The Quest of God . . .

THE FRAGMENTARY CHARACTER OF GOD’S REVELATION

It was in many parts and in many ways that God spoke to our fathers in the prophets in time gone past; but in the end of these days He has spoken to us in One who is a Son.—Hebrews 1

Jesus once explained to his disciples why it was necessary for God’s revelation to be fragmentary: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12)

Man has never been able to bear all that God wanted him to know, so he has revealed himself “in many parts and in many ways” throughout history. It is evident that God has painstakingly prepared the human family for the reception of larger doses of revelation. “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son” (Gal. 4:4). The Greeks and Romans were used of God to prepare the soil for the implanting of the gospel of Christ. Earlier generations had not been ready for such a glorious manifestation of God. Even Adam and Eve needed the Christ because of their sin, and it makes an interesting theological question as to why God did not then and there send his Son to die for our first parents. It was not that Adam and Eve had less need of the Christ than ourselves, but that it was God’s will to reveal himself in a way consistent with man’s own gradual maturation in society.

Man had to be equipped for such a wonderful revelation as the Christ. He could not yet bear it, and so God dealt with him only fragmentarily “in many parts and in many ways.” Perhaps we should nor say only fragmentarily, as if to suggest an inadequate revelation, for we believe that God has always provided man with as much of himself as man could bear. This is the point in our theme of the quest of God, that God has indeed continually pursued the heart and mind of man, only in part when that was all man could absorb, but in whole when history had made man ready.

The prophet Isaiah deals with this principle as he describes the difficulty God has in teaching man his will: “It is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little (Isa. 28:10).

And this is what Hebrews 1 says to us. In preparing the world for something far greater, God revealed himself to man in installments—”in many parts and in many ways”—here a little there a little.” The glorious thing about this is that God’s love is so abundant that he was willing to add line to line and precept to precept when this is all that man could bear, and yet to give himself completely in his Son when the world had been made ready.

Abraham was called “the friend of God” and “the father of the faithful,” and yet his knowledge of God was shallow in comparison to that of Isaiah. God had added many lines and precepts between Abraham and Isaiah. And yet Abraham was probably as knowledgeable of God as one could be in his time. His father Terah almost certainly believed in the one God before him, and it may be that God had instructed Terah to sojourn to the promised land long before he gave Abraham such instructions. At least Terah left Ur of the Chaldeans, fully intending to go to Canaan, but for some reason stopped in Haran. His faith in God may not have been strong enough to break his ties with Semitic culture and move out into a new world. later when Abraham was an old man God commanded him to make the journey, and he did.

It takes time even for heaven to cultivate one who is to be the father of the faithful. Surely faith in God reaches well back into Semitic culture, and it took several generations to produce an Abraham. It took many more to produce an Isaiah.

And culture differs from culture, with God assigning one task to one nation and another task to another nation, in realizing his purposes for man. The Semites gave us Abraham who gave us the Jews, and it was the task of the Jews to preserve a monotheistic faith and to create the context for the entrance of the Christ into history. Other cultures were busy fulfilling other purposes of God. Zoroaster was at work in Persia building an ethic that was to influence much of the world. The Caesars in Rome contributed law and order, and they made ready an empire with ships, highways, and harbors, all conducive to a spread of the gospel. The wise men of Greece wrought out ideas and a language that were important vehicles for Christian thought.

We may suppose, therefore, that the prophets to whom God spoke “in many parts and in many ways” were of many cultures: Socrates as well as Moses; Zoroaster as well as Noah; Seneca as well as Micah. One nation built a culture that gave us the virgin Mary and the infant Christ. Another fashioned a language suitable for the dissemination of the gospel. The finger of God was at work among all the nations, pointing to a coming world ruler, and all their prophets spoke of him in one way or another.

The scriptures indicate that the revelation given to one age sets the stage for further revelation later on. 1 Peter 1:1012 informs us that:

“It was concerning this salvation that the prophets made careful search and investigation; and they prophesied about this gift that God would give you. They tried to find out when the time would be and how it would come; for the Spirit of Christ in them pointed to this time in predicting the sufferings that Christ would have to endure, and the glory that would follow. God revealed to these prophets that their work was not for their own benefit, but for yours, as they spoke about the truths which you have now heard. The messengers of the Good News, who spoke by the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, told you these truths. These are truths which even the angels would like to understand.”

