God's Self-revelation

by HYLAND, D. T. | Category: The Holy Scriptures | Apr 1980

God is almighty and omniscient; His thoughts are on a higher plane than those of men, for He said to Israel through the prophet Isaiah, "As the heavens are. higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:9). Apart from divine revelation, man is completely out of his depth when attempting to investigate spiritual truth. Job's friend posed the question, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" (Job 11:7). Until the Creator discloses Himself, He is inaccessible to His creatures. The initiative is God's and He chooses the medium of revelation. In His own time and way God illuminates the darkened minds of men. Man is first of all a recipient of God's self-revelation, and then under the guidance of the Spirit of God he may become a channel of revelation to others.

The possibility of a divine self-revelation has been questioned and even denied. How can the infinite communicate with the finite? Can human language be the vehicle for the expression of thoughts which originate in the mind of Deity? The problems posed in these questions are of man's making, for to doubt the possibility of divine revelation is to imply a limit to God's power. But God is omnipotent; as the Creator He knows what man is capable of receiving and acting on. In His loving wisdom God can find ways of revealing Himself and communicating His will.

Some critics have stated that there is no such thing as verbal or recorded revealed truth. God reveals Himself in acts, they say. This is of course true, but they go on to deny that Scripture is God's self-revelation. The Bible, they claim, is the record of man's understanding of the significance of the acts of God. According to this view the Bible is not revelation and has not the authority of absolute truth. Each generation, they say, must make its own assessment of the worth of Scripture. They erroneously teach that, like all man's works, the Bible is fallible and inaccurate.

Scripture teaches that God reveals Himself in His mighty works and redemptive acts but God does not leave men to guess the significance of His actions. The oral and written messages of prophets and apostles illuminate the significance of divine acts for Scripture is God's verbal revelation.

Before the Fall there was no barrier to communion between man and his Creator. The environment in which the first pair was placed bore eloquent testimony to the Creator's power and wisdom, and creation still declares

God's glory: how much more the uncursed earth into which sin had not entered! But the man also received a verbal revelation. "The LORD God commanded the man saying..." (Gen. 2:16). The man and his wife were accustomed to hearing "the voice of the LORD God... in the cool of the day" (Gen. 3:8). When Adam disobeyed the command of God, sin intruded into his life and affected his relationship with God. Since the Fall, God's self-revelation has in view man's redemption and restoration to fellowship with Himself. In revelation God works to bring men back to Himself and prepare them for service in this life and for life in the world to come.

After the Fall there were men to whom God revealed Himself in a special way. Enoch "walked with God"; Abraham became "the friend of God"; God spoke with Moses "face to face". God revealed Himself through His servants the prophets; the visions and oracles they received were to be announced. They were to be declared so that God's will could be known and done. They had authority to preface their oral messages with, "thus saith the LORD". When, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, they committed their messages to writing, they conveyed a revelation from God which will remain for ever. Amos was aware that he was a channel of divine revelation. "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). Moreover, there were occasions when the prophets realized that the full significance of what they wrote would be revealed to a future generation (1 Pet. 1:10-12).

Since God's purposes in revelation are progressive, divine truth has not been disclosed all at once. Revelation through the prophets was partial and intermittent but it was moving towards a climax: "When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son" (Gal. 4:4). God's purposes in revelation reach finality in the Word Incarnate, the Son of God who has revealed and declared the Father. The person and work of Christ and apostolic testimony to Him in the New Testament are God's final words to men.

There are theologians who say that the only material in Scripture that is revelational is that which deals with the spiritual life of man. They teach that the Bible is only revelation when it does not touch on history or the material universe. But if the Bible is not reliable in what it says about the material universe, is it likely to be reliable in what it says about man's relationship to God? The Bible has a great deal to say about the life of man in the world to come. It is totally inconsistent to concede that this is revelation and yet challenge the accuracy of those parts of Scripture which deal with historical matters. The Bible is revelational on whatever matters it touches.

Now, divinely disclosed truth demands a response from man. The reception of a divine revelation makes men accountable, for increased light

brings increased responsibility. Divine enlightenment places obligations on man to respond in obedience. Thus when the prophet Micah was revealing God's will for His people he made it clear that God requires a response. "What doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Mic. 6:8).

Scripture is "God's word written" and men should use all their ransomed powers to explore what God has been pleased to reveal. But in some areas of truth there comes a point beyond which enquiry is unprofitable. The truth of the incarnation is a case in point. There has been a great deal of speculation as to how Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit But when Mary heard the most astounding news that ever fell on human ears she asked but one question, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" (Luke 1:34). The reply, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee", was sufficient for Mary. She resigned herself to the will of God. We shall do well to leave the issue where Mary left it, for speculation where Scripture is silent is futile. As Moses said, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever (Deut. 29:29).

HYLAND, D. T. | Apr 1980
The Holy Scriptures