Revelation and Inspiration
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things he saw(Revelation 1:1, 2, NKJV)
John receives a message from God through Jesus Christ and an angel.
Good afternoon. Happy Sabbath.
Imagine receiving a letter from someone you have never met. The letter claims to contain a message from the most powerful Person in the universe. It tells you what He thinks, what He desires, what He promises, and what He warns will happen.
You are told that your life may depend on understanding its message.
But there is a problem.
You did not hear the original words. You did not see the events described. You were not present when the message was given. You have only the words that have reached you through other people.
Consider John on Patmos. An elderly apostle, isolated on a small island, receives a message that begins with an extraordinary chain of communication: God gives the revelation to Jesus Christ, who sends it through His angel to John, who bears witness to what he has seen. The message is then passed on to its readers and hearers.
God could have chosen to communicate in countless ways. Instead, He chose to work through human beings, human language, written records, visions, symbols, and even dramatic actions.
And that raises questions we cannot afford to avoid.
- Did God dictate every word the prophets wrote?
- Did He give them ideas and allow them to express those ideas in their own language?
- When a prophet acted out a message, as Ezekiel did, was the action itself part of the revelation?
- What happens when a divine message passes through a human mind, with all its limitations, personality, and understanding?
There is another question we must be willing to face: Are we defending the authority of Scripture, or sometimes defending our own interpretations of Scripture as though the two were identical?
Those are not always the same thing.
Over the coming week, we will explore how God reveals truth, how the Holy Spirit works through human messengers, and how divine messages reach us through oral communication, written records, and symbolic actions.
So, as we gather under the Tree this week, let us bring more than familiar answers. Let us bring open Bibles, honest questions, and teachable hearts.
Because if God has spoken, the message deserves our attention. But if we have misunderstood the message, our confidence will not make our misunderstanding true.
Welcome to Revelation and Inspiration.