Revelation

The Nature and Terminology of Revelation

The God who knows and loves himself in the perfect happiness of the Trinity seeks to share his happiness with us by making himself an object of our knowledge and love. Revelation is central to the fulfillment of this divine quest. In revelation, God communicates something about himself, his purpose, his works, and his will to creatures with the aim of bringing those creatures into fellowship with himself. Revelation is a form of God’s communicative goodness, holiness, and love seeking the creature’s knowledge, love, and praise of him.

The Bible uses a wide variety of terms to describe God’s acts of revelation. God “makes known” (Neh. 9:14; Ps. 16:11; 25:4; 77:14; 103:7; John 15:15), “reveals” (Isa. 53:1; Dan. 2:21–22, 28; Matt. 11:25; Rom. 1:17–18; Eph. 3:4–5), “appears” (Gen. 35:9; Deut. 31:15; Titus 2:11, 13; 3:4), “shows” (Gen. 12:1; Matt. 16:21; Luke 24:40; John 5:20; 14:8–9; 20:20; Rev. 1:1), and “speaks” (Ex. 33:11; Lev. 25:1; Num. 1:1; Ps. 62:11–12; Amos 3:8; John 9:29; Heb. 1:1–4). Short of the beatific vision in heaven, divine speech constitutes the supreme form of God’s revelation (Num. 12:6–8; Deut. 4:12), the fullest expression of God’s being and purpose to pilgrims who have not yet arrived at their final resting place (John 1:1, 18; 1 Cor. 13:12).

The source of revelation is the triune God. Revelation, biblically conceived, is God’s self-revelation: God the Father revealing himself through God the Son by God the Holy Spirit. The content of revelation is God and all things in relation to him, with Jesus Christ standing at the center. The goals of revelation are to render God’s enemies inexcusable (Rom. 1:18–20), to bring elect sinners into his covenant friendship (Ps. 25:14; John 15:15; 1 John 1:3), and, ultimately, to manifest the riches of his glory (Deut. 5:24; John 1:14; Rom. 9:23; 2 Cor. 1:20; Col. 1:27).

The Sources and Media of Revelation

God reveals himself and his purposes in different ways through different media. General revelation refers to that which God makes known through creation to all rational creatures (Ps. 19:1–6; Rom. 1:19–20). In general revelation, our knowledge proceeds from creation to its creator. The artwork leads us to the artist. The knowledge of God available through general revelation is necessarily limited. Although general revelation manifests a number of truths about God’s existence, nature, and moral law, the efficacy of general revelation is severely hampered due to the blinding effects of sin upon the mind and the hardening effects of sin upon the heart (Rom. 1:18, 21–23).

Special revelation refers to that which God makes known through various media (e.g., visions, dreams, and speech) to objects of his saving mercy. In special revelation, the Creator of all things addresses us personally. The artist reveals himself to us. The knowledge of God available through special revelation far exceeds what is available through general revelation in both content and efficacy. Through special revelation, we come to know the mystery of God’s triune being and his purpose for the church in Jesus Christ by the illuminating power of the Spirit (Matt. 11:25–27; 1 Corinthians 2; Eph. 3:4–10; Col. 1:27).

God himself speaks in special revelation (Deut. 4:36; Mark 1:11; 9:7; 2 Pet. 1:17). But ordinarily, prophets and apostles are the vehicles of God’s speech to humans (Ex. 4:1–16; Deut. 18:18; Gal. 1:16). The ministry of prophets and apostles having ceased (Eph. 2:20), God transmits and communicates his prophetic and apostolic Word to us in Holy Scripture (Deut. 31:9–30; Eph. 3:4–5; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20–21). As a product of divine inspiration, Holy Scripture is perfectly equipped to fulfill a number of revelatory ends. Scripture is able to make us wise for salvation in Jesus Christ (John 5:39; 2 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 1:10–11). And it is sufficient for training us in truth and godliness (Ps. 119:160; 2 Tim. 3:16–17; Titus 1:1).

God’s glorious self-revelation finds its full expression in the face of Jesus Christ, God’s beloved Son (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:6). Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation of God—the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his being (Heb. 1:1–4). Jesus Christ is also the ultimate revelation of God’s purpose for creation (Eph. 1:9–10).

God’s Covenants and the History of Revelation

Covenant is the primary mode of God’s special revelation to his people. In the various covenants God makes, he reveals his name, promises, and will for his people’s lives and worship (Gen. 17:1–14; Ex. 3:14; 20:1–17; Luke 22:14–20). Covenant is also the motor whereby God moves history forward toward its divinely appointed end. God makes promises and fulfills them. As he does so, he makes himself known through his promise-keeping works. God’s act of making known “his salvation” and revealing “his righteousness in the sight of the nations” (Ps. 98:2) is an act of remembering his covenant promises to the house of Israel (Ps. 98:3).

Jesus Christ, the supreme revelation of God, is the supreme fulfillment of all God’s covenant promises (2 Cor. 1:20). In the covenant, God causes his name to be remembered, he comes to us, and he blesses us (Ex. 20:24). In Jesus Christ, God’s supreme covenant name is revealed: “The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). In Christ, God’s supreme covenant presence is realized (John 1:14; Matt. 1:23; 28:20) and his supreme covenant blessing is poured out (Acts 1:4–5; Gal. 3:14). This is the heritage vouchsafed to us through Jesus’ blood, the blood of the new covenant (Luke 22:20).

Jesus’ climactic place in God’s revelatory purpose and the history of the covenant gives biblical revelation its distinctive shape. The good news of Jesus is promised beforehand in the OT and proclaimed in the NT as the fulfillment of that promise (Acts 13:32–33; Rom. 1:1–4). This pattern of promise and fulfillment in Jesus Christ accounts for the underlying unity of biblical revelation. Nevertheless, because there is a “before” and “after” to the Son of God’s incarnate appearance (Gal. 3:23–24), biblical revelation is a revelation of things “old” and “new” (Matt. 13:52; 2 Corinthians 3), of things once “hidden” but now “revealed” (Dan. 12:4; Matt. 13:35; Rom. 16:25–26; Col. 1:26; Rev. 22:10). The contrast between the OT and NT, however, is not absolute. The mystery once hidden and now revealed is made known “through the prophetic writings” (Rom. 16:26).

The Beatific Vision

Through divine revelation, God makes known to us the “path of life.” Through divine revelation, God instructs us that he is the end of that path, in whose “presence”—literally, in whose “face”—is “fullness of joy” and at whose right hand are “pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).

  The revelation of God’s glory in Christ creates a hunger to see more of God’s glory in Christ (Ps. 27:4; 63:1–2). The gospel promises us that this hunger will one day be fully satisfied. The gospel promises us we will see God’s face; our souls will find rest in this sight (Matt. 5:8; 1 Cor. 13:12; Rev. 22:4). The substance of that promise is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

The God who knows and loves himself in the perfect happiness of the Trinity seeks to share his happiness with us by making himself an object of our knowledge and love. In the new creation, God’s quest will reach its goal: the triune God will shine the light of his countenance upon his children, and they will rejoice and be glad in him. Until the day God’s glory is fully and finally revealed and our happiness is fully and finally realized, we pay attention to the light of God’s revelation in Holy Scripture (2 Pet. 1:19) and purify ourselves after the pattern of the One who is the source of Holy Scripture’s radiance, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 John 3:2–3; Heb. 12:14).