There are no new public divine revelations after the definitive revelation given through Jesus Christ and His apostles.
This one crucial theological point decisively refutes the claims of Islam, Mormonism, charismatic movements, Seventh-day Adventists, and all the idiotic mega-churches who have embraced charismaticism.
The central argument is straightforward:
The foundation for this understanding lies within the Old Testament itself. Deuteronomy 13 and Deuteronomy 18 establish the fundamental principle that any subsequent claim of prophethood or divine revelation must be consistent with prior revelation.
A new revelation cannot contradict or discard what has already been established.
The New Testament does not deviate from this principle; instead, it demonstrates a profound continuity and fulfillment of the Old Testament. The apologetic of the New Testament is concerned with illustrating how the law and the prophets find their purpose and completion in the first advent of Jesus Christ. The work of the cross fulfils the animal sacrifices and ceremonial laws, and the promised land serves as a type of the church.
The Exile in the wilderness prefigures our rest in Christ, as detailed in Hebrews 4, and the high priest entering the Holy of Holies foreshadows Jesus' ascension into the heavenly temple.
The error of Dispensationalism and charismaticism lies in their tendency to postpone this fulfilment to the eschaton, despite clear New Testament evidence that the fulfilment began with Christ's first coming. Passages such as Matthew 21, where the kingdom is taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles, highlight the establishment of a primarily Gentile church, a fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophecies like Isaiah 2. Daniel 9 further clarifies the timing of the Messiah's arrival, stating that upon his being "cut off," eternal righteousness would be brought in and the temple system would end.
To postpone the fulfilment of Daniel 9 to the end of the world, as dispensationalists do, is to misunderstand its clear prediction of Christ's first advent. The very concept of a premillennial kingdom set up in Israel is a misinterpretation of the present reality of Christ's reign, which began at His ascension. The references to sitting at God's right hand until His enemies become His footstool, found throughout the New Testament, pertain to the ascension, not solely to a future eschatological event. Entry into this kingdom occurs through Baptism.
Furthermore, Zechariah 13 explicitly promises an end to the office of the prophet in the messianic era, which commenced with the first advent. In this era, anyone claiming to be a prophet will face spiritual rejection, symbolised by their own parents denying them. They will no longer adopt the attire of the Old Testament prophets like Saint John the Baptist or Elijah but will instead identify as ordinary labourers, akin to the apostles, who are the vineyard workers of the New Testament.
Jesus Himself marks John the Baptist as the terminus of the Old Testament prophetic order. The statement "the law and the prophets were until John" signifies a distinct shift. The kingdom of God is now being preached, and people are pressing into it, directly contradicting the dispensationalist view that postpones the kingdom to the end of the world. The kingdom is within us, through the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the three Old Testament offices: prophet, priest, and king.
While divine revelation continued during the transition period following Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension, as evidenced by the gift of prophecy in the book of Acts (e.g., Agabus), this period culminated in the final and complete public divine revelation.
This finality is underscored by the apostolic teaching, both written and oral. Peter refers to the preached word as the word of God, and Paul's extensive oral teaching in Ephesus demonstrates the significance of the apostolic deposit of faith. Jude 3 definitively states that the faith was "once for all delivered to the saints," indicating a completed body of public divine revelation during the apostolic age. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, a fulfilment of Joel's prophecy, was a specific event related to the first advent and the establishment of the church, not an ongoing mandate for identical charismatic manifestations.
Paul's instruction to judge any purported divine communication based on what he had already delivered necessitates a fixed and final public divine revelation.
Providentially, the book of Revelation serves as the final book of the written divine revelation, explicitly warning against adding to or taking away from its contents. This further underscores the finality of public divine revelation.
Historically, the early church immediately recognised and condemned claims of ongoing public divine revelation. In the mid to late 2nd century, Montanus founded a sect known as the "New Revelation," claiming to be the voice of the Holy Spirit and exhibiting spontaneous prophesying, possibly even glossolalia, and including female prophets. This Montanist Heresy was swiftly condemned by the Orthodox Catholic Church, highlighting the early understanding of the cessation of new public divine revelation.
While the Orthodox Church acknowledges the possibility of miracles and spiritual gifts like clairvoyance, these are distinct from the "faith once for all delivered" and do not constitute new public divine revelation. Tragically, the modern Roman Catholic Church, despite technically acknowledging the finality of divine revelation, has embraced Charismaticism from the papacy downwards, exemplified by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the giving of Communion to a confessed Protestant charismatic leader. This places them outside the consistent historical understanding held by the Orthodox Church, which has always opposed charismatic nonsense.
Therefore, any religious group that posits ongoing new public divine revelation directly contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture and the consistent understanding of the early church. The definitive revelation has been given, and there is no further public divine revelation to be expected or accepted.