#33 On the Nature of God: Revelations from Revelation

Can you remember playing the tell-your-neighbor game at a party when you were young? We all sat in a circle and the host whispered a message into the ear of the first person on her right side. (For example, the host might say ‘My dog just died and I buried him in the dog cemetery.’) This person in turn whispered the message into the ear of their right-hand neighbor. The message was then transported in the same way all around the circle. We were usually amused at the final message that resulted. (A possible result from the above message is ‘My cement dog is dyed brown.’) Thankfully, that is not how God communicated His word to mankind. Word of mouth would surely garble the message of God.

The Apostle John experienced the method God used for inspiring the book of Revelation while John was being confined one Sunday on the isle of Patmos, Revelation 1:9-11:

“I, John, your brother… was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches…”

What we learn in this scripture is that the Apostle was being directed by the Holy Spirit on a Sunday when he heard a voice telling him to write what he saw and then send it to the seven churches of Asia.

We know exactly where this message came from, Revelation 1:1-3:

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”

We learn from this scripture that it was the nature of God the Father to provide revelation to Jesus who then sent an angel who worked with the Holy Spirit to direct John to write.

In a similar way, Peter explains the role of the Holy Spirit in the general inspiration of the scriptures, 2 Peter 1:20-21:

“…knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

What this means to us is that this is the nature of God to use this method to communicate to mankind those things He wanted to be heard and obeyed by mankind. Selected men were inspired by the Holy Spirit as to what to write. The result was the Bible. God did not speak to everyone in some kind of still, small voice or by an angel or even in a dream. The written word of God was inspired to the writers of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and was meant to be authoritative.

An interesting phrase is used in Revelation, chapter 2 and 3, as John writes to the seven churches of Asia. He uses the same identical phrase to each of the seven churches, Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22:

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

This phrase emphasizes a lesson to us; namely, that it is the nature of God to speak through the Spirit-inspired Bible to those of us who will open our ears and listen.

In addition, we should not expect further revelations about salvation after New Testament days, Jude 3:

“…I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

The fact that the faith was once for all delivered to the New Testament saints means that they had received the complete revelation on how to be saved. No more was to be expected.

Thus, the nature of God was to provide His word to Jesus who sent an angel to work with the Holy Spirit to inspire selected men to write down His words in New Testament days.

The lesson to us is to hear, obey, and respect God’s Word, the Bible, as being inspired and authoritative.

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