Theology I Lecture 14

okay we are talking about general revelation we're talking about in the broader context of our class notes our overall strategy here we're talking about the existence and no ability of God how is it that we come to know God answer we come to know God only because he has revealed himself he's revealed himself we talked about the distinction between general revelation and special revelation special revelation being the Scriptures and at the at the moment we're talking through the two aspects of general revelation which are what the two aspects of general revelation God's revelation in 1 nature and to constantly the constitution of mankind nature and the constitution of mankind you will want to be more familiar with that definition about six weeks from now than you were just now I tend to take a lot of the mystery out of test-taking because I just don't like tests it's the way it is they're too easy they often do not accurately reflect genuine learning and yet we still use them and I understand why and so we're gonna we're gonna do the exercise but if you were hoping for a scintillating mystery it probably isn't going to happen let's talk about revelation in man's constitution in the the human mind and heart for this our key text is Romans chapter 2 Romans chapter 2 verse 14 Paul says for when Gentiles you get to another way for when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or excuse them okay he says here in verse 14 Gentiles by nature do what the law requires by Nature okay and he uses that term lusus okay and foo say by nature by the pipe someone translated this once by virtue of what you were born with okay the human nature it's a part of human nature to know at least something about the law okay Paul says the Gentiles show a basic knowledge of right and wrong and if he's speaking historically here of course so it's past tense but he's not limiting his comments to that which is in the past from his perspective okay he's talking about pagan non-jews they showed by by their actions by the laws they make the structures they built into their societies that they generally know the difference between right and wrong what a philosophical argument for the existence of God does this sound like the moral argument the moral argument the anthropological argument see the the cosmological teleological and immoral arguments all do have biblical echoes they have biblical echoes so Paul goes on to say that God had placed his principle of law in their hearts even though they didn't have the scriptures they didn't have the written Torah and yet they had a sense of what the Torah said they had a sense of right and wrong and so their conscience operates accordingly their conscience operates according to that law they they are convicted right they are approved or condemned by their conscience so Paul is saying nobody can say I'm not an Israelite and I don't have this revelation you're talking about so you can't hold me accountable to any knowledge of the true God Paul says that's not the case okay the underpinnings of the law are a part of the human consciousness now not the ten commandments per se not the ten commandments as a covenant but the sense of right and wrong the sense that we have a conscience the Sunna dayss that the word that Paul uses to refer to the moral sense of right and wrong right I think that your theological understanding what Paul saying here is gonna differ is gonna vary a little bit depending on what other theological commitments you have I would not say it the way that you just said it that Paul says that the law is applicable to all people whether they're Jewish or not the law per se in the Old Testament is a covenant okay now as a covenant and as as as law even it's a reflection of the character the moral character of God to which we are all accountable therefore the law is a a moral reflection of the Covenant Lord who made that covenant with the Israelites so the law the Ten Commandments plus the other imperatives of the law is what I mean the law is not applicable to all human beings as a covenant because we are not members we are not covenant participants in them in the Mosaic signee etic covenant so it's not it doesn't apply to us as the Covenant but insofar as the law is a reflection of the moral character of God that of course is incumbent upon all of God's creatures all of God's moral creatures are accountable to God's moral God's own moral character so that's the distinction that I think we need to make it maybe that's what you meant okay that's what he meant I thought that's what he meant I just wanted to make sure yeah that that's a discussion for you know theology for but because theology is systemic which sometimes have to deal with that kind of thing that that's how I would make that distinction and I hope that works for you you know hang on to that for now dr. Vlach will answer all of your other questions related that yeah when you get the field forth okay so in Romans 1 talks about how God's God's power his eternal power and divine nature are visible to everyone they're visible to everyone because they are visible in the things which God made so when we look around okay we saw the rain yesterday the sunshine in the mountains today we look around at in the universe and we see evidence that God is there and that he is not silent so God reveals himself in nature and then in the next chapter really just a few verses later Paul talks about how human beings are accountable for the knowledge of God because oh not only can they look outward they can look inward they can look inward and they can see that there is a principle of right and wrong that is built into every person okay so that's a revelation in man's constitution questions about that what we're drawing from that passage theologically okay so let's talk about about the term general revelation given what we've seen in the scriptures okay given what we saw in Psalm 19 in Romans 1 Romans 2 okay and those are just representative what why do we call it general revelation why is it called general okay the word general in English can mean a number of different things first of all it is general in that it is universally available it's universally available what I mean by that is everyone has access to it all people of all times have access to general revelation okay now let's dig into this a