Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Revelation
Defined
Revelation- a disclosure of
something that was before unknown; and
divine revelation
is the direct communication of truths before unknown
from God to men.
(McClintock & Strong Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical
Literature)
Revelation Logical
The doctrine of revelation is a
doctrine that is very logical. God
is an intelligent God. He has
created intelligent creatures.
This being so, it stands to reason that God would communicate to them
His reason and will for their being.
There are also things about life and about God that we would not
otherwise know. “The
secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed
belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this
law.” (Deut 29:29)(KJV) God has given us revelation that we can know
His purpose for us and fulfill this purpose.
Revelation
Necessary
Revelation
is necessary, because God is not known apart from His revelation.
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding
out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?”
(Rom 11:33-34)(KJV) God is far beyond all human
comprehension. The wisdom, ways,
and mind of God are limitless.
They are of a depth that cannot be fathomed (measured). In fact, the Bible tells us that there
is much more of God than is revealed to us. Habakkuk said, when he saw a vision of God, “His
brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was
the hiding of his power.” (Hab 3:4)(KJV)
God is so great that, when He reveals Himself, He is still
hidden! Isn’t that amazing? God’s greatness is such that, when He
manifests Himself to us, more is hidden of God than is made known of Him. This greatness makes revelation
necessary.
Two Forms of
Revelation
There are two forms of revelation: general
revelation and supernatural revelation.
In general revelation God makes Himself known to all. This could also be called natural
revelation. The Psalmist said, “The
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night
unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” (Ps
19:1-3)(KJV) All of creation
testifies to the majesty of its Creator.
The signature of God is seen upon the canvas of His world and
works. Creation also testifies to
the eternal nature and power of God.
In fact, man is responsible to God because creation reveals to him that
God is present. “The wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God
is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without
excuse.”( Rom 1:18-20)(KJV)
God has revealed himself in man by giving him an inherent knowledge
of God. He has also revealed His
eternal power and deity to man in nature.
God’s general revelation of Himself is also seen in history. As Paul stood before the people of
Lystra, he told them that God had revealed Himself to them by providing for
them throughout each year of their lives. “The living God, which made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times
past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he
did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our
hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:15-17)(KJV) In many other ways, and in many other times, God has
revealed Himself throughout history.
This could also be spoken of as providential revelation, or God’s
revelation of Himself through intervening in the lives of His creatures.
In supernatural revelation God works in ways that are above nature. Supernatural revelation is more
specific than natural (or general) revelation. General revelation does not make known to us the truth of
the triune nature of God.
Supernatural revelation teaches us this. We do not learn of the person and work of the Holy Spirit
from nature, but we do learn this great truth because of God’s supernatural
revelation.
Supernatural
revelation has two basic forms.
The first is the incarnation and life of Jesus. Jesus came into the world to make God
known unto man. “No man
hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father, he hath declared him.”( John 1:18)(KJV) There are many,
many things about our great and wonderful God that we would never have known if
Jesus had not come into the world.
The unseen God was not seen in nature, but He is seen in the person and
work of Jesus Christ. “God, who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets, Hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by
whom also he made the worlds.”( Heb 1:1-2)(KJV)
The second form of supernatural revelation
is the written word of God. This
is called Biblical revelation. God
has made His will and ways known to man through the truths He has revealed to
us in His word. This word of God
is revelation. This is not to be
confused with inspiration which deals with the process by which we received the
word. The word of God is God’s
revelation of Himself and His will to us.
Paul told the Galatian church that the law of God found in the Old
Testament is a Divine revelation. “Wherefore
then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed
should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the
hand of a mediator.”( Gal 3:19)(KJV)
God used angels and Moses to reveal Himself to us and give us the
law. This is indeed supernatural,
for we would not have known many of the things taught us in the Old Testament
had God not chosen to tell us.
. “The
secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed
belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of
this law.” (Deut 29:29)(KJV) Peter also spoke of the word of God as being a supernatural
revelation. “We have not
followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father
honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when
we were with him in the holy mount.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn,
and the day star arise in your hearts:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”( 2 Peter 1:16-21)(KJV) Peter stated that he was an
eyewitness to the glory of Jesus.
He was present when God the Father spoke from Heaven to testify of His
pleasure in His Son. This was a
supernatural revelation that would not/ could not occur naturally. Peter also stated that God has revealed
Himself to us through the writings of the prophets, and that this was given
supernaturally.
