2 Corinthians 12:1–6:
“It is necessary to go on boasting, though it is not profitable; I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this man (whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak. On behalf of such an individual I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except about my weaknesses. For even if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be telling the truth, but I refrain from this, so that no one may regard me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me.”
I want to begin talking about this passage verse by verse. I’m going to start from verse 1, which will be my focus today.
Paul wrote, “It is necessary to go on boasting, though it is not profitable; I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.”
The first thing I want us to keep sharp in our minds is that Paul did not assume that just because something is a vision or a revelation, it is from the Lord.
We tend to make that assumption, right? That once I see this vision, it is definitely from God, then I’m supposed to… what? What are you supposed to do? Run your life based on that, fight everyone who does not line up with that vision or revelation? But he said, “I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.”
Visions are obviously pictures you see, in whatever format they come. It may be a vision of the night, it may be a dream, it may be trances—something like what was shown to Peter (Acts 10:9–17). It may be all manner of things. And revelation could be ideas and thoughts that you feel, “Oh, this is not coming from me. This is like a direction.”
Paul said, “I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.” We must not assume that if it is a vision and it is a revelation, it is from the Lord. We cannot do that.
Therefore, we cannot just be trapped by people who come up with stories and stories and stories of what they have seen, what they have not seen, and let that corrupt our reasoning, because remember, Paul wrote in the book of Colossians that some people go on and on about what they have supposedly seen (Colossians 2:18).
And he is not begrudging them the fact that they probably saw something or heard something or had that experience; he is saying you are not under obligation to be trapped by it. You are not under an obligation to be roped into what they have supposedly seen. You do not have to do that, and specifically, we need to be warned.
He was warning them that those who go on and on about what they have supposedly seen “have not held fast to the Head,” Christ (Colossians 2:19).
The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith” (Hebrews 10:38), so they can move your faith away from focusing on the unseen to make you now dwell on what they have supposedly seen, and that will consume you because those things are attractive.
And Paul is saying, visions and revelations are very attractive. “I’ve seen this, I went to this heaven, I went to this planet, I went to this place.” Paul said, “Though it is not profitable.” This is very interesting, right? It is like, “I am being forced to do this. You are challenging my apostleship, and it is like you are forcing me to want to go into what makes me stand out more than all these other people. You want me to prove myself,” and he is saying it is not profitable. It is not helpful. It is not good. “I’ve seen, I’ve seen, I’ve seen, I’ve seen. I’ve heard, I’ve heard, I’ve heard, I’ve heard. I saw, I saw.”
It is not good. Let the people’s faith be built not on what you have supposedly seen, but on the word of God. Let it be built on the word of God (Romans 10:17). Let it be built on the truth of God’s word.
He said, “Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.”
I do not care who you are or what mountains you have climbed. I do not care how many “millions of days” of fasting you fasted, and you said you saw that thing at the end of it. I do not care. You probably did not fast as much as Paul. But listen to me: that revelation, that direction, that thing you are hearing—“I heard it after fasting. I heard it after praying in tongues for a thousand hours,”—it does not matter. They may not be from the Lord.
That is the truth.
God bless you.