Hello, my young brothers and sisters!

Good Morning!

Today we will reflect on the doctrines of Revelation and Scripture. From the beginning of the

creation, we see God reveals himself to the creation through different approaches. In the

beginning, God made humans in his image, but sin separated them from him. However, that

did not let him be away from us in the dark. He has been acting and speaking so that we may

know him and return to him. We will also ponder how God speaks to the Church and how

churches work together to hear God faithfully together along as we look into these two

doctrines.

Let us open our Bibles and read John 1:1-14

How do we know God, or what is a revelation? The doctrine of Revelation is how God makes

himself known to us. John Webster says, “Revelation is the self-presentation of the triune

God, the free work of sovereign mercy in which God wills, establishes and perfects saving

fellowship with himself in which humankind comes to know, love, and fear him above all

things.1 Throughout the Scripture, we see he is a speaking God. He walked and talked in the

garden of Eden in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). Later, he spoke to Noah, Abraham,

Moses, and then to the prophets of Israel in the Old Testament. Furthermore, in New

Testament, God revealed himself to us directly in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He dwelt

among us, spoke to us, and inspired the prophets and apostles to write down his words.

Today, people worldwide do many things to find God. However, the doctrine of revelation

teaches us that God has already found us. Beth Felker Jones put in these words, “God acts to

reveal himself to us. God uncovers the hidden things, allowing us to know him and inviting

us into a relationship with him. It is part of the goodness of who God is – God is a revealing

God, a God who wants us to know.”2 And we can know about the divine revelation in two

1
John Webster, 23
2
Beth Felker Jones, 32
forms: general revelation and special revelation. General revelation refers to God’s self-

disclosure in creation and providence. Psalm 19 refers to this revelation that the heavens

declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Furthermore, in Romans

1: 19-20, Pauls says God has shown this revelation to all. However, we cannot reconcile to

God through the general revelation. So, special revelation is needed to know God personally.

Special revelation is God’s specific self-revelation in the history of Israel, the incarnation of

Jesus Christ, and the Scripture. Even though the whole creation testifies to God, without

God’s special revelation, we cannot truly know him. That is why Scripture is so important to

us. Beth Felker Jones puts in these words that even though God reveals himself to us in

creation and our consciences, sin leads us to misinterpret this revelation and distort it into

something else. With Scripture as our guide, we can look to general revelation and begin to

interpret it correctly by seeing how it fits together with what we have been given in God’s

special revelation.3

Let us see what the Scripture is. The Christian Scriptures are a complex collection of texts

with human authors from various centuries, locations, and perspectives. 4 However, the

authority of Scripture rests in its author, God the Holy Spirit. There are two categories to

relate Holy Spirit with Scripture. First is the inspiration which refers to the Spirit’s work as

the author of the Scripture, a work the Spirit did in and with the human authors of the biblical

texts. And the second is the illumination which signifies the ways that the Spirit continues to

work in and with God’s people to help us understand and be faithful to what we read in the

Scripture.5

Now, the question arises that how does God speak to the Church or us today? There are

different means God can speak to us today.

3
Beth Felker Jones, 39
4
Ibid, 40
5
Ibid, 40
First, God speaks to us directly. Throughout the Bible, we see God speaking directly to

Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Jeremiah, Paul et. Cetera. He speaks directly through

visions, dreams, and angles as well. He spoke to Mary and shepherds through an angel and

spoke to Joseph through a dream. Today, we can relate our experiences when God has spoken

to us directly through dreams or visions.

Secondly, God speaks to us through prophets, pastors, or elders. In the Old Testament, God

spoke to his people through prophets. They were appointed and anointed by God to warn

about the sins of Israel and ask them to repent back to him. In New Testament, the first early

church elder was Peter, and after the ascension, Christ spoke through him to the people. In

Ephesians 4, Paul says God has appointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers, and

God does speak to us through them. Many lives had transformed when God spoke through

pastors and leaders in the Church.

Furthermore, we can know God from other resources such as tradition, reason, and

experience. They help us know God and transform our lives, but these can be varied between

individuals and locations and can bend in any direction. So, John Wesley talks about the

principle of sola scriptura means Scripture alone, and says it is a safety net meant to keep us

from falling into false thinking about God. And he wished to be “a man of one book”, though,

read broadly from many books. He longed for God’s Word in Scripture, writing, “O give me

that book! At any price, give me the book of God!” The more Wesley immersed himself in

that “one book,” and the more he got to know the Bible, the more he understood the gospel in

his own life and strove to share the good news with others. He relied on the Scripture as the

source of doctrine.6

Finally, we know that God speaks to us through the Scripture. The work of the Spirit of

inspiring Scripture did not end in the past, but it continues to illuminate in the present also in

helping us to read the Scripture well and respond accordingly. Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16-
6
Beth Felker Jones, 18
17 that all Scripture is God-breathed is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training

in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So, every word in the Scripture is from God. When we recognize the Scriptures as the Word

of God, we are recognizing a reliable connection between these texts and the God whom we

meet and know there.7

So, let us stop here and ask how churches or we work together to hear God faithfully when

God speaks to us through different ways. The definitive act of the Church is faithful hearing

of the gospel of salvation announced by the risen Christ in the Spirit’s power through the

service of Holy Scripture. The Church exists and continues because God is communicatively

present; it is brought into being and carried by the Word. 8 And as the hearing Church, the

Christian community is wholly referred to the Word of God by which it is established, and

we need to understand that Scripture has the authority to quicken the church's truthful speech

and righteous action.

I would like to share some of the other essential things how we can hear God faithfully. One

of the important things is when we hear God is to listen to him well. In the Bible, we see

Samuel's story in 1 Samuel 3: 1-10, where it took time for him to discern the voice of Eli and

the voice of God. And then he says to God, “Speak, your servant is listening.” Thus, we need

to develop the art of listening to God.

Furthermore, the other thing is silence. We often hear so many voices as our world is filled

with noises, and we do not listen to what God is trying to say. Mother Teresa said that we

need silence to hear God speak to us. So, we need to learn to be silent when we come to hear

God. Moreover, once we hear what God says, we need to be obedient and allow God to

transform our lives. The Spirit’s illuminating power shines forth, not just in helping us to

understand the Bible, but also in transforming us into living witnesses to the truth that we

7
Beth Felker Jones, 41
8
John Webster, 54
read there, people who begin to look like Christ, to “bear the image of the man of heaven” (1

Cor. 15:49).9

Thus, we can know God through the general revelation, but special revelation plays a

significant role in knowing him personally. That is why Scripture is fundamental for us to

know him well. There is a need to be a church of sola scriptura so that the misinterpretations

of others will not lead us. Moreover, when we read the Scripture and hear God, we need to

allow the work of the Spirit to illuminate our lives to become like Christ. May the Lord help

us become a people of “one book” and hear him faithfully!

9
Beth Felker Jones, 43