Professional theologians, those who earn their living pursuing the knowledge of God for the purpose of helping others in their pursuit, refer to two means God has given man of obtaining that knowledge. One, through what is referred to as “general revelation” and the other through “special revelation”. General revelation is what we addressed in my previous post. It refers to the knowledge of God present in the glory of the creation, both in the realm of nature and in the consciences of men, which together reveal to us that an infinitely glorious God created all things and that we are accountable to Him. The Apostle Paul, points to this truth in Romans 1:19-21.
Paul’s writings are part of special revelation, wherein God reveals the glory of His divine attributes, His glorious purpose in creation, His plans for fulfilling that purpose, and mankind’s role in His plans.
God reveals this through events that occurred over a period of about 1500 years of human history. They were recorded throughout that time by men called prophets in the Old Testament, and Apostles and close associates of the Apostles in the New Testament (2 Peter 1:20-21). God’s revelation came to them through dreams, visions, angels, His audible voice, directly to their hearts and minds by His Spirit, by them witnessing supernatural events. In Exodus 34:5-7 we have God speaking directly to Moses, revealing Himself as “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty,”… Most importantly we have the authoritative and direct teaching about God from God the Son, Jesus Christ, during His earthly ministry (Hebrews 1:1-2).
The central theme of the Bible is the knowledge of the Glory of God; of the infinite perfections of His eternal being. Through the human authors, God reveals Himself to be the creator and sovereign ruler of the universe and all that is in it; a stunningly majestic, fearfully awesome being of infinite beauty, wisdom, power, and grace. God reveals Himself as a triune being, existing as one God, comprised of three divine persons; God the Father – God the Son – God the Holy Spirit; each being self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-determining; existing throughout eternity together in an eternal love relationship and who are eternally happy within that relationship.
God creates man to share in that relationship, not as divine equals but as beloved children, the joyful and thankful recipients of all that an infinitely good, wise and powerful creator would give to and do for all who would trust in His love and submit to His divine authority.
However, as I noted in my previous post, mankind beginning with Adam and Eve, has disdained God’s love and rejected His authority over our lives, suppressing the knowledge of His glory. The Bible refers to this as sin and reveals that God’s judgement on sin is death – the forfeiture of the glorious life with God for which we were created.
The consequences of this forfeiture are experienced daily by everyone in this present world, in the misery and pain, frustration and futility of daily life. Each life ends in physical death, the permanent forfeiture of the life with God for which we were created.
However, we learn from the Bible that God’s plan and purpose in creation included providing a means of redemption by which men and women can be justly rescued from His judgement and restored to the glorious relationship with Him for which we were created. The promise of redemption and of a redeemer is first revealed, though somewhat cryptically, in Genesis 3:15. The remaining chapters and books of the Bible progressively reveal with greater clarity God’s promise and plan for fulfilling that promise in the midst of a world of rebellion and unbelief.
There are 39 books which comprise what is referred to as the Old Testament. These books center on God’s establishment of a relationship with the nation of Israel to whom He will directly reveal His glorious person and purposes, and through whom He will reveal the same to the rest of the world. They will also be the nation through which God will send a redeemer to fulfill His promise of redemption. That redeemer and His redemptive work will be revealed in the 27 books of the New Testament in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who we will look at in my next post.
Grace and Peace x