little bit how many of you let's do it this way okay we do truth by consensus in our society so let's do it take a poll there's an axiom in sort of Christendom there's an axiom it says all truth is God's truth all truth is God's truth okay let's take a vote how many of you agree with the statement all truth is God's truth how many of you disagree with the statement all truth is God's truth okay several there are a few brave souls that disagree and that's fine because I think I understand why you're disagreeing there are some who will say God wrote two books the Bible and the book of nature or they may say like hero says it that there are 67 books of God's revelation there's the 66 books of the Bible and then there's the book of nature and that when we interpret nature rightly we access truth via science that we are understanding truth if it's true right if we're gleaning it from the natural universe and it's true we're making true statements then I mean where is that where's that from but from God right I mean all truth is God's truth if it's truth then it must be God's truth and if it's God's truth then it is further all that does is further bolster our faith in in God it gives us more revelation of God etc etc okay let's deconstruct that a little bit I don't know can you deconstruct something a little bit insofar as it's an English sentence I agree with the statement all truth is God's truth okay but it only says so much and it's often used to say a lot more than what it what it really can bear all truth is God's truth does not have to mean that all truth is a revelation of God see the difference all truth is God's truth but not all truth is a revelation of God further we can say justice to put kind of a an epistemological twist to the statement we can also say that not every truth or every true statement plays the same role in the the knowledge building endeavor some truths are to be a little more imprecise more important than others some truths are weightier than others some truths play a more central role and that doesn't help us too much with this debate but that's also a related I think a related idea that we need to include there information related to Arts and Sciences and I say Arts and Sciences because often creativity is also considered to be a revelation of God so music right art various kinds of artistic endeavors are considered by some to be a revelation of God and that advances our knowledge of God we have to be careful with that that's not general revelation one of the most important reasons why it's not general revelation is because it's not available to everyone the latest discoveries in microbiology were not available to Paul or the people that he was writing to in Romans chapter 2 or Romans chapter 1 right people those people could look around and they could see the order and the complexity the design the purpose in the universe they could see that but they didn't have you know the latest discoveries of astrophysics and you know biochemistry and whatnot they didn't have that so it's not general revelation let's let's try to be as specific as we can about general revelation because general revelation is not vague it's just introductory I think we could boil general revelation down to maybe these two propositions or something like this God is the creator which contains the connotation of God being powerful right eternal etc - God is the judge okay so we have the revelation of God in nature got his creator and in the constitution of mankind where the sense of right and wrong and the conscience reveals that God is there we have a sense of accountability to a higher moral authority got it okay so this implies God is moral righteous just okay so these two propositions I could for the sake of this discussion I could use these two propositions to summarize the content of general revelation now if I'm a microbiologist if I'm a geologist if I'm an astrophysicist and I'm a Christian okay I can look at these I can look at the the discoveries in my field I can do research on my own I can appreciate the the enormous complexity and design and purpose that is evident in my particular field of study and I can see from that that God is creator so it's not the scientific discoveries that are general revelation it's this and the scientific discoveries when understood correctly when interpreted through up through an accurate worldview scientific discoveries give further testimony to general revelation they are not general revelation does that make sense it's very important to get that distinction take it into the the world of the Arts okay the the complexity of music the incredible almost infinite variety that is possible in the field of music with all the various styles and different approaches to music in history and across the world I can see huge order and complexity variety creativity but that is not general revelation it is further testimony to general revelation okay that this didn't just happen the universe was created to be like this so all truth is God's truth well yeah but that doesn't say very much God is a God of truth so god of course believes all statements that are true but to use that fact to further say all true statements are somehow on the same revelational plane is to make a leap and logic that is very much unjustified ok questions comments I'm sorry I'm a couple of clicks behind here when you do that with that all truth is God's truth idea you are broadening general revelation from the creator revealing himself to the creature to the creature seeking to discover the creator it's not it's not revelation from God to man it's man discovering God you see that the the the flow of revelation is reversed and from a more directly theological point of view broadening general revelation to include scientific discovery and so forth that also misses the stated purpose of general relation which is to declare man to be without excuse to demonstrate that mankind is guilt worthy okay questions yeah I don't think that's too specific that the the proverbial guy on the island who has never seen the Scriptures heard a missionary whatever because the heavens are telling the glory of God and the expanse of the sky the heavenly expanse is telling about the work of his hands okay so what is nature telling me nature is telling me about God's handiwork Paul's emphasis in Romans 1 is that they suppress