Background
Some time ago, I was studying the Book of Daniel. One of the things I learned was that God was making Himself known through the prophesies in Daniel. In addition to prophecy, the book has multiple narratives of dreams and visions where we also learn about God. All of this started me on a quest to understand how God makes Himself known. That is what this paper is about.
General and Special revelation
God makes himself known to us by revealing truth about Himself to us. We can put these avenues of revelation about God into two different categories, general revelation, and special revelation.
General revelation is also called natural theology, and gives us the evidences that God exists. Special revelation is also called revealed theology, and generally assumes the existence of God. Both general and special revelation are necessary for one to learn all that God has made known to us about Himself.
“General revelation includes all that God has revealed in the world around us, including man, while special revelation includes various means He used to communicate His message in what was codified in the Bible.”1
I will briefly look at general revelation, and the bulk of the paper will explore special revelation.
General Revelation
General revelation describes how God reveals Himself to all people. Some of the ways God makes Himself known to all people in general are the following:2
- His creation – The created world around us demonstrates that there is a Creator.
- Through Organization of the world -The design, order, and purpose of the world points to a designer.
- Man -Man, who is a moral, intelligent, and living being can best be explained by a moral, intelligent, and living God.
When I was a teenager, I didn’t think that God existed. It wasn’t until I took a good look at His creation that I changed my viewpoint. Seeing the expanse of the universe, down to the blades of grass, helped me see and believe that there must be a God who created all things.
The Bible contains many declarations concerning general revelation. Here are two passages that describe the evidence for God’s existence.
Psalm 19:1-6
1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
In Psalm 19 we learn that the expanse of heaven reveals God’s work daily throughout the world. Perhaps the most well known phenomenon for everyone is the effect of the sun. It runs its course without fail and its heat (or lack of) is felt by all.
Romans 1:19-21
[The passage is addressing non-Christians]
19 that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Romans tells us that God has made Himself known through His creation. Both the variety and complexity of what has been made shows His creativity and vast knowledge. His power and nature is made clear, and our response should be to honor Him and be thankful. We do not have any excuse for responding incorrectly.
Special Revelation
Special revelation has come to us in a progressive way. That is, our knowledge of God progresses the more we know of Him. As knowledge is accumulated, God can reveal more to us, and in different ways. The list below starts with what may be the simplest method of revelation, The Lot. Eventually, God’s revelation results in the last item on the list, a completed Bible.
Special revelation does not necessarily come to all people. God makes it available to us, but we must choose to accept it through faith to receive it. Even then, God doesn’t reveal everything to us, but enough to know Him and put our faith in Him.
Charles Ryrie, in his book Basic Theology, lists 10 avenues of special revelation which I have described below.
The Lot
Today, we might refer to the lot as drawing straws. Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” We see this in action in Acts 1:21-26 where an apostle is chosen by lot to replace Judas.
Urim and Thummim
These functioned as a tool for making decisions similar to the lot. It was different from the lot, in that it was only used by the priest when asking for judgment from the Lord. It is described in Exodus 28, but not the use of it. An example of it in use is in Ezra 2:61-63, when there was a question about members of the priesthood. Those in question were to not participate in priestly activities, “until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.”
“What the ‘Urim and Thummim’ were cannot be determined with any certainty. All we certainly know is that they were a certain divinely-given means by which God imparted, through the high priest, direction and counsel to Israel when these were needed. They were probably lost at the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. They were never seen after the return from captivity.”3
Dreams
Dreams were used primarily in the Old Testament to communicate God’s message and continued in the early days of the New Testament. Dreams will be used again “in the last days”, according to Peter as he quotes Joel 2:28-32. Peter says in Acts 2:17:4
‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says,
‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT UPON ALL MANKIND;
AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY,
AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS,
AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS.’
Visions
The distinction between a dream and a vision is not always clear. It could be that dreams occur while asleep, and a vision while awake. However, sometimes the terms seem to be used interchangeably, such as in Daniel 2:28. Notice the last sentence in the passage. Daniel says,
“However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.”
Ryrie suggests that a dream focuses on what is seen, while a vision has emphasis on what is heard. In any case, God has used visions to transmit His truth to individuals. I write more about dreams and visions in my post, Dreams, Visions, and Trances.
