The Prerogatives of Godhood – Part 3 – To Reveal or to Hide
Thus far we have considered God’s prerogative to create and to choose. Now let’s think about His prerogative to reveal or hide Himself. Indeed, exploring Godhood is a wonderful pursuit. God possesses the ultimate prerogatives, that is, the rights and privileges, of being the Supreme Being. And in this matter He has the prerogative to reveal or reserve, to speak or be silent, to show or hide.
Carl Henry says:
“Divine revelation creates an unprecedented situation in human affairs. It does not operate on flight schedules charted by travel agents…….; rather, God’s disclosure overtakes its unsuspecting recipients unannounced like some low-swooping jet…..roars over a startled motorist below. Revelation is God’s free disclosure in deed and word and time, a voluntary divine determination.”
Scripture is a substantial revelation of God’s being, His will, and His work in history. But do we have a right to this Bible, or could we demand that God reveal Himself in this way? Would He be charged with sin if there was no Bible? Furthermore, is reading and understanding the Bible totally within our power? No, God must reveal Himself to us.
Carl Henry challenges us on this whole matter:
“What God withholds about himself and his ways is beyond our knowing. Isaiah 40:28 – ‘His understanding is inscrutable’; no one can presume to comprehend his ways unaided says Isaiah 40:13. ‘The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever’ says Moses in Deuteronomy 29:29. Our knowledge of God’s nature and purposes is limited by his disclosure; not a morsel of information can be confidently asserted about God and his will beyond what he has chosen to reveal.”
The Bible is truth about God, but the Bible is not all that can be said about God. He has reserved much about Himself. Our calling is to understand what is given, and not speculate on what is reserved. Everyone must come to the Bible with a humble mind. We should never act or argue as though we have mastered any point of theology and have it all figured. We can confidently confess our faith and our doctrine without creating the appearance that there is no mystery in God’s self-disclosure. We never want to regard ourselves as theological know-it-alls. Listen to two statements of Job in this regard.
“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?” Job 11:7
“Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; The number of His years is unsearchable.” Job 36:26
Knowing God is a privilege.
Jesus indicated that if we know anything about God it is a matter of divine choice and conferral. He performed miracles in the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida and the people did not repent, He looked up into Heaven and praised His Father for making Himself known to some:
At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. – Matthew 11:25 – The Father reveals at His own discretion.
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. – Matthew 11:27 – The Son reveals at His own discretion.
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. – Matthew 16:17
Carl Henry said:
“In other relationships of life, man stands superior to the object of his study and is largely free to determine the time and circumstances of his inquiry. In respect to God, however, man is always fully dependent upon God’s purposes and subject to the reality of God’s revelation.” (emphasis added)
This is a reminder that the knowledge of God, like many things in life, is a privilege and not a right. Do you know God? How have you come to know Him? Have you ever thought that it was He who initiated your pursuit, that He was giving you a great privilege of setting you on a road that would light your path, pave your way, and lead you, not where you had decided to go, but where He was determined to take you?
We come to know God His way, and according to His method and timetable. This is an unspeakable privilege because God is precious and knowledge of Him is precious. David knew it well: “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” ~ Psalm 139:17. Paul put it this way: “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” – Phil. 3:8.
Carl Henry:
“God who makes himself known in his sovereign freedom in manifestations of his own choosing specially reveals to some what has been hidden from all…..The life and destiny of the worldly-wise who disdain God’s comprehensive revelation contrast markedly with that of the humble novices who become eager recipients of the truth of God.”
The knowledge of God is partial.
When we say this we do not mean that it is defective, like having a car with a great engine but no transmission. We do not mean that it is not satisfying, like having a dinner with a great piece of meat with no rice, potatoes, or noodles. We do not mean that it is unclear, like directions which leave out a few turns along the way. We do not mean that it is misleading, like propaganda which cloaks real intent. All we mean is what these passages say:
• “Truly, You are a God who hides Himself.” ~ Isaiah 45:15
• “Why do You hide Your face?” ~ Psalm 44:24
• “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” ~ Deut. 29:29
• “For now we see in a mirror dimly…..now I know in part….” ~ 1 Cor. 13:12.
Carl Henry again:
“The fact that we know only ‘in part,’ however, does not destroy the validity and trustworthiness of that portion of knowledge we have through divine disclosure. That God does not reveal himself to man exhaustively does not mean that he does not reveal himself truly. To say that man cannot fathom fully all the depths of God’s being is not to assert divine unknowability.”
To say that man cannot fathom God fully just means that the finite cannot hold the infinite, no more than a bucket can hold the ocean, or the stomach can hold the whole harvest.
• “God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.” ~ Job 37:5
• “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” ~ Rom 11:33
Would we have a problem with God if He would fill the little cup of our minds, even to overflowing, with glimpses of His glory? Would we complain that we could not grasp the whole universe of the divine and ask for a cup as big as God? Would we have a problem with God giving us enough light for today, or enough light for a certain period of our life, and not all our tomorrows and our whole future?
We cannot know God without prayer.
Here is an important key. Thomas Brooks beautifully described it as “the key to heaven” in his 1665 Puritan treatise on prayer. He points out that: “God has usually let out Himself most to His people when they have been in secret, when they have been alone at the throne of grace.”
When God was beginning to reveal to Daniel great truths about the world and the future, Daniel went right to the place of prayer.
“In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. 3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Dan. 9:2-3).
Here is the pattern: God begins to reveal; we go right to prayer. We know that God is about to speak – with reflex action we resort to prayer.
It honors God when we prayerfully seek Him.
• “I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me” (Prov. 8:17).
• “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).
• “For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, ‘Seek Me that you may live’ ” (Amos 5:4).
• “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26).
The attitude of prayer makes us most receptive to understanding the mysteries of God. What kinds of prayers should we pray to enjoy the privilege of knowing God each day?
1. Prayers of repentance – “Lord, I have sinned / Lord, I have not been faithful / Lord, I have fallen into temptation.”
2. Prayers of longing – “Open my eyes” / “I long for You” / “show me your glory.”
3. Prayers for the Spirit – Lk. 11:13 – “If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
4. Prayers for Illumination – Just as Paul prayed that the eyes of the hearts of the people of God in Ephesus would be enlightened, so we pray for ourselves.
Something wonderful should happen every time we read or meditate on God’s word, and every time we hear the preaching of God’s word. It is that we are about to see God, to hear His voice, and come into His presence. And when we understand what Scripture teaches about this prerogative of God, we will plead with God to allow us the privilege of seeing and hearing Him. We should never presume that it will just happen.
Notes:
1. Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation , and Authority, Vol. 2, (Waco, Texas: Word, ) p. 47
2. God, Revelation, and Authority, Vol. 2, p. 47.
3. Ibid., 49.
4. Ibid., 51
5. Ibid., 54
6. Thomas Brooks, The Secret Key to Heaven, Banner of Truth Puritan Paperback, 2006, p. 24.
-John Reuther