the truth in unrighteousness for what can be known about God has been made known to them because it's me it's been made known in the things which have been made so there's a sense of what is around me has been fashioned it's been made by a creator on purpose so I think that it's not being too specific to say that general revelation points to God as creator what do you think so we see yeah the making gotcha yeah okay let me let's let's zoom out to just a little bit wider angle view okay and let's take the culture that that talks about the earth on the backs of elephants right and it's elephants all the way down what general revelation I think assert the doctrine of general revelation claims is not that people are gonna look around a creation and and believe in the God of the Bible they're gonna look around at creation and say this has been made okay somebody did this in the darkened nosov their minds how's that for a new word you like that English word in the darkened nests of their minds as they suppress the truth in unrighteousness they come up with a wrong explanation of how how it is that it was made but they have a sense and they're the various creation myths are evidence of general revelation that we have a sense that what's around us has been made okay that's a very good question we have to be really careful that especially in in the field of general revelation that we don't somehow think that this doctrine is asserting that people are going to come to to knowledge of Yahweh the God of the Bible by virtue of general revelation that's not what the Bible says it sensitizes us to the elodie of God has creator and and that's it Chris that in our understanding of science that can sometimes in nature actually be wrong or is always just our interpretation of it yeah our interpretation of the facts can be wrong and it often is and that's I mean that's what science is all about right further refining digging deeper coming up with more accurate and more precise ways of describing the natural world I'm just not sure what the sense of the word true in that sentence is the natural world is true I can say because the way that hits my ears is like saying the number nine is green you know the natural world you know what I'm saying the natural world tells us God is creator so the natural world speaks truth without words Psalm 19 and we but we have to listen correctly so we can always misinterpret the evidence around us but the evidence rightly interpreted speaks truth does that answer your question I mean I know I'm I'm reacting your question in order to answer it but that's what teachers do when they don't know the answer right they either throw it back to the class or they change the question it's not just that God is pushing him to come to the knowledge that than out there and he's commended for that but that when he comes up with you know the world on the back no offense or some other explanation that there is a sense where he's using that to suppress the truth that's underneath the guys are giving its sherman elephants it's more than whatever explanation is that's right yes there is there is there is always an ethical component to epistemology there's always an ethical component to knowing and God does hold us accountable for what we do with what the heavens are telling us okay insofar as that's a theological interpretation right I mean God doesn't hold you know Newton accountable for not thinking of quantum physics it's insofar as we draw a theological conclusions from our scientific observations yes we are accountable we're morally accountable to God that's what Romans 1:18 2:21 and following is about taking the knowledge God has given us and perverting it suppressing it and perverting it yeah good point yes Jim in Romans chapter 10 verse 18 Paul uses he's talking about how people are going to hear the gospel and in verse 17 he says faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word Christ and then verse 18 but I say surely they have never heard had they indeed they have yep any quotes 19:40 yeah so what in what sense in this particular context is Paul using general revelation especially in the context of where he is speaking of specific revelation of the gospel that's a good question Jim and that's a passage that I really wasn't ready to discuss today this you know this is a part of Paul's larger argument in Romans nine to eleven about Israel's accountability there their continuation or discontinuation as the people of God and God's sovereignty in in doing in doing that and so I I don't want to give you a running interpretation of Romans 10 because that's frankly I'm just not I'm not ready for that discussion I suspect that Paul is simply broadening out a little bit to say here's what they had at a very minimum they had what everybody else has right but beyond that look at what else they had they had the law they had Moses they had the prophets they had all of this other stuff and they still reject it so I suspect that it's somewhere in that trajectory of his argument that you'll find he's using it he's using it in that broader sense you know Paul often argues from the greater to the lesser the lesser to the greater is probably one of those constructions and now I'm going to now that you've asked the question I'm gonna have to go and study it out because now you got me curious I've never done that verse by verse study to answer that question yeah you used to be in the gospel I don't know how else to say suggested to me that we don't need to be sending missionaries today around the face of the earth and you pointed to this particular verse suggesting that yeah God has already given all people enough information which obviously is a misinterpretation of this text but it didn't give me to thinking about in what sense is Paul using general relations especially in this context of specific revelation yeah and I'm not sure that in citing psalm 19:4 that he's citing the doctrine of general revelation as we would formulate it he met he may not be citing some 19:40 in exactly that sense so I don't know it's a good question do your paper on that that would be a great topic for a theology one paper Paul's use of psalm 19:4 in romans 2 in the argument of Romans 10 uh I'm serious somebody pick up the gauntlet and do that paper see that's the kind of the kind of thing there that that serves as a