Revelation

I started today picking up from where I last left reading and taking notes from Francis Schaeffer's The God Who is There. Last time, after reading, I left myself with a few questions:

-What does the Bible say about Revelation?
      Specifically divine revelation versus the application of human reason.
-What does the Bible say about the philosophically defined elements?
      As I found them defined: Existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language
      addressed through critical and systematic approaches with a heavy reliance on rational
      argument. The word philosophy came from the greek word philosophia, which literally
      means love of wisdom.
-What does the Bible say about wisdom?

So I thought I would pick it up here and look at what the Bible had to say about Revelation. It happens to be mentioned 12 time in 12 versus, all of which are in the New Testament. I found a few that held relevance to what I had been thinking about.

Romans 16:25
      .... According to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. To God only wise, be the glory through Jesus Christ for ever, Amen.

My initial response to this is that everything has now been revealed to us, as it has been manifested (proven by the existence of Jesus Christ). It has been revealed in order that wisdom (credited to God, not us) may bring glory to Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:17
       That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of him.

My initial response to this is that as the Father of Glory, glory comes from Him and is not possible outside of Him (or His son). He gifts us the spirit of wisdom and revelation (the Holy Spirit), meaning we need wisdom and revelation in order to know God, but they can only be given through the Holy Spirit.

To synthesize these two versus, as I understand it, means that through God there is Revelation, which begins and ends with His son, Jesus Christ, and can only be understood through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, whether you start with wisdom or revelation, they are seen as inseparable parts of a whole. The more you understand revelation given to us, the more wisdom you have, but on the other side, as more is revealed, the more we can understand. So to say that God's revelation has been made known to all nations, his revelation being His son, Jesus Christ, means that as we are guided by the Holy Spirit to learn and grow in the spirit of wisdom and revelation to better understand our relationship with God. The more that we understand about where we stand in relation to God, the more we believe and it therefore become more obedient in our faith.

2 Corinthians 12
    This chapter had some interesting things to say about revelation and Paul's struggle with it. I think it is a reminder of how easy it is for Satan to turn even Godly wisdom around on us. To either mislead us or put thoughts of our own glory in our hearts. This was something else I noticed in the Ephesians verse where there was an emphasis on God being the Father of Glory. I think this is incredibly important as we need to daily remind ourselves that the things we do are done so with ability given by God and that those abilities are given to us with the intent of returning glory to Him.

In trying to understand this, I've tried to think of a relatable situation.

Imagine that you love someone so much that you want to give them the understanding of who you are at your core. Essentially letting them into your heart and giving them the ability to enter an intimate relationship with you. But rather than do this, they take that gift and run the other way. Not only spurning you and your gift, but also using that gift to become close and intimate with someone else.

I do not want to presume to know God and His feelings, but for some reason this is how I see Him feeling when we seek fulfillment in this world or ourselves. When we take his gifts and use them to bring glory to ourselves.
 I can not imagine what it would feel like to give someone a gift that represented me at the core, essentially offering my heart and then having that turned around and used as a way to move away from me.