To mainstream christians, what event do you believe ended revelation?

Question

I'm talking about revelation through the prophets. So, Christ called His twelve, who were prophets, as their writings are kept in the bible. When Judas was killed, he was replaced, Paul at some point was called to be an apostle after Christ's ascension. Then around AD 70 it all stopped. I want to know what event caused that revelation through the prophets to cease. I also wouldn't mind knowing what event caused temple worship to cease around the same time.

I guess my real question is why would John have been the last apostle when Matthias replaced Judas and Paul clearly was added later on. Shouldn't there have been a continuing line of apostles?

Answer 1

Actually, the last OT-style Prophet died between 95 - 100 AD: the Apostle John, who recorded the Book of Revelation. I believe it was the death of the last Apostle that ended the OT-style of prophecy.

Thereafter, the gift of prophecy lived on through the Holy Spirit, which in-dwells all true believers. However, these NT prophets did not come with the same mission given to OT-style prophets. Instead, the NT prophet is highly in tune with God's will and able to encourage and rebuke a congregation according to how the Spirit directs him or her. For the most part, these prophets are not "fortunetellers," although some have accurately foretold events to come (Agabus, for example).

Answer 2

I do believe that there absolutely is a such thing as revelation, prophets and apostles today.

But I think you're referring to time preceding the dark ages, when it did seem to stop for a very long time. I don't think there was one event that suddenly stopped it here - it was more of a slow process of apostasy. The apostles and other faithful Christians being killed off is an obvious contributor, the political climate contributed, the blending of Christianity with other beliefs contributed (just to name a few). I'd suggest doing a search on "the great apostasy" to get more details on the exact "whens" and "whats" that caused all of that.

Thanks

Answer 3

The revelation centres on Jesus coming, ministry, passion and resurrection, so you'd expect the accounts to come from that time. Perhaps the Holy Spirit was also more mightily at work initially. I looked at Clement's epistles once, he was shortly after Paul if remember right, and you can see they are of a much lesser quality.

In current times..
It may be possible to receive revelations of problems to be encountered and directions, mainly in one's life and other believers' lives, but also perhaps very occasionally with regard to world events if one's relationship with God is good.

But the New Testament revelation of Jesus is pretty deep...
There are actually some staggering promises in the New Testament. The problem with these is not lack of revelation but believing the promises, eg
"In Christ all the fullness of the deity dwells in human form,
....and you have fullness in Christ".
If a christian renewed their thinking so they believed that they wouldn't be lacking wisdom, provision, anything required for their earthly task.
Its daft to the non-believer of course. Getting away from one's merely-natural thinking can be hard for many believers (I'm still struggling in this)

Answer 4

It actually all stopped around 90 AD....John on the island of Patmos.

We are in a period of silence now until Jesus comes back.

Answer 5

Prohecy has not ended. Shall I speak??

Answer 6

I second daisykristina's answer.