great topic for a 12 to 14 page paper because it's narrowly defined in its scope Psalm 19 4 slash Romans 10 18 you can't say everything that can be said about that but you've got all this great stuff you've got theology you know the theology of general revelation and the theology that Paul's talking about there in Romans 9 through 11 you've got exegesis you've got the old the New Testament use of the old that's a great topic so somebody grab hold of that and go two or three of you even and I'll grade all three papers alongside one another that's not how I do it that's a great question Jim I'd like to do some study on that okay secondly why is it general secondly because it's introductory its introductory we're talking about elementary what we make on non salvific truth about God so it's elementary I already said this once we're not talking about something that's vague or fuzzy or ambiguous it's specific God is powerful and holy God is creator and judge that's the point of general revelation but it's introductory knowledge of God we have that portrayed for us in Psalm 19 we looked at that verses 1 through 6 our general revelation of God in nature verses 7 and following are the specific revel the special revelation of God in Scripture as he reveals our condition and his solution for it the law of the Lord the law of Yahweh is perfect converting the soul it's the testimony of the Lord that makes the simple wise etc etc okay so it's introductory in that it is elementary and specific introductory knowledge of God does not reveal the more complex doctrines that require explanation Trinity even attributes of God such as Grace and love I mean you can guess that a God who made all this beauty is a God of grace perhaps a God of love but you can't really get an explanation of that from the the evidence of general revelation and of course the specifics of the gospel so to summarize we could say that the the effect of general revelation is that God has made known and the human race is made accountable God has made known and the human race is made accountable which brings us to the next question number six in your class notes can people come to a saving knowledge of God through general revelation alone and that gets us back to Jim's question and this is where I will plug in a treatment at Romans 1018 the next time around because that really should go in here there there aren't any slides for this this is full in your in your notes scripture nowhere teaches with reasonable clarity the general revelation brings people to a saving knowledge of God okay again I think Romans 10 18 is is not sufficient to make that claim where there is so much specificity in the New Testament about how well what Paul says right before that the faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ that the the focus is squarely on the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did in history and the effect that that has in history for them and for us for all who will believe I mean it's it's very clear in the New Testament the great specificity is laid on salvation being through Christ alone and through the gospel through faith in Christ which requires knowledge of Christ some nineteen is one we've already looked at some 19 7 through 11 points us that points us toward the Word of God from an Old Testament point of view points us to the Word of God has the place where knowledge leading to salvation and sanctification is found people ask about Melchizedek what about Melchizedek in Genesis 14 in Genesis 14 17 we won't turn there just so we can keep moving Abraham is coming back from a war with some bad guys and he passes by he meets up with mill kissa deck right the king of Salem who was a priest of the Most High God we understand that to be the true God Yahweh the true God and how is it that Melchizedek I mean Melchizedek the point of Hebrews is that Melchizedek is nowhere in the the genealogy of those who had the covenants with God and so forth how did Melchizedek know you can also if from the next category in your syllabus small letter B scripture teaches that no one seeks after God and you have questioned about Cornelius in the book of Acts what about Cornelius well Melchizedek and Cornelius are related but somewhat different cases in the case of Melchizedek I think we can say with reasonable confidence God revealed himself to Melchizedek we have other examples don't we in the Old Testament how about how about anybody prior to Abraham that worship the true God we could even maybe expand that to anybody who worship the true God prior to Moses where we have written revelation for the first time Enoch Noah how did they know God they walked with God God revealed himself to them Jobe another example probably around the time of Abraham maybe before how did job who was apparently you know not from the same neighborhood as Abraham how did Jobe know the true God it doesn't say but he did he knew God well enough to know how to make sacrifices to God in such a ways to be pleasing to God he knew how to serve as essentially the family priest as a mediator with his family how did he know that the only way that he could have known that as far as we can tell was because God somehow engaged in a form of special revelation that's not preserved for us he talked to them he revealed himself to them in some way so I would say that's the same kissa tecnu the true God in the same way the job did the same way the Enoch did the same way that Noah did the same way that Seth did because God talked to them yeah why can't it happen now well let's be careful I'm not gonna say it can't happen now but if Christ as we'll see in a few minutes if Jesus is the pinnacle of God's revelation then it makes sense to say that this is how God has spoken this is the finality of God's revelation in Jesus and in the inscripturated literature that gives witness to Christ into his story which takes us all the way through the book of Revelation so you know so why can't it happen now I'm not saying it can't happen now but I'm saying what what the scripture says the Christ is the pinnacle of God's revelation to mankind and so that's how God makes himself known now the writer of Hebrews seems to be saying that in the opening of his book before God spoke in various ways and through you know various people but now lately he's spoken through his son yeah you mean what I just