GOD HAS SPOKEN
GOD HAS SPOKENHebrews 1:1-3
Hebrews 1:1-14 The God of the Bible is a God who communicates to man; he has put his thoughts into words; he is not silent. Theologically, God’s self-disclosure is called “revelation,” a word that means ‘unveiling.’ The doctrine of revelation means that God has made himself known to us in the same way that we make ourselves known to one another: by talking. It is a very humbling doctrine, for it assumes that because God in his greatness is beyond the reach of finite minds, people would have never known him unless he had taken the initiative to make himself known to them. Man can only know Him, consequently, through what he has disclosed of himself. “Without revelation,” John R. W. Stott has said, “we would not be Christians at all but Athenians, and all the world’s altars would be inscribed ‘to an unknown God’.”{Acts 17:23} Where has God revealed himself? First, he has revealed himself in nature. {Psalms 19:1-6;Romans 1:18-25} This is called Natural or General Revelation. Every human being, says Paul, instinctively and inherently knows that God exists and that he/she is ultimately accountable to that God for violations of his moral law, so that they are without excuse. The problem of the atheist, according toRomans 1:1-32, is not an intellectual problem but a moral problem -not a lack of knowledge but the refusal to acknowledge God as God, {Romans 1:21} for God has unveiled himself to all men in creation.
Secondly, he has revealed himself in Scripture. {Psalms 19:7-14;Romans 1:16-17} This is called Special Revelation. It is more specific, rational, and comprehensive than natural revelation. He has revealed himself in words to minds. It is a rational revelation to rational creatures. In the New Testament, special revelation was given directly to the apostles, who then communicated God’s truth to us through their words. {Matthew 16:17;Ephesians 3:3-4} Revelation, in other words, was communicated to man via the vehicle of inspiration. As we read and study God’s revealed word, therefore, we need illumination from God the Holy Spirit. {Ephesians 1:18} An outline of the doctrine of revelation looks like this:
I Natural Revelation (Visible and Empirical) A. In Nature or Creation B. Through Historical Deeds II Special Revelation (Verbal and Rational) A. In O. T. direct revelation to the prophets B. In N.T., direct revelation to the apostles 1. Communicated via Inspiration (Objective) 2. Comprehended by Illumination (Subjective)
General revelation differs from special revelation in terms of its audience (everyone everywhere vs particular people in particular places), its nature (visual vs verbal; continuous vs final and complete), and its message (creation vs salvation).
“ Hebrews”begins with an assertion of the fact that the God of Judaism and the God of Christianity is a God who speaks, a God who reveals himself verbally. The prologue {Hebrews 1:1-3} suggests that special revelation has been progressive revelation. The very core of the Bible is the story of God speaking to men and revealing himself at various times and in different ways (i.e. audible voice, theophanies, dreams, visions) to “the fathers by the prophets,” a little here and a little more there. This progressive or gradual revelation has culminated, however, in God’s final and complete “Word,” His own Son. {Hebrews 1:2} Jesus Christ is the Revealer of God, the grand finale of God’s self-disclosure, the One in whom and through whom God has spoken his last word. Through “the record that God has given of His Son,” {1 John 5:10} that is, through the Bible, God still speaks today. A close adherence to Scripture will protect us from two equally dangerous extremes: ( 1) The extreme that God is silent today; (2) The extreme that God is still giving revelation outside of Scripture.
Hebrews teaches that God has spoken, once and for all. Through that revelation, he still speaks. That’s the message of Hebrews: “God has spoken; how will you respond to him?” Are you listening to his voice?