This describes our place in history as so privileged that even angels cannot understand what has been revealed to us, and that our perception of God’s plan is clearer than that of the prophets who first spoke of these times.

Such assurance led to these words in 2 Pet. 1:19: “So we are even more confident of the message proclaimed by the prophets. You will do well to pay attention to it, for it is like a lamp shining in a dark place, until the Day dawns and the light of the morning star shines in your heart.”

This passage well illustrates the fragmentary character of God’s revelation of himself. The light of the lamp as reflected by prophecy points to the glorious illumination that shall be ours when the Lord comes. The light held aloft by the prophets were like candles in the darkness, weak and dim in the dark midnight of the sin of the ancient world, but significant light nonetheless in that it made possible a vision of the coming Christ, however obscure it may have been.

The basic idea of all that we are saying is that Jesus Christ alone brings to men the full revelation of God. All else is fragmentary, and even the fragmentary points to the fulness of Christ.

As magnificent as the prophets were, they were still but a lamp in comparison to the light of the World, and so their message had to be presented in a way suitable to the limitations of the times. It is interesting how a prophet came to be associated with a single idea. With Amos it was the demand for social justice. He told the people: “You have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.” He was angered by their false weights, their neglect of the poor, and by their extortion of the needy. They even turned the Sabbath into a day of profiteering, and fathers and their sons were sleeping with the same women. It was an age that needed Amos. It took one like him to cry out: “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!” But this idea of moral purity, so important to the preservation of Israel, was but one aspect in the prophetic preparation for the coming Messiah.

Isaiah’s conception of the holiness of God was another necessary fragment. Israel could never have fully appreciated Amos’ picture of sin apart from Isaiah’s description of holiness. Isaiah himself could not discern the immensity of his own sinfulness until he confronted God’s holiness. “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! (Isa. 6:5). Isaiah was able to add an important line and precept to Amos’ cry of judgment against injustice, for he told the people: “The Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” (8:13)

It was Hosea who saw the forgiving love of God, as no other prophet did, due in part to his own bitter experiences with a prostitute wife. It was a different aspect of God’s revelation when Hosea so dramatically pictured the love God has for his people: “The Lord said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is beloved of a paramour and is an adulteress; even as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” (Hosea 3:1)

Ezekiel is still different in emphasis. He added transcendence to the idea of God’s holiness, for he saw God’s holiness in a restored temple and a New Jerusalem. To him God is the Lord of history and is forever fulfilling his purposes in human events, some of which he motivates by apocalyptic interference. And being priest as well as prophet he ties fragments together and joins precept to precept more than any of the prophets.

But no prophet grasped the whole of truth. Each one, drawing from his own experiences and from the “parts” that God gave him, provided the people with precious fragments of God’s revelation. But with Jesus it was different. He was not a mere fragment or only part of truth. He was the whole truth. And so it could be said for the first time in history: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Only the Light of the World could overcome the darkness that had so long imprisoned man.

And so the apostle says of him: “Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the firstborn Son, superior to all created things” (Col. 1:15). Paul goes on to say that it was by him and for him that God created everything. “He existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place.”

This is the Christ that John saw while banished on the island of Patmos, which gives testimony to the magnificence of God’s revelation in his Son. John says that he saw a being who looked like a man, and he is indeed a man, as fully human as any of us. And yet the glorious description that follows there in Rev. 1 shows that the Christ is much more than man. He is priest, king and prophet. He is the purity of God himself. He is both judge and lawgiver. No wonder Paul could exclaim: “Christ is all, Christ is in all!”

Thus we see that by fragmentary revelation—here a little and there a little—God pursued man’s heart and mind, giving himself as much to man as man could bear. But everything pointed to the Christ, who is the fulness of all God’s expectation. So fragmentariness is no longer a point. The Christ is the perfect revelation of God. In giving Christ there is nothing left for God to do, and there is nothing further to reveal.

Christ is therefore the answer, in one way or another, to every problem of man. Whether it be divisions within the church, racial discord, or international warfare, the Prince of Peace is the answer. Appropriating his peace to our weighty problems is no simple matter, to be sure, but we must believe that God has provided through Christ all that is necessary for man’s well-being. Spiritual wisdom must therefore become man’s chief concern.—the Ed.

Say rather, beloved Agathon, that you cannot refute the truth, for Socrates is easily refuted.—Socrates