said Hebrews as far as like that oh no not at all I'm not that's not a unique dispensational that is anyone that would I believe that would be anyone who acknowledges that the that the that the theme of Scripture is redemption in Christ anyone who says that the Bible is essentially the story of salvation in Christ for the glory of God he's going to agree with what I just said I think if any of you believe that but you disagree with what I said then now's the time to say so no they wouldn't not a any covenants that I'm aware of that is yeah that wouldn't be a problem because they understand covenant ilysm is not about sort of an unbroken and unvarying continuity in Scripture that's not what covenant theology is about as a matter of fact you read the you know some of the great covenant theologians they're systematic theologies we'll talk about the various dispensations of the covenant of grace okay think about that the dispensations of the covenant of grace so what they're doing is they're taking what what many of us understand to be stages and program of God's revelation become dispensations and they're simply kind of taking that package and putting it under the umbrella of the covenant of grace it's not quite that simple but it is kind of ironic so yeah they definitely see continuity and discontinuity in covenant theology yeah even though the majority of the world would have gone run away and abandon that there would have been a faithful running or passing down yeah the truth from generation to generation that's an excellent point yeah let's not let's not forget that people talked before Abraham that you know parents talk to their children right they didn't sit around and watch TV all evening they talked they passed traditions down and so there was definitely oral tradition taking place prior to that that would be augmented by supplemented by refreshed by you know instances and periods of special revelation maybe yeah that's to me that's a very reasonable that's a very reasonable explanation in my opinion anyway yeah that I mean why wouldn't there be special revelation for someone if God is going to save him yeah yeah not that we know who gotta say yeah right I I think that's a reasonable explanation that God spoke to the people enough to you know to inspire the faith of the elect and engender the rejection of the non-elect there was you know there was enough of a gospel so to speak to believe in to reject in the early stages of the Old Testament yeah to me that's entirely reasonable and and it doesn't sound like special pleading to me given the fact that revelation is progressive right because we would expect God in the early stages to have to reveal himself in various ways while his overall plan for redemptive history is unfolding I think that's a reasonable expectation okay so oh and by the way in the case of Cornelius what did Cornelius have that Melchizedek didn't have he had the Old Testament he had the Jewish surroundings he had faithful Jewish people and unfaithful Jewish people who practiced their religion all around him right Cornelius was a Roman but he lived in a Jewish context so he was an Old Testament proselyte until he was brought into the fullness of the New Covenant gospel when he heard about Christ and he and his household received the Holy Spirit like the Jews did the you know the Jewish church did on Pentecost and and that's kind of the point of that story right that's that's the picture of the Gentiles being explicitly included in the church which is another theology for discussion okay and scripture does teach this is the last point that's not the last point scripture teaches the general revelation is partial and obscured by sin we've talked about that in Romans 1 we can also see in Romans 8 we're not going to take the time to go there scripture teaches that the results of general revelation is the condemnation of the sinner not the salvation of the sinner ok general revelation is simply another way for God to hold us accountable II scripture teaches that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ I've already talked about that it's not just salvation is through Christ but salvation is through faith in Christ there are some inclusive estat s' the the last point here by hearing the word there are some inclusive Estela chol world who will say yes salvation is through Christ but it's not always by a conscious knowledge of who Jesus was so a faithful Muslim or a faithful Buddhist who is responding appropriately to the light that he's given to general revelation and seeking to serve the God he does not know God will save that person on the merits of what Jesus did and to them they they portray that as a as another instance of the the generosity of God's grace okay but that's that doesn't square with the the New Testament it just doesn't square with the New Testament where one has to know Christ and that's a theology 3 discussion soteriology but that's a summary of the the issue of what about those who've never heard can someone come to faith to saving faith by simply responding to general revelation okay so that's our discussion of general revelation it's the revelation of God in nature and in the constitution of mankind whereby everyone gains an introductory knowledge of God all people of all times in places any final questions on that section okay so let's talk about special revelation and once again here we're just in the syllabus special revelation I like I like dr. pedigrees I've given you once from Erickson's systematic theology and from Lewis and Demarest where the emphasis is on personal communication where God is communicating himself specifically and personally dr. Pettigrew who was my predecessor here and one of my teachers I like his discussion is definition and I've kept it here special revelation is God's personal disclosure of himself to us through the living and written word so that we might come to know him in salvation and glorify Him through our lives that's a good definition it it includes the purpose which I think is a part of the definition and it emphasizes as we'll see in a minute it emphasizes the Living Word Jesus the Son of God okay and I like that it says he begins so that the definition begins with the the the concept of personal disclosure God's personal disclosure which means his disclosure of himself with the emphasis on personal