What Makes Special Revelation Special, Part 2 | The Authority of Revelation

Selected Scriptures

We’ll go into special revelation now and start with a definition. What is special revelation? Special revelation, what is special about it? Special revelation is God disclosing truth to man through words. God disclosing truth to man through words. So, whereas general revelation is universal in its reach, special revelation is specific, targeted, and determined by the divine will. Think about the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, you can think about the person and work of Christ, all that he’s said, all that he did, all that the apostles wrote in scripture. What can be known about Christ, that is not universal knowledge. It’s particular. It’s articulated through the preaching of the gospel and not everybody hears the preaching of the gospel.

The knowledge of Jesus Christ is not universally accessible to all people, in all places, at all times like general revelation is. It’s not like the sun in its orbit. It must be brought specially and particularly to people. That’s what fuels the missionary enterprise or the missionary impulse. So, it’s not just Christ’s physical presence. It’s not just his spiritual presence, but by spirit and by word, it’s disclosure of the knowledge of Christ. It comes to specific people, at specific times, in specific places.

 Emery Bancroft writes, “Special revelation is primarily for fallen man and is remedial. As general revelation was given to man as man, special revelation was given to man as sinner.” Louis Berkhof expands the thought on this, “General revelation,” says Berkhof, “is rooted in creation, is addressed to man as man, and more particularly to human reason, and finds its purpose in the realization of the end of his creation, to know God and thus enjoy communion with him. Special revelation is rooted in the redemptive plan of God, is addressed to man as sinner, can be properly understood and appropriated only by faith, and serves the purpose of securing the end for which man was created in spite of the disturbance wrought by sin.in view of the eternal plan of redemption it should be said that this special revelation did not come in as an after-thought, but was in the mind of God from the very beginning.”

Just to clarify those comments because they can seem to relegate special revelation to something supplemental, less important, being remedial, something remedial to general revelation. That’s not exactly true, as we make distinctions, we need to be careful in our language, but think about this that God did speak to Adam directly and he did that prior to Eve’s creation. But he spoke to Adam directly and that revelation falls within the category of special revelation. God disclosing truth about himself, knowledge about himself to Adam through words and when did that happen? Before or after the fall? Before the fall.

So, he didn’t speak to Adam as a sinner, so it wasn’t just coming after and only supplemental, it was spoken through words to Adam before the fall. So, this is the pre-fall world in Adam created in innocence and God spoke to him then. So, special revelation, it’s a part of the full unveiling of the glory of God. Both general and special revelation pre-fall.

The pre-fall world and Adam, Adam was created in innocence, he was righteous, but remember it’s an untested righteousness. When Adam’s righteousness was tested, he fell. So, Adam’s pre-fall condition and created in innocence, that was never the final form, that was never the end game, the purpose and design for which God created the world. God decreed eternally in one conscience thought, to consummate all things in Christ. Adam didn’t fall and then God came up with a plan B. Adam’s fall was in plan A and there has only ever been a plan A. Anything God plans is plan A.

So, God decreed eternally to consummate all things in Christ which means all revelation, all divine self-disclosure was always and only meant to be completed and fulfilled in Christ. Turn over to Colossians chapter 1 go into verse 15. Christ his beloved son, he “is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation.” First born, not being the first one born out of creation, but the premiant one in creation. That’s a word imagery that speaks of preeminence. So, he is the image of the invisible God. He’s what’s visible of what’s invisible. He is the preeminent one of all creation.

“For by him,” verse 16, “by him all things were created. In heaven and on earth. Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rules or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.” So, created through him but also created for him. “He’s before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He’s the beginning, the first born from the dead that in, in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

That is the original design. That is what God decreed and so, because he needed to make peace by the blood of his cross, guess what’s in the original decree? The fall. Guess what’s in the original decree? General revelation, yes. Special revelation as well. So, special revelation I would just make an argument, it’s not primarily for fallen man. It’s not merely remedial, even though all of it is consummated in Christ. God has given a special revelation to lead all mankind, whether pre-fall man, fallen man, redeemed man, glorified man, special revelation is designed to lead mankind to see God revealed fully, completely, and perfectly in Christ.

