Unquestioned Revelation
And on that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. John 16:23 NASB
On that day – I read Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest daily for many years. My copy is thread worn and filled with personal notes. The title of this edition of Today’s Word comes from the book’s interpretation of this verse on May 28. Years ago I highlighted two passages:
“You have to come to the place of entire reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus which brings you into perfect contact with the purpose of God.”
“When once your disposition is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, the understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will be to the place where there is no distance between the Father and His child because the Lord has made you one, and ‘in that day ye shall ask Me no question.””
Chamber’s application of this verse bothered me every time I read it. It didn’t bother me because the exegesis was wrong (although we will soon talk about that). It bothered me because it implied that as long as I have questions, there’s something wrong with my relationship with God. Chambers basically says that when I reach the point where I am truly one with Jesus, I won’t have any more questions to ask. His advice is that “if anything is a mystery to you and it is coming between you and God, never look for an explanation in your intellect, look for it in your disposition.” He’s suggesting that the relationship with God isn’t a matter of understanding. It’s a matter of heart attitude. If you’re really in the right place with God, all those intellectual inquiries won’t matter.
A lot of religion is based on this idea. In fact, all those times I’ve heard, “Well, God’s ways are higher than our ways,” or “The purposes of God are a mystery to the unsaved,” I’ve encountered this anti-intellectual bias. Os Guinness wrote about evangelicals with fit bodies and fat minds (or was it the other way around?). There is this stream in Christianity that eschews thinking, probing, and investigating as if doing so is really challenging the “Spirit.” The proper religious attitude is “Shut up and accept it,” to put it crassly. But as far as I can tell from years of reading Scripture, this isn’t God’s view at all. In fact, it leads to dogmatic religion, not dynamic faith.
Furthermore, the verse doesn’t say what Chambers wants it to say about questioning. The context is not universal. Yeshua is specifically addressing the concern of his disciples when he drops hints about the crucifixion. “On that day” is not any day. It’s the day that he will be gone (temporarily) when he is dead. His statement about going to the Father confuses them. He notices, and reassures them that after it’s all over—after his resurrection—they won’t have any more questions about this. He doesn’t say they will never have another question. This particular time of uncertainty and confusion will be finished. That’s it. No application to a general state of “unquestioning revelation” is implied. Chambers is writing doctrine, not exegesis. As long as you recognize this, you can appreciate what he writes. Just don’t think it’s exegesis.
Topical Index: Oswald Chambers, questioning, revelation, John 16:23
