Affection for God’s Word Begins with Divine Revelation

Before anything else existed, God spoke—and by His word, everything came to life. There was no formal defense of His existence, no philosophical preamble. Just “God said,” and light burst out of darkness. 

The first thing we learn about God is that God speaks. It is how the Bible begins. It is how the universe begins. All things that we know were created by the God who speaks, and they were created by Him speaking.

Had God not spoken, there would be nothing. He was under no obligation to speak. He wasn’t compelled to speak nor pressured by anyone or anything, for there was nothing else in existence. But God spoke. He is a speaking God.

An affection for the Bible begins with knowing the nature of the Bible. And that begins with knowing that God speaks—knowing the nature of God. He is good. He takes the first step. He stoops down. He communicates. He reveals. Theologians call this divine revelation. 

An affection for the Bible begins with knowing the nature of the Bible—and that begins with knowing that God speaks.

To reveal means to “unveil” or make something known that was hidden. It is the drawing back of the curtain to show something that was already there, but previously hidden. When it comes to divine revelation, two truths are inherently evident.

First, we cannot know what is hidden unless it is revealed. By definition, whatever is hidden is unknown to us. The hidden knowledge is unknown, and its existence is also unknown. We don’t know it, nor do we know that we don’t know it. The knowledge is completely veiled. We must be made aware that there is knowledge we can acquire before we can comprehend it. We are entirely in the dark. 

Second, we are entirely at God’s grace. Since we are unaware that we don’t know what is to be known, we will not make the effort to know it. But if we were aware, we wouldn’t have the power to access it, because it is out of reach. God is transcendent, far beyond our grasp, for He “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim. 6:16). His knowledge is so exhaustive that we could not comprehend it (1 Cor. 2:14) even if we could access it (Is. 55:8-9). We are genuinely at God’s mercy.

Therefore, divine revelation is a gracious act of God upon His creatures. He stoops down to make the knowledge accessible and understandable. He unveils and explains. He comes to us because we cannot go to Him. He opens up the heavens to shine light on us who are trapped in intellectual and spiritual darkness. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” says the Psalmist (Ps. 119:105).Without a God who is gracious, there is no divine revelation. Without divine revelation, we stumble around in darkness. God reveals to us that there is hidden knowledge. Then, God reveals to us the hidden knowledge. The first is what we refer to as general revelation. The second is special revelation. The first tells us that God exists (Rom. 1:19-20; Ps. 19:1-4). The second reveals who God is and invites us to know Him personally (Heb. 1:1-2; Jn. 1:18). Both of which we will tackle in the days to come.

God, in his wondrous grace, decided by his good pleasure not to leave humanity in darkness, so He unveiled the truth we need to know. Affection for God’s Word begins with knowing that God reveals.