This article by Carl F. H. Henry says this, “The term revelation means intrinsically, the disclosure of what was previously unknown. In Judeo-Christian theology, the term is used primarily of God’s communication to humans of diving truth. That is his manifestation of himself or of his will. Essentials of the biblical view are at the, are that the logos is the divine agent in all revelation. This revelation being further discriminated as general or universal, so revelation in nature, history, reason, and conscience and special or particular, that is redemptive revelation conveyed by wonderous acts and words.

“The special revelation in sacred history is crowned by the incarnation of the living Word. And the inscripturation of the spoken word. The Gospel of redemption is not there for merely a series of abstract theses, unrelated to specific historical events. It is the dramatic news that God has acted in saving history, climaxed by the incarnate person and work of Christ. Hebrews 1:2, for the salvation of lost humankind. In the redemptive events of biblical history do not stand uninterpreted, their authentic meaning in giving in the sacred writings. Sometimes after, sometimes before the events. The series of sacred acts, therefore, includes the divine provision of an authoritative canon of writings. The sacred scriptures. Providing a trustworthy source of knowledge of God and of his plan.

“Despite the distinction of general and special revelation, God’s revelation is none-the-less,” and here’s the important part, “is none-the-less a unity. It’s one, because God is one. It is a unity, and it must not be artificially sundered or divided. Even prior to the fall, Adam in Eden was instructed by specially revelated statutes. To be fruitful and multiply, and not to eat a certain fruit, etc.” End quote.

So, as we wade into the waters of the topic of special revelation, I want to start here by clarifying the modes of special revelation. So, turn in your Bibles now to the, toward the end to Hebrews, Hebrews 1:1 and 2, “Long ago at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” I just wanted to read those two verses for our purposes but, man you really can’t stop there, can you? “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to the Angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

So, boiling down the first two verses, there are three modes of special revelation cited in that verse or, or maybe alluded to. You can see historical phenomena there, you can see the incarnate word, and an allusion to, also, the written word. So, what do the modes of God’s special revelation, his particular speaking, his words to the world, words to his people, historical phenomenon, incarnate word, and the written word.

First, historical phenomena. That’s the clause there “many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.” So, that refers to dreams and visions and visitations. So, the Theophanes and the Christophanies of the Bible. Refers to messengers, angels, prophets that were sent bearing God’s message. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is included here as a historical phenomenon, but we put that into a separate category because it is the pinnacle of God’s revelation.

But several points to break it down. God spoke, you could say, first of all, by direct speech. This is all historical phenomenon so God spoke, first of all, by direct speech. You can see from the narratives; we see God speaking to people. There’s nothing to cause us to believe he spoke in anything other than an audible, normal human language. A learned language. It wasn’t some special spirit revelation or some gibberish that they, they heard and interpreted. It was something that, it was the language they spoke. He spoke Hebrew to the Hebrews and Greek to the Greeks and on it goes, in Aramaic.

God spoke in direct speech. He spoke to his own people. So, we can see clear evidence of that. He spoke to, and I’ve got references, I’m not going to read them all here but, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Rebekah, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua. He spoke to other people as well, those who were not necessarily his people. Spoke to unbelievers. Cane, Abimelech, Laban Nebuchadnezzar, Balaam, spoke to Hagar. God spoke by direct speech. He also spoke by divine visitations, the visible presence of God, there in Genesis 3, Exodus 19, Exodus 40. He also spoke by the Angel of the Lord which seems to be a Christophany in many places.

God spoke, third, by dreams. So, that’s to say that God spoke to people while they were sleeping in a very vivid, obvious, divine visitation spoken through words. God spoke by visions as well, while people were not sleeping, he spoke to them while they were awake. Isaiah 6 is a perfect example of that. God spoke by direct speech, he spoke by divine visitations, he spoke by dreams, he spoke by visions, and he also spoke by messengers. He used holy angels and he used human prophets.

So, won’t go into all the detail on that we can, we could go into, but we could unpack it if we wanted to. So, he spoke by direct speech, divine visitation, dreams, visions, messengers, and the ultimate revelation of God, according to Hebrews 1:2, the ultimate revelation of God’s Word combines several of those elements, direct speech, divine visitation, messenger, spoke in Christ, the incarnate word.

