The Doctrine of Revelation

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What is revelation?
• Revelation: “revealing of something—making something known.” In
the context of this study, it is God revealing himself to human
beings.

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Prior to the “fall” There was an open
communication (Gen 1-2)

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With the entrance of sin, the open
communication that exists between God and
human was removed.
• Human beings distanced themselves from
God (Gen 3:8-10).
• Sin becomes a great barrier between God
and human beings.
• “Can you by searching find God?” Job 11:7.
• “No one has seen God at any time.” John
1:18.

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God revealed himself to human beings using
other ways
GOD

1. General Revelation sin 2. Special Revelation

• HUMAN BEINGS
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 1. General Revelation
• The General Revelation: Human behaviour & Nature that reveal God’s
character.
I. Creation/Nature around us
• Psalms 19:1. The heavens declare the glory of God: the skies proclaim
the work of his hands.
• Rom 1:20. “For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made…”
II. Human Relationships
• Psalm 103:13. Father to child relationship: God is here described as a
man falling in love with us.
• Isa 66:13. “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.”

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What is the Problem with General Revelation?
 The natural world and human relationship do not give the total
picture of God due to the fall and continuous acts of sin (Rom
8:18-25).
 General revelation does not provide the full knowledge of God.
 Human relationships and the natural world do not give the
complete picture of God. So God is not fully known through
general revelation which limits our ability to interpret God’s
character.

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2. Special Revelation
 Where do we find special revelation?
 The Bible is the primary source of our knowledge of God. It does
not invalidate general revelation.
 It clarifies and completes it. It corrects the inadequate
understanding of God in nature and human relationships.
 God revealed himself to humans in a specific way. At the start, his
revelation came through the prophets (Amos 3:7), then through
the person Jesus (Heb. 1:1-2).
 The Bible contains the acts of God. In the written pages, we can
know more about God ─ Who He is.
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God speaks to us through the Bible
 “All scripture is God-breathed (inspired) and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” 2 Tim 3:16.
 “Inspiration” is used several ways in the Bible.
 a. The word can mean “to breathe into,” Gen 2:7.
 b. The word is also used at the formation of Jesus in Mary’s womb,
Matt 1:20,23.

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 God speaks to us through the Bible
 “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men
spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit,” 2
Peter 1:21.
 The prophets were God’s mouthpiece. That means that the
message originates from God himself─ no private inspiration.
 The Holy Spirit puts the thoughts of God in the human minds.
 God reveals himself in the written pages so humans can better
understand him and have intimate relationship with him.

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• While the origin and the nature of the scripture remains
vitally important to us, understanding the message of the
Bible and responding to its message is no doubt the most
important part of all.
• The Protestant Bible contains 66 documents divided into
2 major divisions called the “Old Testament” and the
“New Testament.” The word "testament" means covenant.
A covenant is an agreement. The OT records God's
original covenant or agreement with human. The NT
records the new covenant made by God through His Son,
Jesus Christ. The subject of these two agreements both
concern restoring sinful humans to right relationship
with God.

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• The OT was written by 30 people over a period of about a thousand
years. There are 39 books and are divided into four major groups:
• The Christian scriptures as accepted by Protestants contain sixty-
six documents in two major divisions called the Old and the New
Testaments.
• The word "testament" means covenant. What is a covenant?
• A covenant is an agreement.
• The Old Testament records God’s original covenant or agreement
with human.
• The New Testament records the new covenant made by God through
His Son, Jesus Christ.
• The subject of these two agreements both concerned restoring
sinful humans to right relationship with God.
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What is the content of the Bible?
• The Bible begins with a perfect world in Eden (Gen. 1-2) and ends with
a perfect world in Heaven, (Rev. 21-22).

The entire Bible contains God’s response

• Genesis 3 tells us the fall of humanity and Revelation 20- 22 tell us

2. The Sanctuary Services, the

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NT has several main themes which stand out

• 1. The fulfilment of the Prophecies

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NT has several main themes which stand out
• 3. Second Advent (Jesus promised to come again; reward the
faithful; punish the wicked; and recreate the world)
 The Bible reveals what God expects of us as we wait for the SC.
 Trust in Jesus – the all sufficient way of salvation
 Obedience to God (“trust and obey”)
 Relationship with God and with your neighbour – Matthew 22:34-
40
• 4. New Heaven & New earth

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Bible deals with the big questions that
confront people
• How did the world get into the mess its in
• What has God done about it; is doing about it; is going to do about
it?
• How can we get to the new world God is preparing for us?
• How should we live now?
• However, there are many important and valid questions that are not
directly answered in scripture.
• What about our ancestors–before the missionaries came?
• Will our pets be in heaven?
• What about miscarried babies?
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 What are the Evidences that affirm the Bible is God’s Word?
[Link] of the book
• The uniqueness of the book is found in its consistency.
• The Bible was written by over 40 different authors, in 3 languages
(Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek), over a period of 1,500 years, and covers
hundreds of controversial subjects.
• Yet, the authors all spoke with agreement; there were no
contradictions.
• From Genesis to Revelation, there is one unfolding story—God loves his
people and wants to save them. By having the intimate relationship with
him and by trusting him, he will save us now and for eternity.

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What are the Evidences that affirm the Bible is God’s Word?

2. Remarkable Preservation
• During first three centuries, Christianity was illegal. Authorities
got rid of the Bible which went on for 250 years.
• Possession of a NT could be a matter of life or death. However, it
was preserved.
• Extremely difficult and expensive to copy
• Yet the NT survived in greater abundance than any other work in
the ancient world.

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 What are the Evidences that affirm the Bible is God’s Word?

3. Fulfilled Prophecy
• Prophecies predicted were perfectly fulfilled.
• Over 300 prophecies relate to Christ in the Old Testament.
• Micah 5:2—fulfilled in Matthew 2:1 (birthplace)
• Psalm 22:16─ fulfilled on the cross (description of his death)
• Matthew 24:2— fulfilled in AD 70 (fall of the Temple)
• Daniel 2— fulfilled and yet to fulfil (rise and fall of nations)

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Prophecy: (Dan. 2)
Babylon: 605 B.C - 539 B.C

Persia: 539 B.C - 331 B.C

Greece: 331 B.C – 168 B.C

Rome: 168 B. C- 476 A.D

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What are the Evidences that affirm the Bible is God’s Word?

• 4. Changed lives
• The history is full of stories of
people whose lives have been
turned around.
• The power of God is seen in
changed lives. This shows that
the Bible is not just an ordinary
book but the living word of God.

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 Why the Bible??
• God can no longer openly communicate with
us, so he revealed himself to us through the
bible so we can better understand him and
the more we understand him, the more we
come to love him and have intimate
relationship with him. He has written us a
message of his love. He has changed many
lives, what about us?
• When a girl or boy friend writes you a
letter or text you, you would want to read it
again and again and even keep them as a
special messages. Other text messages, you
can delete but you won’t delete the
messages from the one you love. You
treasure them because they contain the
words of love. Likewise, the bible contains
the message of love.

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