John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.

John 3:27

The Spirit of Revelation was Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:8, that God might grant it unto His people.  Jesus operated by a Spirit of Revelation, through the ministering of angelic messengers (John 1:51, Luke 22:43, Luke 2:9, Mark 1:13).  By way of revelation, because it is the revelation that makes it known to be followed, Jesus did only what He saw His father doing (Luke 5:19), and He spoke only what the Father gave Him to say (Luke 14:24).  Jesus was not a “free” man unto Himself, He waited for His proper timing in everything, whereas for other people, any time was acceptable (John 7:6).  In short, Jesus was a solder.  He was a man under authority with others under Him (Matthew 8:9 — think angels, which is the only possible explanation of this passage in context with the Centurion to whose house Jesus never went).  He didn’t operate as His own agent, but only out of the place of revelation to be about the business of His Father.

Not only did Jesus Himself operate in revelation, it was so important, that John the Apostle said that testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy (Revelation 19:10).  It was by revelation, by means of a vision, that John received the last book of the New Testament, and revelation is a key factor in all of the books in between there and the Gospels.  For, it was by revelation that Paul received all His great insights (Galatians 1:12).

Today, we have the scriptures, and we do not endeavor to establish new doctrine, but we continue in the faith of our forefathers, those who have gone before, and continue in the word of prophecy.

 As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the LORD: My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring, says the LORD, from now and forever.

Isaiah 59:21 (emphasis added)

From now and forever indicates that it is not for two generations or three, but for everlasting.  This is the covenant that God has put in our hearts.  Further, God has through the apostle Paul, after quoting the Old Testament saying that no eye had seen nor ear heard what God had prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9), Paul immediately follows, and completes this thought in the New Testament understanding with the following verse.

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

1 Corinthians 2:10

It is God’s desire to both share His Spirit with us and also His secrets (Psalm 25:14).

John the Baptist received His ministry through revelation by a spirit, an angel.

I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

John 1:33

And, Peter was commended and qualified because He had heard directly from Heaven, and not from men.

 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 16:17

So monumental was this revelation of Peter’s to Jesus that it was from this point that Jesus began to talk about building His church.  It was on this rock, the man with the revelation, that would withstand the gates of hell.

Even throughout Paul’s ministry, he both received information from the Holy Spirit directly, and from ministering spirits, angels, such as when the angel of the Lord stood by him in the night on the ship (Acts 27:23).  Even in the midst of the life lived in the Holy Spirit, the Lord continues to use angels to be His messengers.

It is of course, in this context, that Paul warned of the enemy’s behavior…

No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15

Many people have misread this as saying that an angel of light is a wicked thing.  Quite the contrary.  The key word here is “disguises”.  The enemy disguises himself as one, in the same way that the enemy’s servants disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness.  If an “angel of light” is a wicked thing, then so too must “servants of righteousness” be wicked as well.  Of course not!  The enemy pretends to be something good in order to deceive.

How else would Paul give his instructions in the epistle to the Galatians?

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16, 25

Jesus’s desire, the Father’s desire, is that we live as Jesus did, every moment consumed and led by His Spirit.  It is in this context that Jesus can say that the least in the Kingdom is the one that breaks the least command and teaches others to do so (Matthew 5:19).  In order to do this, one must live by something other than His Spirit.  Since the Kingdom of God consists entirely in the realm of the Holy Spirit, it would follow that in choosing to not live by His Spirit, you are choosing to live by some other thing else, and in the degree that you do and teach others to as well, you are the least in His Kingdom.

But, if we chose to hear His words, and live by them, obeying our master, He says that we have built upon His foundation, and we what we do will last.  Since no one can pick any good thing from any other source other than the Spirit of God (Matthew 7:17), anything but that which comes from Him is loss.