Special Revelation

We saw yesterday that the existence and day-to-day functioning of the universe serve as general revelation, making manifest the existence of God. Working backward from observations about the natural world, all people are able to infer that there must have been a Creator. However, creation says nothing about God as Redeemer, about how to be reconciled to Him. This is a more specialized topic that requires special revelation. Therefore, as the Westminster Confession of Faith tells us, “… it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manner, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His Church” (I.1). The confession is speaking here about all the types of specific revelation we mentioned yesterday—direct communications from God, theophanies, angelic visitations, dreams, visions, prophetic messages, and so forth. By these methods, God led His people to understand their plight and to understand His will for relating to Him.

In some of these cases, God’s revelation was completely supernatural. In other words, He spoke to His people without human assistance, either in an audible voice, as a theophany, or by use of an angel. At other times, however, He employed human intermediaries to convey His words to His people. Via audible communications, dreams, visions, and so forth, He gave to particular people messages intended to be passed along. Those who received these messages were the prophets (such as Samuel) or, in the New Testament, the apostles. They were able to declare “Thus says the Lord” because God had told them what to say. They were relaying God’s own words.

The confession goes on to say that God chose, “for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and the world, to commit [the revelation of His will] wholly unto writing.” In other words, He caused His messages through His prophets to be put into written form, as well as accounts of some of His mighty deeds and direct communications to His people. This written record of God’s special revelation forms the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. We call these Scriptures the “inspired” Word of God. In tomorrow’s study, we will turn our attention to the important concept of inspiration.