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Genesis 28:10–22
“Behold, the Lord stood above [the ladder] and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring’” (v. 13).
Natural revelation, also called general revelation or the book of nature, gives all people some understanding of God and His standards. Because of sin, however, human beings invariably twist and suppress the truth, turning away from the one true God and fashioning idols in His place (Ps. 19:1–6; Rom. 1:18–3:20). Moreover, while the created order, the means by which the Lord communicates His general revelation, can tell us much about our Creator, it cannot give us understanding of God’s covenants with humanity or His plan of salvation. For us to know such things, the Lord must speak to us in other ways, and this speech is known in systematic theology as special revelation.
In special revelation, God tells people things that He wants them to know but that cannot be discerned through natural revelation. Most people who have heard the term special revelation probably think immediately of sacred Scripture. Indeed, as we will see, Scripture is special revelation and the only special revelation available to the church today. Historically, however, our Creator has given special revelation through other means as well. For example, in today’s passage we read about Jacob’s dream at Bethel wherein the Lord appeared to the patriarch and reiterated His promise to Abraham and confirmed Jacob as the inheritor of that promise (Gen. 28:10–22). Jacob could not have learned that truth from creation, but God gave it to him in a special way—namely, through a dream.
Another means of special revelation in the history of redemption was angelic visitation. We can think here of the unnamed angel who told Manoah and his wife that they would give birth to Samson or of the angel Gabriel, who spoke to Mary and revealed that she would be the mother of the Messiah (Judg. 13; Luke 1:26–38). Other forms of special revelation that we read about in Scripture include the revelation of God’s will through objects such as Gideon’s fleece and the confirmation of Elijah’s and Elisha’s prophetic office through various miracles (Judg. 6:36–40; 1 Kings 18; 2 Kings 4).
These forms of special revelation prepared the people of God for the apex of special revelation, which occurred in the incarnation and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and His teaching through His Apostles (Heb. 1:1–4). At the close of the Apostolic age, God ceased delivering new special revelation to His church, having laid its foundation once for all in the “apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The various forms of special revelation prepared God’s people for the coming of Christ and the establishment of the new covenant church. To look for new special revelation today is to misunderstand God’s purpose in revealing Himself during an early stage of the history of God’s people. Today, God’s special revelation comes in the pages of Scripture.
For further study
- Exodus 3
- 1 Samuel 14:41–42
- John 2:23–25
- 2 Timothy 3:14–15
The bible in a year
- Genesis 20–22
- Matthew 7