That is the emphasis in Hebrews 1:1 and 2. It’s the contrast between all that God had done to reveal himself before in the last days, in the former times, to the fathers and the prophets. And these days, these last days, he has spoken to us, again, by his son. And that is a final revelation. Hebrews 1:1 and 2.

So, “Long ago in many times and in many ways, God spoke,” past tense, “to our fathers. And these last days he has spoken to us,” the sense of a perfect tense there, “who has spoken to us by his son.” Listen to this bit from Emery Bancroft, he writes this, “This passage of scripture distinctly marks out Jesus Christ as the epitome of the revelation of God’s person and will as well as the culmination of redemption. Christ is the supreme event of revelation as well as a definitive word of God’s speaking as he declared his teaching to be Thy word. His word and deed are one and we need not and cannot choose between them. He is the final and supreme expression of revelation as historic event, as God himself becomes flesh and enters into the flow of history as expressed in the language and culture of first century Palestine.

“He is the center of history and revelation as he is the subject to pre-interpretation Old Testament and post-interpretation New Testament. Thus, scripture is the history interpretation and inerrant record of God’s revelation that culminates in his own presence among men. The scriptures, especially the New Testament, are the perpetuation within the church of the apostolic experience and comprehension of the incarnation. The only Christ is the Christ revealed to us in scripture. Written witnesses of the life of Christ is the extension of his spoken word. One cannot accept the authority of Christ, nor understand his message without understanding and accepting the authority of the New Testament. Other doctrines concerning the scriptures, such as canonicity and inspiration are thus equally as important as revelation since scripture itself is revelation.”

So, just to put the importance of scripture into context is the right, the true interpreter of Christ as a historical event. So, Jesus Christ is the divine word, John 1:1 to 3, “In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through him, without him was not anything made that was made.”

So, it falls in the category of created, he did it. So, Jesus Christ is the divine word, he’s also the divine life. Turn to 1 John 1:1 through 4, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life and the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard; we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ. Writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete.

“This is the message we’ve heard from him and proclaim to you, God is light, in him is no darkness at all.” Jesus Christ is the divine life and note in that section all the references to the physical senses. Sensory experience, the divine life became flesh and blood, and you touch him and know him and see him and hear him speak. Jesus Christ as the Word, the incarnate Word. He is the divine word; he is the divine life. He’s also the divine interpreter. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God, but the only God who is at the father’s side, he has made him known.”

Jesus Christ is also the divine image. He’s the image of the invisible God. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Jesus Christ is also the divine wisdom, just jot down Colossians 1:24 to 27, 1 Timothy 3:16, Colossians 2:3, Colossians 2 verses 8 to 10.

It is important to understand that Jesus Christ is the divine word, he’s the divine life, he’s the divine interpreter of God, and the interpreter of all things. He’s the image of God, he is the wisdom of God. And it’s important to understand his role because it’s through him and through what he said and taught and what he commissioned his apostles to do, to write down everything in scripture and he sent the spirit to allow them to remember everything that he taught and said and be able to write that down that the scripture then becomes our interpreter of all reality. He is the interpreter of all reality. He’s the interpreter of God himself. And so, if we’re going to think God’s thoughts after him, we’ve got to think Christ’s thoughts after him, and if we’re going to think Christ’s thoughts after him, we’re gotta think biblically. We’ve got to think scripture thoughts.

So, historical events, even the incarnation itself has to be interpreted to us by the Holy Spirit through the spoken, written Word of God. It’s due to our fallen nature that any naked bare event can be, often was, it still is, misinterpreted. How many different people have their own view of who Jesus is? They all read the pages of scripture and say, well, my Jesus wouldn’t condemn everyone, anybody for their, their sexual preferences. I mean, he’s the one who put that love in them. My Jesus wouldn’t condemn. My Jesus… There’s only one Jesus and he needs to be interpreted, rightly understood, not through a fallen but through a redeemed nature that’s in subjection to the Word of God.