We
also find that the New Testament scriptures are a supernatural revelation of
God. Note Jesus’ promise
concerning the coming of the Holy Ghost: “I have yet many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into
all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall
receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I,
that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” (John 16:12-15)
(KJV) Today we are blessed to
have the Word of God which has been revealed through the work of the Holy
Ghost. This has happened just as
Jesus promised it would.
Finally,
we find supernatural revelation at the coming of Jesus. “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and
every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of
the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” (Rev 1:7) (KJV) This revelation of Christ
brings about eternal change for His children. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be
like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
(1Jn 3:2) KJV
Monday, April 3, 2017
The One True God Is The Triune God Of Christianity
“In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form,
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light.” (Genesis 1:1–3)
The Triune God
This
text, in the context of the totality of Scripture, gives to us an understanding
of God as a plurality in unity, as it speaks to us of God creating and the
Spirit being present. We must specifically, when speaking of the God of the
Bible, speak of God as a Tri-unity, or Trinity. The one God is three persons in
perfect unity of being, essence, and agreement. We see this by considering the
fact that the Son is as much Creator-God as the Father (See John 1:1-4,14 and
Hebrews 1:1-3), and by understanding that the Spirit of God is equally Divine
(Job 33:4, Acts 5:1-5 and Romans 8:9-10). These three persons, Father, Son, and
Spirit, are the One God.
Why Is The Triune God Necessary?
Why
would we say that the Triune God of Scripture is necessary to knowledge?
First
of all, truth is expected to be an unity. We expect that which is true in one
field of study to agree with what is true in any other field of study in
whatever fashion those fields of truth intersect. For example, we would expect
that mathematical truth would be the same whether it were applied to
governments or to a building contractor’s business. We would not expect the
realities of mathematics to change simply because of the field in which math
was applied changed. We expect truth to be true wherever truth appears.
What
this means is that we expect there to be unity in plurality. While there are
many fields of knowledge, we expect the truth to be united across the plurality
of fields. There is one body of truth, though many fields of knowledge; and the
truths found in every field of knowledge agree, as truth is an unity.
The
problem is that we must then find a source and standard for truth and knowledge
that can provide unity in plurality.
Pantheism
cannot provide this unity in plurality. If all is god, then there is actually
more of a monad than a plurality. Not only so, but all is subsumed into god
leaving us with obscurity. There would be no true revelation, because all is
god and there would be nothing distinct from the god to receive knowledge. In
fact, we would be unable to even know what to call this god. This would cause
everyone and everything to be a standard of truth in and of itself/ourselves.
This would leave us with relativism, because we would be unable to point
anywhere to a united standard of truth that addresses the problem of plurality
in unity.
If
God were totally one in the sense that Allah, the god of the Muslims, is one,
then we would again have an unknowable standard. The god would then be so
utterly other than the world and humanity that the god would be unapproachable
and unknowable. There would be no way to have a divine revelation that would
give us truth and knowledge. Neither would we have a standard by which to know
truth. We would be left in the dark.[1]
What,
then, is the answer to our dilemma? The Triune God of Scripture is the answer.
He alone meets our need for a single, sovereign, intelligent Creator God who is
the source of all knowledge and truth. Apart from the Trinity there can be
neither truth nor knowledge.
The
Bible, as the source of our knowledge of this Triune God, is our only ground of
rational thought. It is in the Christian Scriptures that we find that God is:
1. Our
Creator (Genesis 1:1-3;Jeremiah 32:17;Hebrews 1:1-3;11:3).
2. The
God of knowledge and truth who judges us (Deuteronomy 32:4;1Samuel 2:3).
3. The
God who is one God, yet three persons (Genesis 1:1-3,26-28;Psalm 110:1-7;John
1:1-4,14;3:16-17;5:17-21;Hebrews 1:1-3).
4. The
God who makes Himself known to His creatures (Genesis 1:1-31;2:1-25;Psalm
19:1-11;Isaiah 40:1-8;John 1:18;Hebrews 1:1-3;Revelation 1:1-8;22:1-6,16-21).
With
this in mind, we need to approach our Bibles as God’s revelation of Himself;
and, if God reveals Himself to us in the Scriptures, we must acknowledge that
the Scriptures are true.
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