The Word ‘Revelation’ Simply Means A ‘Revealing’; It Is The Unveiling Of Something Previously Hidden So That It May Be Seen For What It Truly Is

BIBLE DOCTRINE I LECTURE 3 BIBLIOLOGY: REVELATION

The word ‘revelation’ simply means a ‘revealing’; it is the unveiling of something previously hidden so that it may be seen for what it truly is. The Greek word translated “revelation” is apokalupsis, which means an uncovering. In Theology, revelation is applied to God’s revealing of Himself to mankind. Without this revelation, we wouldn’t know anything about God. It is important to firmly believe God indeed desires to make Himself known to man, to you, and is trying to do that even right this very minute.

General Revelation: the knowledge of God that is derived from observing ‘natural things’: 1. Creation Ps 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Acts 14:17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Rom 1:18-20 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

2. History Ps 9:16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

3. Conscience Rom 2:14-15 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

It bears witness to the existence of God, the power of God, and the need for God. It has limitations, though. It does not specifically explain each and every general truth that is observed. There is a need for more explanation (special revelation). God’s specific plan of salvation, the truth about the church, about baptism, about sanctification, etc., all need to be explained, even introduced, in a more detailed venue than ‘general revelation’.

Special Revelation: the direct intervention of God in the affairs of this world; it is God revealing Himself through special acts done by His Person. It can/has come through a variety of means: 1. Dreams Gen 37:5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 2. Visions Dan 8:1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. 3. Urim and Thummin Num 27:21 And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. 4. Audible voice 1 Sam 3:1,8 And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. 5. Animals Num 22:28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? 6. Angels Luke 1:26-28 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

The ultimate in God’s special revelation of Himself to mankind was/is in the coming to earth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Living Word, the Word of God, the Word. John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1 Rev 1:1-2 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Heb 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Heb 2:1-4 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

The summation of God’s special revelation of Himself to mankind is the ‘Bible’, the written word, the Holy Scriptures. Rom 16:25-26 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: Eph 3:3-4 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

General and Special Revelation is revealed to us by the Spirit of God: 1 Cor 2:9-16 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

There are some things though that are not revealed to us by God; we only have a small portion of what will some day be revealed to us when we are with Him in Heaven. Deut 29:29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. 1 Thess 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

General Revelation makes it blatantly obvious that there is a Creator, and that this Creator is benevolent, and that this benevolent Creator judges sin, and that this benevolent Creator that judges sin also seeks to redeem man from this judgement and wants to have a restored relationship with mankind. Mankind should be drawn to this God and seek to have a relationship with Him. He will then seek out more truth about this benevolent God. And, then, God will send the truth to Him….i.e. special revelation.

2 Even if this man is in deepest, darkest Africa, far from any Christian or any Bible, God will direct this man to the truth. He will find this truth through either reading the words of the Bible, or someone telling him these words, these truths of the Bible. General Revelation (i.e. Creation, etc.) is presented by God so that every human (of age and ability) is without excuse regarding the existance of God; and that this God is benevolent, judges sin, and wants to have a relationship with them. By this ‘revelation’, man is then faced with the decision to either pursue God, or to attempt to ignore God. If he wants to pursue God, the Word of God (special revelation) is there to give him all the information that he ‘needs’ about God and His plan for mankind. Sadly, most deceive themselves that there is no God; and the few that agree that there is indeed a God, don’t do much pursuing of God. They figure that they ‘know enough’ and that everything is going to work out fine. Special revelation is not forced upon them; they can refuse to view it (or hear it); they can convince themselves that it is debatable, partially true, a nice story, a philosophy, etc..

[The following 4 paragraphs are taken from David Cloud’s ebook “Attention to Doctrine”] It is interesting to see that man knew a great many spiritual truths in the earliest days after the Fall before the Bible began to be formed. Ac. 3:21 and Lk. 11:50 tell us there have always been prophets of the Lord to warn and instruct men. By considering several other Bible verses we can learn quite a lot about just what God’s people knew in olden times.

Salvation: They had revelation of substitutionary salvation. Abel’s offering proves this. Abel was a prophet (Lk. 11:50,51) and offered by faith (He. 11:4). This means he offered according to God’s Word, because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Ro. 10:17). Savior: They had revelation of the Redeemer who would come to the earth in the last days (Lk. 1:68-70). Job probably lived in the days before Abraham, and he knew about the coming Savior (Job 19:25). Resurrection: They had revelation of resurrection (Job 19:26,27). Second Coming. They had revelation of God coming to judge wicked men. Enoch prophesied of this great truth (Jude 14,15), and he was Noah’s great grandfather (Ge. 5:21-32).

