God

When a CEO wants to communicate with someone, he has different ways of doing so.

One CEO dictates a letter to his secretary, who prints it out for his signature.

A second CEO tells his secretary to write a letter to Smith and say these three things.  She writes the letter and presents it to her CEO, who then tweaks it and signs it.

A third CEO says, “I’m going to go see Smith myself,” and he pays Smith a visit and talks face to face. 

I use the examples of CEOs communicating because they illustrate some differences among different types of revelation.  For example, when Muslims speak of revelation, they have in mind something like the first CEO.  Islam claims that Allah dictated the Quran and all other revelation.  To Muslims, Mohammed has no role in the Quran other than merely reciting and repeating what he received. 

The Christian concept of revelation is much more complex.  To be sure, the dictation model of revelation does exist within Christian thinking.  Sometimes God reveals His words through means like writing ten commandments on stone and handing them to Moses or speaking directly from heaven, “This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.  Listen to Him.”  Within the Christian concept of revelation, there are times for “Thus saith the Lord.”

But the Christian concept of revelation is bigger than mere dictation.  To a Christian, God does not just speak to men.  He speaks through men.  In other words, God is not just a giant dictator.  He works with men and through men in order to communicate His will.  In this respect, God’s communications can include a process akin to that of the second CEO.  Revelation from the top can include lower-level involvement, yet still come from the top.  We see this all the time here on earth.  God certainly can do it.  In the Christian idea of Scripture, we have the concept that men spoke from God.

Men spoke.  But they spoke from God.  It was not the will of man that produced the revelation.  But the men still had a role.  They had to seek God, hear from God, and communicate to their situation what God communicated to them.  When they did this, they spoke.  And when they spoke, they did not all sound alike.  Paul communicated with his own personality and style.  John with his.  Jeremiah with his.  David and Solomon sound different.  As do Luke and Micah. 

In the Bible, God does not crush the voice of a man when He communicates through him.  He uses the man.  He works through the man in such a way that God’s message is never compromised, but the man is still himself. 

Some people have difficulty with this type of revelation.  They think that God must dictate or we have all sorts of room for error.  This thinking misunderstands God.  It thinks that God cannot preserve His Word unless He dictates it.  The God of this thinking is much too small and weak.  The problem with this view is not with its concept of revelation but with its concept of God.  These people do not know God at all.  The idea that God cannot preserve His Word unless He dictates is blasphemy.  It focses only on earth and ignores God Himself.  But when Christians speak of revelation, they are not focused on earth.  Christians speak of God with infinite power directing the whole affair so that the message revealed is the message God wants revealed.  Human ability to mess up God’s message is finite, but God’s ability to preserve His message is infinite. 

And here’s the thing.  The human ability to mess up God’s message exists even within the dictation model, for the one receiving the dictation must remember it correctly, copy it correctly and pass it on correctly.  But this is nothing for God.  God has infinite power, and infinite power outstrips any measure of finite weakness by the same amount in any form of revelation.  God has preserved His message through men, not just to them. 

But Christianity has a deeper and more complete form of revelation than this, for in Christianity the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  The Creator became a man.  God revealed Himself not just through words but through a life.  God did not just tell us about Himself.  He showed up.  He lived among us, so that people could see Him and hear Him.  He healed.  He taught.  He suffered.  And those closest to Him could see His glory.  God’s fullest revelation was the Incarnation.  His most complete message was Jesus.

This type of revelation is more like that of the third CEO, who paid Smith a visit.  This revelation is more personal. 

People have different kinds of problems with incarnational revelation.  On one level, if God truly came to earth in the person of Jesus, then Jesus is your Lord.  And He is your Lord whether you like it or not.  For most people, especially in the West, the idea of making someone else your lord does not sit well.  Their problem with the Incarnation of Jesus is not philosophical but personal.  They don’t want to follow Him. 

Others somehow think that God cannot or will not come to earth.  Those who think God cannot come to earth do not believe God is all powerful.  Their god is not God.  Those who think God will not come to earth usually say that an Incarnation would be too demeaning for God.  To them, God would never condescend in such a way as to mingle with men. 

To them an Incarnation is abhorrent.  To the Christian it is glorious.  To them it is insulting.  To the Christian it is love in action.  To them it contradicts God’s character.  To the Christian it reveals God’s character.  The Incarnation is like a king who came to live among the people for a time.  He doesn’t give up his royalty while living among the people, but he does allow the people to know him in a way they never could have known him had he remained hidden in his palace.  The Incarnation is wondrous and glorious. It is reason to exalt God even more. 

Christian revelation has, thus, included all three forms of communication that the three CEOs represent.  Sometimes God dictated, frequently He spoke by His Spirit through people, but when the time was right, He paid a visit. 

The fact that God communicates to us in all these ways says something about His relationship with people.   It says that God is not merely transcendent.  He is not a distant god who dwells in the sky and issues decrees for us to follow.  Instead, the God who is beyond you and me wants to come near.  He wants to include you in His work.  He wants you to know Him so well that you can describe His character and will in your own words.  He wants you to be united with Him. 

The Christian concept of revelation flows out of the Christian concept of God.  Revelation and theology are integrated.  God chooses to reveal Himself through men and to personally visit men because He is a relational God, a humble God, and a loving God.