Special Revelation
SPECIAL REVELATION
Special revelation refers to God's work of actively revealing Himself to men through various special means.
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2 a). In these two short verses, the writer to the Hebrews provides a summary of Special Revelation. It is the message that God spoke... In many different portions: God's revelation of Himself did not come all at once. There was a progression to its unveiling.
He revealed Himself to Adam and Eve.
He revealed Himself to Noah.
He revealed Himself to Abraham.
He revealed Himself to Moses.
He revealed Himself to Joshua.
He revealed Himself to Samuel.
Each of these revelations brought a little more understanding of God to man. The writer of Genesis had a certain limited amount of information. The writer of Joshua had a little more. The writer of Samuel had even more. Each writer added to the pool of knowledge about God. In each case, the Old Testament prophets came away with another glimpse into the character and person and plans of God. But the final and complete communication of God was not accomplished through any of these means. In many different ways: God's revelation of Himself over the ages took many different forms:
He spoke to Job out of a whirlwind.
He spoke to Joseph in dreams.
He spoke to Moses from a burning bush.
He spoke to Samuel in a voice in the night.
He spoke to Elijah is a still, small voice.
He spoke to Daniel in a vision.
Each of these various forms of revelation were different from one another. There was not one single method that stood out over all the others until the coming of Jesus. In His Son.
After God spoke through the prophets there was a great silence. For 400 years there had been no prophet to speak the word of the Lord. But now in these last days God has spoken again. This time He spoke through a new agency that had never before been used. He now has spoken to man through His Son. This is the fullest revelation of God. It is the person of Jesus Christ. It is the person of the One who, being God, became man so that He might communicate God to us.
God has spoken...|
To the fathers...|To us...|
In the prophets...|In His Son...|
In many portions and in many ways|In these last days| The ultimate revelation of God took place when He clothed Himself in flesh and came to live among us (John 1:14). He said to Philip on the night of the Last Supper, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). None of the prophets could ever make that sort of claim. Their knowledge of God was always limited. In contrast, Jesus had an experiential knowledge of God because He is God.
Let me use an illustration. If you wanted to get to know me, you could talk to someone who knew me. They could tell you a lot about me. You might come away with a certain number of facts such as where I was born or where I went to school or where I have worked. But if you really wanted to get to know me, the best way would be to talk with me. Indeed, you would be hard-pressed to say that you really knew me if you had never had a face-to-face conversation with me. The same is true of God. The best way to learn of God is to meet Him in the flesh. You meet Him in the flesh when you meet Jesus. In the Bible. The Bible is the written record of the revelation of God. But it is also more than that. It does not merely contain the word of God; it is the word of God.
There are some editions of the Bible that have rendered the words of Jesus in red. That is not a bad practice in that it can serve as an aid to help us differentiate between the narrative portions and the spoken words of Jesus. But we fall into error when we think that those sections in red are more a part of God's word than those that are rendered in some other color of print.