had been eating with the Gentiles, but when some Jews came by, Peter jumped up and pretended not to be eating with them. He had seen and understood the vision, but it had not become a part of him. We must allow the Holy Spirit to cause our visions and revelations to become more than mere information. We must allow them to become a part of the fiber of our being. They should so change us that we will become dynamically effective as a witness in this world.

When the Philistines captured the Ark, those who touched it were not smitten, but when Uzzah, a good man, with good intentions touched it he was struck dead. Why? Because Uzzah knew better, the Philistines did not. Uzzah was held accountable for his understanding.

When I reflect on the revelation and understanding that I have about God, I must remember that:

With Vision Comes Responsibility
Revelation Demands Reality.