Revelation.
What does this word mean to us? For some, it might immediately bring to mind cataclysmic events decreed by God; searching for the word in Google immediately associates it with the events described in God’s Revelation to John in the book commonly referred to by the same name… Revelation.
And rightly so, I think! Here is the definition of revelation from the Miriam-Webster dictionary:
Main Entry: rev·e·la·tion
Pronunciation: \ˌre-və-ˈlā-shən\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English revelacioun, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin revelation-, revelatio, from Latinrevelare to reveal
Date: 14th century
1 a : an act of revealing or communicating divine truth b : something that is revealed by God to humans
2 a : an act of revealing to view or making known b : something that is revealed; especially : an enlightening or astonishing disclosure <shocking revelations> c : a pleasant often enlightening surprise <her talent was a revelation>
3 capitalized : an apocalyptic writing addressed to early Christians of Asia Minor and included as a book in the New Testament —called also Apocalypse —
This is how I think of revelation. Those of you who know me even a bit might recognize that sometimes, I can be fairly stringent with the definition of words and how they are used; at the very least exploring a bit of a word’s etymology (I should also not that I love slang, as well). When we are on the receiving end of revelation, something is shown to us, disclosed by another, not sourced in our own means.
Revelation transcends knowledge and understanding. Revelation is the apocalypse of something unknown, that is, the uncovering or unveiling of something hidden. One cannot guess or deduce with certainty the contents within a box which is covered in a sheet; they (in perfect conditions) could not even tell wether it were a solid block, a box, or a wire frame. When the sheet is removed though, the observer receives revelation of the nature and contents of the box.
I think of this often when I am studying the Bible. For quite some time, I have been taught various methods of studying the Scriptures, most of those methods being oriented around a literal interpretive framework (what does the author actually mean?). I have found them to be of tremendous value, and cannot be neglected by anyone wanting to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the written Word of God.
However… not all things can be deduced and induced by the acquisition of knowledge. The apostle Paul is an appropriate example of this: the man (Saul at the time) had been trained his entire life in the Jewish religion and tradition, a Pharisee, and zealous! For all his knowledge of the Word of God, though, he failed to give proper attention to Jesus, for the Christ’s nature was hidden from him, until Jesus himself accosted Saul on the road to Damascus.
Similarly, Peter did not somehow deduce that Jesus was the Christ, it was revealed to him by God (Matthew 16:13-17).
This we must keep in mind, when approaching our faith and approaching the Scriptures. We may gain knowledge and understanding through study of Scripture (and we should!), but many of the primary aspects of our faith must be revealed to us. Indeed, the first step we recognize of our Christian lives, the understanding of the gospel, is not something we deduce… it’s something that is shown to us by those around us and revealed to our hearts by the living God.
Prayer and worship are so foundational to knowing God, to truly understanding Scripture, to knowing who we are. We may well approach the Scriptures with academics; but only if we are being unceasingly steeped in the Presence of God.
May God meet you were you are and impart to you such wondrous things as your heart never imagined.