Theophanies
A Theophany is a physical appearance or personal manifestation of God to a person. One well known Theophany is the Lord appearing to Abraham (Abram) promising the land to him and his descendants. Genesis 12:7 says,
“And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.”
Angels
Angels are used by God to bring His message. One of my favorites is when the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds when Jesus was born. Luke 2:10-12,
“And the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger.’ ”
(I focus on the messages God sent through Gabriel in the post Gabriel the Angel.)
The Prophets
The prophets of God proclaimed truth and repentance to their contemporaries, and revealed future events. We learn of God’s power and faithfulness by reading of a predicted future event that has occurred just as He said it would.
Sometimes a prophet talks about a future event, but we don’t realize it is a prediction until the event has happened. For example, almost 200 prophesies were given concerning the Messiah. Some of these prophesies talk about how the Messiah would suffer, such as in Isaiah chapter 53. But until Christ came, it was hard to imagine how the Messiah could die a humiliating death. (For more reading on Jesus fulfillment of prophesy, see my post, Claims Evidence.)
Events
Historical events such as God delivering Israel from Egypt and the incarnation of Christ reveal God’s truth to us.
“Not only must the events be historical, but they also need to be interpreted through divine inspiration if we are to understand accurately their meaning.”5 For example, during the New Testament era, crucifixion was commonplace. However, from the Scriptures, we learn that Jesus’ crucifixion was unique in that it paid for our sin. As Peter says in Acts 5:30-31,
“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus Christ
Jesus, “[explained and demonstrated] the Father (John 1:14), revealing the nature of God (14:9), the power of God (3:22), the wisdom of God (7:46), the glory of God (1:14), the life of God (1 John 1:1-3), and the love of God (Romans 5:8), [by both His acts (John 2:11) and His words (Matthew 16:17).]”6
To read more about Jesus, see my paper titled, Highly Exalted Son.
The Bible
The Bible is the record of aspects of special revelation and the revelation itself. “The Bible’s claim to authority is not in itself proof of its authority; rather there exist factual, historical evidences that constitute the Bible’s credentials and validate the truth of its message.”7 I present some of the evidences in my post, Tests for Ancient Documents.
Summary
General revelation is evidence to everyone that there is a Creator. I presented just two of the many ways the revelation has been made. Special revelation gives us the evidence that the God of the Bible is that Creator. I presented 10 of the ways that mankind has learned of God through His special revelation.
The list shows the progression of special revelation seen from the Lot to the codified Bible. The earlier ways that God made Himself known became less used as the written Word became recorded.
Since the Bible canon was considered closed in A.D. 397 at the Council of Carthage,8 no new revelation has been added. “Special revelation as now recorded in the Bible furnishes the content of God’s message to the world.”9
Appendix
Commentator Don Stewart points out that Paul used both general and special revelation in speaking to the people in Athens. Paul starts with general revelation to show that it is reasonable to believe that God exists. In Acts 17:24-27 Paul said to the Athenians,
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things; and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:24-27)
Stewart comments, “Paul said that God’s provision for all people, His general providence, was a testimony to His existence. In fact, according to Paul’s statement, a number of things can be known about God. He is everywhere present ‘he is not far from each one of us,’ He is all-powerful, ‘He does not need anything,’ and He is in complete control of things ‘determining allotted periods and boundaries of the habitation of humans.’ ”10
Paul then ends up with special revelation to make clear that identity of the God of the general revelation. Paul said,
“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)
Again, Stewart comments, “After speaking of God’s general revelation, Paul preached the good news of Jesus to them. Therefore, we find both general revelation and special revelation used to point to God’s existence and specifically to Jesus Christ.”11
1 Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1986), 31
2 Ryrie, Summarized pgs 31-36
3 Easton’s Bible Dictionary
4 All caps in the New Testament are used in the text to indicate Old Testament quotes.
5 Ryrie, 72
6 Ryrie, 73
7 Ryrie, 73
8 https://www.gotquestions.org/canon-Bible.html 12/28/221. This is a good summary of how the canon was completed.
9 Ryrie, 74
10 https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/stewart_don/faq/god-has-spoken-to-us/14-what-is-special-revelation.cfm 12/22/22 Point #4 of question 14.
11 Stewart (see link in endnote 10)