relationship he tells us his name he enters into covenants he accommodates himself so that we can understand he seems to be appealing to the various to the rational equipment that were that he built us with so that we can understand what he's saying to us and then of course the pinnacle of this revelatory process is where he the son of God becomes one of us he takes on the likeness of sinful sinful flesh and he's made as a man okay so got special revelation is a personal revelation of God and the personal Ness of it is shown in its fullest extent in the incarnation and again that takes us back to Hebrews 1 we'll look at that in a little bit so that's special that's what special revelation is number three in your notes types of special revelation types of special revelation we begin at the top we begin with the pinnacle the Living Word the son of God Jesus Christ the one who is God made flesh let's see as they cook he is the complete revelation of God in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ the fullness the entire fulness that the csb says the entire fullness of God's nature okay that's just another way for Paul to affirm that Jesus was fully God and he is a complete revelation of God so Jesus is fully God he is a perfect revelation of God let's go to Hebrews and see that passage I was talking about oops and be a No okay we'll enter it manually we'll do it the old-fashioned way long ago that many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days okay recently he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world he the son is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature so his perfect revelation we see that prior to this God spoke ins different ways through the prophets but now now he has spoken to us through his son and you can see that the Ascension there the progression this was what it was before but now this is what it is so this is the perfect perfect revelation of God and also it is the final revelation of God the final revelation of God that progression seems to terminate there in Hebrews 1 and then of course we have this famous exchange between Philip and the Lord Jesus when Philip said Lord show us the father and you know in the context it kind of builds to this point where Philip seems to be saying just take all the mystery out of it for us don't make us figure it out just show us the father reveal the glory of God to us and you you seem you know it's like he's expecting Jesus did sort of taken behind the holy of holies or I don't know what but Jesus corrects his thinking here and he says have I been with you this long and still you don't know me Philip yeah then that hurt you I've been with you this long and still you don't know me Philip whoever has seen me has seen the father so how can you say show us the father if you've seen me you've seen the father this is this is the father's way of revealing himself to you in the son so this is it this is all you're gonna get and that's more than enough and in Scripture presents to us the story of Christ broadly holistically speaking that's what scripture does presents to us the story of redemption in Christ for the glory of God Jesus is the pinnacle and when he came and lived his life and died his death and was resurrected and ascended to the right hand of the Father the rest of Scripture that came after that is simply to tell the rest of the story of Jesus and when we get to the end of Revelation that's what we have we've been told the rest of the story of Jesus so Jesus comes and we hear that story and then he go he ascends and we hear how the story how the you know our current situation got started the book of Acts the beginning of the church and then we have these wonderful letters that tell us how to live in the church what to expect who were accountable to all the wonders of living in the grace of Christ and then at the end we've got the rest of the story in the apocalypse and it's all the story of Jesus so Christ is the final revelation of God so when we speak of special revelation we should think of the person of Christ first and I know that that's or at least overall and that's especially in our context you know when we think of special revelation we default to picking up the book you know that we have the Bible and the Bible is certainly special revelation but it's the story it's the story of Jesus so that's the first type of special revelation of course the written word then is the second type the the writer of Hebrews says that God revealed himself in various ways to the prophets we've got some of those ways listed in script in you know Freudian slip they're listed for you in your syllabus not in Scripture he appeared he spoke through divine speech of course we've got that environment of dust says the Lord we went through this before through dreams and visions in various places I'm just giving you one example of each theophanies and christophany sat theophany would be beware God reveals himself or speaks in a some physical form that's not a human form like the burning bush like the cloud on top of Mount Sinai like the pillar of fire and cloud that sort of thing like the the the brightness the Shekinah glory that came into the tabernacle and to the the temple when they were dedicated those would be theophanies christophany then would be when God revealed himself in the Old Testament in human form okay yeah yes yeah the angel of the Lord would be examples of christophany 'he's not every angel from the lord but in those cases where angel of Yahweh is a an appearance of the pre-incarnate christ yeah okay and then there you know various other things that are listed there thoughts that are placed in the minds of the prophets and apostles the acts of angels are sometimes revelatory God sent an angel to give Daniel and answer to his questions to his prayers in Daniel 9 Jesus life and teaching of course is a revelation from God and then I want you to think about this too miraculous acts of God miraculous acts of God this is another place where I give I want to pass along something that I learned from one of my teachers this is another dr. Pettigrew thing that I think is valuable for us to keep he talked about miracles as a revelation of God and to me it's it's it's a compelling argument before we get to that what are miracles okay miracles are not just where God steps in and breaks the natural