02.01 - Revelation

II. Words That Are A Must In Understanding Bibliology

A. Revelation

Revelation may be defined as God’s communication of divinetruth to man concerning that which man could not otherwiseknow about God and His will. Since man is spiritually dead, it isimpossible for man to know anything about God unless God re- veals it to him. In a general sense, man has always possessed alimited amount of revelation concerning God as communicatedthrough His creation (Job 37:1-6; Psalms 19:1-6; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:20) and his dealings with man (Genesis 1:26; Acts 17:24-27). However, in order for man to gain a true and experientialknowledge of God, special revelation was necessary. In convey-ing His message, God spoke progressively and in various super-natural ways including (1) dreams (Genesis 37:5-9) (2) visions (Genesis 15:1; Isaiah 6:1-8; Amos 7:1-17; Amos 8:1-14; Amos 9:1-15) (3) direct communication (1 Samuel 3:3-14) (4) Theophanies (Genesis 18:1-33; Genesis 32:24-30) (5) miracles (Genesis 6:1-22; Genesis 7:1-24; Genesis 8:1-22; Genesis 9:1-29; 1 Kings 18:17-40; John 20:30-31).

(6) prophets unto the people (Hebrews 1:1; 2 Peter 1:21; Hosea 1:1; Joel 1:1) (7) the Incarnate Son of God (John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:2 cf. John 14:7), and

(8) the written Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-11; 2 Timothy 3:16). God’s revelation ceased with the comple-tion of the written Word - the Bible (Revelation 22:18).