All About the Bible
2 - The Necessity of Revelation
The message of the Bible is that God has revealed himself. The word 'revealed' translates a Hebrew word meaning "to make naked".
David said in 2 Samuel 7 verse 27,
"O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant", or, "you have made this naked". In other words revelation is exposing truth, bringing it out into open view and making it known. The Greek word translated revealed means "making known religious realities". It is found in Jesus` prayer in Luke 10 verse 21, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children". The Bible teaches that God has condescended to make himself known to men and women through the self-disclosure of himself. This is vital for two main reasons.
Firstly, God is in heaven and we are men and women on earth. We are His creatures. David said in Psalm 100, "Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His". The difference between us and God is that God is eternal we are finite. He eternally exists and He created us. He is self supporting but we are dependent on Him for all things. We read in Psalm 145 verse 15, "The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time". If God had not revealed himself to us, we would never have known Him. We would have had no idea about His character. We would have known nothing of His plans and purposes. We are dependent on Him revealing himself so that we can know Him. God in His grace has made himself known to His creatures. God knows himself thoroughly. We know ourselves as self conscious beings. Without His revelation to our hearts and minds we cannot know God. Without that self-revelation we would still be in the dark.
Secondly, mankind is the victim of the fall. Sin has entered the world. We read about this in Genesis chapter three. Man chose to disobey God and go His own way. This brought separation between God and Man. This meant that man was severely rendered incapacitated. He was plunged into darkness within His own mind and understanding. Paul reminds the believers in Ephesus of their previous fallen condition before they became Christians.
We read his description of this in Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3. He says, "And as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who s now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature the objects of wrath".
It is only as we fully realise the impact of our separation from God that we realise that without divine intervention we would continue in darkness and sin. Paul further elaborates on this. He says in Ephesians 4 verses 17 and 18, "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance of their hearts". This is your condition if you are not a Christian who is been born again of God's Spirit. The sinful nature you have been born with has debilitated your mind and heart. We read in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to Him, and He cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned". Sin has created a barrier between you and God. Sin has brought spiritual blindness. Sin has affected your perception of reality in God's world. So God must take the initiative of making himself known. Without that move on God's part you would never have sought after Him yourself. Man cannot find God through his own wisdom. We read in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21, "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe". We need revelation because of the invasion and impact of sin in our lives.
Since we will not come to God left to our own inclinations, God must come to us. Scripture testifies to this. We read in 1 John 4 verse 10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins". Here then is the motive for God's self revelation. He did it because He loves us. He saw a world lost in sin. He saw the effect of sin in man’s heart, mind and will.
As our creator He made us to have a relationship with Him. That relationship is broken. But He made a way to restore us to himself. He revealed the depths of His love to us by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross as the Lamb of God bearing away my sin and your sin. Jesus is the great theme of the Bible from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation.
For anyone to know God He must come and enlighten the mind and understanding. It is through revelation that God has made himself known. Revelation is indispensable. The great news is that He has revealed Himself and it is possible to know Him. I trust you know Him as your Saviour and friend. The Bible is designed to point the way to Jesus Christ. The Bible reveals God's character, mercy and love in His dealings with mankind.