laws okay it's not a case of breaking the laws of nature that I don't like the definition of miracle that tends to imply that God created the world and wound it up and let it go and every now and then he steps in okay natural law is a way that God is involved in the universe it's not something that operates apart from God so don't think of a miracle as as God stepping in to break the laws of nature miracles are simply another act of God and they're an act of God that are an act they are acts of God that are unusual that stand out that inspire wonder and therein I think we see their revelatory nature think about the biblical terminology for miracles the biblical terminology for miracles signs wonders and mighty works or miracles signs wonders and mighty works you look throughout scripture and I've given you a number of examples here the term signs and wonders old and new testament both is is used to refer to miracles sometimes mighty works and wonders and signs as we see in the case of acts 2:22 and the others that I've listed there 2nd Corinthians 12 Hebrews 2 so these miraculous acts that we see in the scripture are acts by God that are designed to attract attention that are designed to say something the word mighty work or power mere though we have the English word miracle refers to an act as an unusually powerful act the word wonder in both old and new testament means it's an event that is that causes people to be amazed or astonished people were amazed when they saw miracles right they were amazed sometimes they were frightened even because they were so amazed and then the words sign signs and wonders the word sign means that this act was intended to point toward something a miracle was an act an unusual act that was designed to attract attention inspire wonder and point towards something specifically the activity of God to point toward God doing something God is up to something God's doing something here sometimes what God was doing was taking place through a human being and so part of the purpose of the miracle would be to to attest to the authenticity of that messenger of God right like Elijah or like Peter when they performed miracles and one of the effects of those miracles was to demonstrate this is truly a messenger from God so number three in your syllabus does the Bible teach that miracles were revelational in Exodus chapter five to me this is one of the most compelling moments in all of Scripture Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and they say thus says Yahweh the God of Israel let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness which means let him go come to worship me but Pharaoh said who is Yahweh never heard of him I mean I got temples full of God's here and he's not in there right so who are you talking about who is Yahweh that I should obey his voice and let Israel go I do not know Yahweh and moreover I will not let Israel go well that was Pharaoh's response right I mean that I'm giving you the you know the the Schneider translation the Schneider paraphrase but you know that that's what was going on in Pharaoh's attitude who's the outward II never heard of him okay all of the most important gods we worship them here we've got that we've got that handled so whoever your God is he's got nothing on ours well that was the point of the tenth of the the plagues wasn't it to demonstrate to answer this question who is Yahweh that's what God did he imposed these plagues on the country of Egypt as a way of saying I'm the god of the Nile not the character that you worship I'm the God of the fields and of growth and of sunshine and rain I am the god of life I am the god of the Sun that's what the the ten plagues were all about they were a revelation of God in graphic tragic form so miracles in Scripture were away forgot to reveal who he is as the nation of Israel after the Exodus you know as they're making their way through the wilderness and there you know conquering lands as they go engaging in battles as they go they come to the the Jordan River along the way and as they were about to enter Canaan we hear what the nations around them are saying right we've heard about these people these are the people that like cross the Red Sea these are the people that you know their God took out Pharaoh and his whole army these are the people that God take they've got a God that really takes care of them and so God's reputation right the knowledge of God preceded the people because of the miracles God had done God had revealed himself through miraculous acts there's a hint yeah Carlos in terms of Lazarus nice he's there for four days I think not sir yes and it seems there that there is a wonder that sign is pointing towards God doing something but at the same time he's breaking natural law how can how can I explain that well I don't have any objection to using the phrase breaking natural laws what I object to is the mentality that could arise from that if we're not specific okay God the the natural laws that govern our world here are simply one way of God working in the world they're not something that operate independently of God to describe a miracle is God breaking the laws of nature seems to imply if we're not specific and careful in our explanation seems to imply that natural laws are something that are operating independently of God and he has to step into them he has to step into the situation and interrupt them when in fact natural laws are simply one way of God working in the world miracles are a different way but they're a special way of God's working that are designed to call attention to something to generate wonder and to reveal something okay in most cases I mean you could take I don't know some of the miracles that we might call minor although to the people who observe them they probably weren't minor like the axe head floating on the stream you know what was the revelation of God in something like that well it's not as clear perhaps there as it is in the case of the Nile turning to blood right the Egyptians worshipped the god of the Nile Yahweh is saying I'm the god of the Nile that's pretty clear so anyway that's that's my concern there certainly the raising of Lazarus was something that we can describe as the breaking of natural laws Lazarus's body didn't decay right and he was able to be reanimated so yeah in a sense that's the breaking of natural laws