That’s why even for the best Christian interpreters, they still need to follow guidelines called Hermeneutics. Rules of interpretation to mitigate, mitigate against any errors of reasoning. The noetic effects of sin. So, historical phenomenon including the incarnation has to be rightly interpreted and we do that by means of apostolic propositions. Propositions of truth in scripture. Those propositions, they depend on the reality of the historical phenomena itself for their truthfulness. But, to rightly interpret any of the historical phenomenon, we need to look to the record of scripture and the propositions of scripture.

So, we need to see them as inextricably, inseparably linked. So, we have in special revelation three modes, the historical phenomenon, the incarnate word, and, third, the written word, the written word. Everything that’s contained within, and nothing outside of, the Old and New Testaments of holy scripture.

So, no apocryphal writings are included. No Book of Mormon is included. No Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling is included or anything she’s written therein. All and only what is written in the Old and New Testaments of holy scripture. The Word of God is completed in redemptive history. Recorded in the Old and New Testaments of scripture.

This is an important note of punctuation put on by Greg Bahnsen. Bahnsen says, “The Christian has new commitments, new presuppositions, a new Lord, a new direction and goal- he is a new man. That newness is expressed in his thinking and scholarship, for (as in all other areas) Christ must have the preeminence in the world of thought.” Colossians 1:18.

“We must concur with Dr. Cornelius Van Til in saying:” and now Bahnsen’s quoting Van Til, “‘It is Christ as God who speaks in the Bible. Therefore the Bible does not appeal to human reason as ultimate in order to justify what it says. It comes to the human being with absolute authority. Its claim is that human reason must itself be taken in the sense in which scripture takes it, namely, as created by God and as therefore properly subject to the authority of God… The two systems, that of the non-Christian and that of the Christian, differ because of the fact that their basic assumptions, or presuppositions differ. On the non-Christian basis man is assumed to be the final reference point in prediction… The Reformed method… begins frankly “from above.” It would “presuppose” God. But in presupposing God it cannot place itself at any point on a neutral basis with the non-Christian…

“Believers themselves have not chosen the Christian position because they were wiser than others. What they have they have by grace alone. But this fact does not mean that they must accepted the problematics of fallen man as right or even as probably or possibly right. For the essence of the idea of scripture is that it alone is the criterion of truth.’” End quote from, from Cornelius Van Til and end of that section from Bahnsen.

Why must we insist, as Bahnsen puts it, that “scripture alone is the sole criterion of truth?” It’s because we have to be careful about binding people’s consciences. We need to understand that our fellow creatures, our fellow human beings, they’re God’s creatures not ours, it’s His Word and His Word alone that has authority to bind the conscience,” and to command obedience not our word, not our opinions, we need to be very careful that we’re not leading people astray because we’re going to give an account for that.

There are very many subtle ways, “that there are other “authorities” that try to usurp God’s rightful place of authority, His sole place of authority,” his right to interpret all reality and to bare that authority over the conscience. In Jesus’ day, usurpers were the traditions of the elders, the teachings of rabbis, the practices of the pharisees.” All those things try to usurp God’s place of being the sole interpreter and the sole authority over the conscience and that’s what Jesus delt with all the time, pointing them back to the Word of God.

“In the fifteenth,” 16^th “century, usurpers were popes and councils and traditions” and, thankfully, we are here because we’re children of that reformation. “Today the usurpers are personal feelings, people’s experiences, their sense of intuitions, whatever promotes their own personal happiness, and whatever else is blowing in the cultural wind at any given moment.” All that is demanding to have the rightful place of authority, to bind the conscience.

But as Bahnsen warns in Quote, “Those who refuse to presuppose the epistemic Lordship of Christ, the truth of Scripture as the standard of knowledge, and the necessity of God’s light before they could see light, are led into futile thoughts and darkness.” And that’s what prevails today, “futile thoughts and darkness” as the blind are leading the blind.

That’s why we can’t accept the charismatic position that God can just speak to us in our own mind. We have a sense guiding of the Holy Spirit that tells us something and it’s extra biblical, it’s not nailed down in Scripture. When they do that, they’re entering into the territory where they are going to bind somebody’s conscience to something that’s not God’s word, God’s authority. Even if it’s done in their private prayer closet, whose conscience are they binding? Their own. They don’t have the right to do that, only God in his Word has the right to bind the conscience. So, we need to be very careful with that.