We have seen that God has always spoken to men in great detail about salvation and future things. The world is in darkness today only because most men have consistently ignored the prophets of God. Cain ignored Abel. The people of Enoch’s day ignored him. Noah’s message was ignored. Most of Noah’s grandchildren rejected the truth which had been taught by their fathers. Israel rejected its prophets. Most people today are rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ which has been preached to the ends of the earth for almost 2,000 years. For example, most parts of Asia today are in gross heathenism, but the reason lies in the historical rejection of the Gospel by Asian peoples. The first foreign missionary work took place in western Asia by the Apostle Paul. A strong tradition says the Apostle Thomas carried the Gospel to India and other parts of South Asia in the first century. Their message was largely rejected by Asian people, and today the offspring of those Christ-rejecters continue to live in darkness and lies. It is not because God has not tried to give light! God has made every attempt to fill the world with light and is endeavoring to do so today through the Great Commission, but men love darkness rather than the light (Jer. 7:25, 26; 25:4; Jn. 3:19).

In fulfillment of Christ’s promise the New Testament revelation was completed by the Apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The apostolic writings which formed the New Testament Scriptures were accepted as Scripture by the first century churches. The Apostle Peter, speaking to the Christians about Paul’s writings, referred to them as Scripture and placed them on par with the Old Testament prophets (2 Pe. 3:15,16). The Apostles knew that the Lord had promised them inspiration (Jn. 16:12-15), and they knew that they were receiving revelation. Consider, for example, Paul’s statement to the churches in Galatia (Ga. 1:11,12). Consider the words of Paul to the church at Thessalonica (1 Th. 2:13). The Thessalonian believers knew that Paul had given them the Word of God!

Revelation or ‘Evilation’? Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

3 2 Peter 3:15-18 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

The real competition for the Bible comes in Western thought, where we find that many philosophies seek to replace it. (Modernism or theological rationalism began in the 1800s in Germany and quickly spread to England and America. It applied the theory of evolution to the Bible. Though modernism has taken a bewildering variety of forms, at its heart, modernism claims that the Bible is not God’s revelation to man but is merely the record of man’s search for God. The miracles of the Bible are considered myths (i.e., crossing Red Sea, Jonah, the virgin birth). The modernists have especially attacked the first five books of the Bible. This is understandable. If the history and inspiration of the Pentateuch is questionable, the rest of the Bible automatically falls.)(D. Cloud) Deism denies revelation, in favor of natural law and scientific discovery. (The neo-Aristotelian philosophers of the medieval era held that revelation was the discovery of absolute truths about God, man, and man's place in God's universe, as discovered through logical philosophical inquiry. A prophet's connection to God was held to be the only way that a person could reach such a state of pure reason)(Wikipedia). Liberal theology denies any supernatural, inspired word revelation in favor of human experience, learned by education and scientific discovery. Schleiermacher held for the learning of the truth of God's will through "feelings". Existential theology, which has flourished greatly within our own century, denies prepositional, word revelation in favor of an "irrationalism", or non-reasoned knowledge of religious truth, which comes in a private existential "encounter", but which contains no prepositional, cognitive information or message that can be communicated to someone else. It is totally subjective. A related theology, called Salvation-History holds that real, factual revelation from God has been given in the events of history, but that the Bible is only a fallible, errant, human record of those revelatory historical events. It is not to be trusted in its statements and concepts, and the meaning of the events is learned through existential, subjective insights. [www.bible.ca/islam John Hurt]

There are continuing revelations (so-called) of Mary, of angels, of spirit-guides, of ‘prophets’, etc., etc.. Go into a Christian bookstore (or don’t go in) and you will find many ‘bestsellers’ that deal with ‘God speaking to me’. God does speak to us, but it is definitely not to be regarded (necessarily) as Holy Scripture….and not to be put into a book and sold to millions!

1 Cor 14:6, 26 Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

LDS revelation: This denomination claims that the president of the church receives revelation directly from God for the direction of the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and some other Latter Day Saint denominations claim to be led by revelation from God to a living prophet, who receives God’s word, just as Abraham, Moses, other ancient prophets and apostles did. Latter-day Saints believe in an open scriptural canon, and in addition to the Bible and the Book of Mormon, have books of scripture containing the revelations of modern-day prophets such as the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. LDS Church leaders (from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) have taught during the Church's General Conferences that conference talks which are "…[spoken as] moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture…".[10] In addition, many Mormons believe that ancient prophets in other regions of the world received revelations that resulted in additional scriptures that have been lost and may, one day, be forthcoming. Hence, the belief in continuing revelation.

Muslim revelation: Divine revelation plays a very important role in the Islamic faith. While religious books of most faiths acknowledge their human author's contribution to the divine text, the Qur'an claims to have been revealed word by word and letter by letter. Muslims believe that God revealed his final message to humanity through Muhammad ibn Abdullah (c. 570 - July 6, 632) via the angel Gabriel.[13] Muhammad is considered to have been God's final prophet. Muhammad's revelations form the holy book of Islam, the Qur'an. The Qur'an is believed by Muslims to be the flawless final revelation of God to humanity, valid until the day of the Resurrection (Qiyamah).

2 Cor 12:1,7 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

4 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.