The distinction between revelation and inspiration is seen in David's last words (2 Sam. 23). In verse 2 David said, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me". This is inspiration. God's word was in his tongue. Then David said in verse 3, "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me". This is revelation, God revealing His mind to His servant. David was both the vessel of revelation and the instrument of inspiration.
Inspiration is not necessarily the conveyance of divine revelation. For example, we have by inspiration the very words that the rebellious Cain spoke to God, words of falsehood and insolence. The inspiration consists in the control of the instrument chosen by the Spirit of God in the communication of that which God desires to convey to His people. Because of this divine control we can rely on all that God has given to us in the Holy Scriptures.
There are divine revelations given by inspiration that the prophets, who were the Spirit's instruments, could not understand. The Apostle Peter, writing by inspiration, tells us this. It is not difficult for us to apprehend that Isaiah found it impossible to understand such parts of his writings as the last three verses of Isaiah 52, and Isaiah 53. These spake of the "sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" (1 Peter 1:11). Nor could David enter into the meaning of Psalm 21, which spoke of the sufferings of the Son of God. It was the Spirit of Christ in David that gave utterance to these amazing prophecies.
In 1 Corinthians 2 the Apostle Paul writes of things "which God ordained before the world unto our glory … things which God hath prepared for those that love Him" (1 Cor. 2:7-9). Of these wonderful things Paul says, "God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:10). Here is the truth of divine revelation regarding Christian blessings. Not only have these great blessings been revealed to us, but they have also been communicated to us by divine inspiration in the Holy Scriptures, even as the Apostle writes, "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth" (1 Cor. 2:13). Paul was the vessel to whom the divine revelations were given, and he was also the instrument chosen by the Holy Spirit to communicate the revelations by His inspiration.
Wm. C. Reid.