Session 3: Knowing God through Special Revelation

Since General Revelation refers to the knowledge of God that is available to all mankind, it suggests then that all man has some form of knowledge of God based on either creation, history or the conscience, special revelation refers to those acts of God whereby He reveals Himself and His will directly to specific people.
Why was this special revelation necessary? The answer lies simply in the fact that man has lost the relationship with God that existed before the fall. Knowledge of God therefore has to be learned in a more fuller, direct way, and had to go beyond the initial or general revelation that is all around.
This is seen in five key areas:

1. Personal Experience
2. Miracles
3. Prophecy
4. Christ
5. Scripture

1) The Revelation of God Through Experience
Throughout history, man has tried to have some form of experience of God. In each of these experiences it is possible to learn something about God. There are many stories of such experiences throughout the Bible: 

• God revealing Himself to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)
• Jacob's personal encounters and wrestling match with God (Genesis 28:13; 35:1)
• Joseph and his dreams (Genesis 37:5-11)
• Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-5) and all the other occasions during the Exodus
• Joshua meeting the Lord of the Captain of the Host (Joshua 1:1; 5:13-15)
• Gideon's visitation from God (Judges 6:25)
• Elijah and the still small voice (1 Kings 17:2-4)
• Paul and his experience on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:4-6; 18:9)

All of these experiences taught the individual concerned something about God, and indeed personal experiences that we may experience today will teach us something about God. However, these experiences are not sufficient to give us a complete picture of Him.

2) The Revelation of God Through Miracles
A miracle is a supernatural intervention by God into the laws of nature. Many of these are seen throughout the Bible:

• The plagues in Egypt
• The opening of the Red Sea and the Jordan River
• The Manna from heaven and the water from the rock
• The numerous healings in the Old Testament, the Gospels and the book of Acts
• The greatest miracle of them all, the resurrection of Jesus.

All of the above are genuine miracles, and all brought about change for the good for all people concerned. Through each of these miracles something specific can be learned about God, and each one's purpose was to bring men back to God.

What does need to be remembered however, is that the devil can also perform miracles. However, these “miracles” are not there to bring people to God, but rather to turn man away from Him.

This raises many questions as to whether true miracles still happen today, a point for discussion later within BT101. However, for the time being I believe it is safe to say that the possibility exists for both real and counterfeit miracles to happen today, but they need to be tested against the Bible and the fruits that they produce.

However, using miracles alone do not tell us everything there is to know about God. More is needed.

3) The Revelation of God Through Prophecy
So often we tend to think of prophecy only in terms of being able to predict the future. Even though this is part of prophecy, it is not all of it.

Prophecy is best defined as a declaration of truth, whether it be through prediction or preaching, prophecy is all about declaring the things of God. This is why it is so important to bear in mind the qualifications of a true prophet as laid out in Deuteronomy 13. God is all about truth, and so to predict something that does not come to pass, one is a liar and God is not in the prediction.

So too with preaching and teaching. They form part of prophecy as they are both to be concerned with the truth. If there is any trace of an intentional lie within them, then they are not of God. A preacher or teacher should be concerned with declaring the truth and nothing but the truth.

Throughout the Bible we see many incidents of the above; whether it be Isaiah or Daniel predicting some future event, or the apostles declaring words of truth in their teachings, all were concerned with God. Through each of the predictions we learn that God is faithful and knows all things. All prophecies, other than those concerning the end times and Christ's second coming have been fulfilled. No other god or religion can boast that.

Through each of the above declarations, God revealed something specific about Himself, and indeed about man too. This is all part of God's specific revelation of Himself to man.

Again, by looking at the prophecies we do not learn everything there is to know about God. A more personal revelation is needed.

4) The Revelation of God in Christ
None of the forms of revelation covered in Natural Revelation show us anything about the nature of God. However, through Jesus Christ coming to earth, showing to us the very nature of God, and showing how all of the teachings contained in the law, prophets and miracles of the Old Testament are about Him, we learn more about the true nature of God.

Jesus is the sum of all God's revelations put together, including His will, his nature, His character and His person. To look at Christ is to look at God. It is for this reason that Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus Christ was the physical representation on earth of God the Father in heaven.

Therefore, those that saw Jesus in the flesh, saw God and learnt all about Him. That is all well and good, but what about us in the twenty-first century. We have not had the joy of seeing God in the flesh?

5) The Revelation of God Through Scripture
From the creation of the world, until the time of Christ, all of the above revelations were being played out before man's eyes. What was needed was a written down account of all of God's revelations.

Therefore, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God used men to record everything that was needed for men to know Him. Right from the first word in Genesis, to the last in Revelation, man recorded everything there was to record about Him.

No other book in the history of the world has been able to withstand the test of time. Man and the devil have tried on numerous occasions to remove or destroy it, yet it still remains. It may have been translated a number of times, but its message and the revelations of God that it contains remain.

In fact, we have no other reliable source today concerning the person and character of God than the Bible. It contains all we need to know about Him. Anything else, whether it be personal experiences, miracles or prophecy, is insufficient in teaching us anything about God if it is not balanced by Scripture. The Bible is to be the measuring rod for all other special revelations that might come our way.

The Bible is His complete and ultimate human (that is readable or tangible) authority on the subject of Himself.

Conclusion
However, all of this is meaningless if the Holy Spirit is not at work in our hearts and minds to enable us to understand God's Word (see 1 Corinthians 2:12; Luke 24:44-45 and John 20:22).
In the words of Karl Barth:
“For me the Word of God is a happening, not a thing. Therefore the Bible must become the Word of God, and it does so through the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Baruch atem b’Shem Yeshua! (Blessings in the name of Jesus!)
GW