By Pastor Dave Farmer
Our Heavenly Father, who is infinite and eternal, has provided through His witnesses the undeniable truth of His existence. We see His WORKS. The wonder and magnificence of our heavens' continual testify "God Is." Yet, this does not explain why He created everything. What purpose did He have?
Special revelation occurs when God speaks. In our last article, we explained why God’s Word must follow God’s actions. As wonderful as General Revelation is, it is incomplete. It shows us that God is present in this world (Psalm 19:1-7) and to a limited degree something of His nature. Paul says creation reveals to us God’s divine nature and power (Romans 1:19). In another passage Paul explains to the people of Lystra:
and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good [the goodness of God] and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17)
Paul said when their bellies were full and their hearts happy, there was evidence of good beyond their doing. Creation is a witness. It tells of the goodness of God. Creation is not neutral; it has design and purpose; God's design and God’s purpose. However, it is when God speaks that we understand that purpose.
Again, we study the rainbow and learn how the rainbow is formed, but one question cannot be answered by my observations or experiments. Why? What is the purpose of the rainbow? God spoke to Noah and explained that the rainbow would be a sign of the Noahic Covenant, His promise never to judge the world with a flood that destroys all life (Genesis 9:13).
In Special Revelation God gives us truth about the plan that He has for what He has created. Regarding man, we learn that He plans to redeem us. For example, when God spoke [Special Revelation] to Abraham, He revealed that he would be the father of a new race of people (Jews) and that all the families of the earth (Gentiles) would be blessed through his Seed.
The predicted blessing of Genesis 12 is the coming of the Promised Seed who we learn is the Lord Jesus Christ. So in this passage, God spoke to Abraham, and through it, the central fact that God was revealing was His plan to provide a Savior through the line of Abraham (see also Matthew 1: 1 and Galatians 3:16). We conclude with this principle, that whenever God spoke, the truth that He imparted was always related to some aspect of His plan of redemption.
The Means of Special Revelation
The Spoken Word
Special revelation consisted of the spoken WORD. Thus God spoke to Adam, Cain, Enock, Noah, Abraham, Moses and others.
1. He spoke directly to them (Genesis 13:14)
2. He spoke to them in their dreams (Genesis 28:12,13,16)
3. He spoke by providing a vision (Genesis 46:2-5)
But starting with Moses God began to have His words recorded. Now we begin to understand how we got our Bibles.
The Written Word
The formation of the Bible began in the Wilderness of Sin a short time after the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. This took place around 1441 BC. Israel stopped and camped at Rephidim, and as they rested in their camp, the news was brought to Moses that an army was advancing on their position. They were about to be attacked by the Amelikites. Moses told Joshua to gather the army to fight for Israel. By the end of that day, with God’s help, Joshua defeated the Amelikites. God spoke to Moses and said:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” (Exodus 17:14)
This is the first time in the Scripture that God commands a written record to be kept. There are other verses that parallel this, such as:
Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the command of the Lord, and these are their journeys according to their starting places. Numbers 33:2
You will notice that this was done “by the command of the Lord.” God commanded Moses to write. Therefore the precedent was established. God spoke, and men wrote. Moses wandered in the wilderness for 40 years taking up his pen and writing down as God instructed the Book of the Law. When Israel was about to cross the Jordan River into the land Canaan, Moses gave the Book of the Law to the Levites for safekeeping.
So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. [Deuteronomy 31:9]
The Law is the title given the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Exodus from Egypt took place around 1441 BC, and the formation of the Bible continued until the Apostle John wrote the last book. The Revelation of Jesus Christ was written in 99 AD. After 1500 years and by the hand of 35 different human writers the Bible was completed. The result is the sixty-six books that make up the Old and New Testament. There is one common theme throughout all sixty-six books, and that is God's plan of redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ's redeeming work is anticipated in the Old Testament by types and prophecy; accomplished in the Gospels by His death; applied to the need of the people in the Acts and the Epistles; and finally achieved in the Revelation by subjecting all nations to the rule of God and through the creation of the new heavens and earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ's own understanding of the Bible is powerful and unambiguous. He said to the disciples from Emmaus:
0 foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses and with all of the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. (Luke 24:25-27).
The Bible is about Jesus. It is His-story. His sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross stands at the very center of its history. The Old Testament looks to the future work of Christ on the cross, and the New Testament looks back to the finished work of Christ on the cross.
The Living Word
There is no greater witness of God than found in our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, He is given the title “The Word of God” (John 1:1). Just as our words are used to communicate our thoughts, so our Lord Jesus Christ communicates God's thoughts to us.
In John 14:9 Jesus said:" He that has seen me has seen the Father." Many of the characteristics of deity were visible in the life of Christ. Nicodemus saw in Christ the power of God "No man could perform these miracles unless God is with Him (John 3:2). Others saw the wisdom of God "Never a man spoke like this." A few saw the Glory of God. John would write, "And we beheld His glory." The love of God confronts us at the cross (John 3: 16). Our Lord Jesus Christ revealed the existence, the nature, and the purpose of God. He said, “I have come to seek and save that which is lost.” (Luke 19:10).
The combined testimony of the spoken, written, and living Word is clear. God has entered this world (John 1:14) to provide all of us a way to escape from our sins and condemnation (John 3:18) so that all who will trust in Christ will be saved (Acts 16:31).