but in a more specific and in a more specific sense it is God revealing something about who Jesus is the lord of life yeah okay any any questions about that let me just do this one thing why don't we have more miracles somebody might say you know miracles are pretty dramatic why doesn't God just reveal everything through miracles well there are if you think about it this is not something that I'm deriving from book chapter and verse in the Bible but if you think about it there are limitations to miracles being used as revelation aren't there there are limitations of accessibility miracles are really only directly accessible by the eyewitnesses those who were there to see them amazing things are always more amazing in person aren't they okay it's like looking at a picture of the Grand Canyon as opposed to standing on the rim or I would argue floating down the Colorado River okay amazing things are more amazing when when you're in when they're viewed in person when they're experienced live they are more amazing when the person who was an eyewitness tells you about it right but something's lost in that telling isn't it I have a daughter who's easily amazed she is amazed at all kinds of things and I love that about her and she loves to tell all about all about these amazing things in great detail and every now and then we have to remind her you know don't forget it's better when you're actually there so if I don't get as excited as you're excited as you are don't you know don't take that as an insult in most cases you had to be there so as it goes to as a miracle goes from eyewitness to verbal telling to written description something is lost ok so the account that we have of miracles in Scripture is great and it's perfect and it's inerrant and it's infallible but there's something different about reading about the feeding of 5000 and being someone who was handed a piece of bread and fish right so there is limitations of accessibility and there limitations of content even if you are there miracles have to be interpreted miracles do not aren't miracles are like any other experience in that they do not carry their own interpretation with them so they can be misinterpreted that happened a number of times in Scripture didn't it happened to Jesus in John 12 yeah it happened to Paul in acts 14 where he was suddenly I just went blank he was bitten by the Viper and he didn't die right oh right right right it was Paul and Barnabas at Lystra and it was a healing this crippled man was there he listened to Paul speaking Paul said to him stand upright on your feet he sprang up and he began walking they were amazed the gods have come down to us and the likeness of men Barnabas was Zeus and Paul was Hermes because he did all the talking and so the priest of Zeus brings out oxen and Garland's and he wants to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas well of course they're horrified so that was a miracle of God that pointed to the authenticity of Paul and his ministry team that pointed to the reality of the Gospel message they proclaimed and even still it was misinterpreted by the pagan people who observed it so even though miracles are spectacular they do not carry their own interpretation they must be interpreted that's why it's better for us to have the accounts of miracles in inspired Scripture than for us to be you know constantly having more and more miracles that we can misinterpret and pervert like people do on Osei TBN not not that I believe those are genuine miracles but you understand I heard that a Senate committee is investigating Benny Hinn part of me is thrilled another part of me is going oh man he calls himself a Christian so okay so miracles are a part of God's overall special revelation and we have for us the accounts of those revelatory miracles in the scriptures now somebody could say but if God reveals himself by miracles then shouldn't we be expecting more miracles to be happening nowadays and that's a discussion for next semester under new mythology but in short I would my my position on that is no we shouldn't necessarily expect that and then we can do an analysis of biblical miracles and understand what their purposes were and so forth on the other hand I am certainly going to say yes I do expect that God continues to do miracles because that's what God does he heals people he saves people he sanctifies people all of that is miraculous so god still does miracles yes is God still doing the same kinds of miracles that he did in the early in the New Testament that is a question that we will debate next semester okay so any questions about general revelation special revelation next time we get together we'll turn the page talk about the nature of God what is it that God has revealed what can we understand about the nature of God any closing yeah you know it's funny when you said that the first miracle that popped into my mind was Elijah on the top of Mount Carmel and certainly those who were still faithful to the true God would have been convicted by that miracle but it almost seems like the primary purpose was to defeat the false belief in the false god of bail and so in that sense I would say that what happened on top of Mount Carmel was was more for unbelievers than it was for believers but the we run the risk this is a good example a good question of theological method here guys we always run the risk of oversimplification God never does anything for only one reason and so to say why did God primarily do this or why does God primarily do that sometimes is asking the wrong question we can say that generally you know biblical miracles had certain purposes and I've got a little spiel on that that we'll look at next semester in Theo 2 if you've already taken Theo 2 then you've already had that discussion yeah yeah that's a that's a good point yeah the Messiah performed miracles in order to authenticate who he was and authentication seems to be an effort that's directed toward non-belief right

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Keywords: Dr., Andy, Snider, The, Master's, Seminary, TH, 605, Theology, Lecture, 14, Bible, Truth, Masters, Divinity, Grace, Community, Church, Sun, Valley, CA, California, MacArthur, Pastor, Teacher

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Length: 73min 2sec (4382 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 01 2012