The Characteristics of Revelation

To know anything factual about God or the eternity he occupies it must be revealed by God.  That means our knowledge would come t us by supernatural revelation.  There are 4 characteristics of a revelation and what a real revelation would accomplish.

1. A revelation would reveal things we could not otherwise know.
2. A revelation would be somewhat of a surprise.
3. A revelation would line up with certain observable facts.
4. A revelation would not conflict with itself, or be deceptive.

The first point is obvious.  If we have the ability to know something as a result of our own effort, a revelation would not be required.  Theoretically, humanity has demonstrated a progressive ability to uncover the mysteries of the natural world.  What we need is information that is beyond the natural world.  The revelation we seek would provide that information.

Regarding point number two, the nature of information we could not otherwise know would obviously be unexpected and would probably surprise us, especially if the information revealed was something we did not like.  Truth in its most transcendent form cannot be controlled, changed or manipulated to be what we would prefer it to be.  It would just be the way it is.

The third point is based on the idea that there would be historical evidence to support the revelation, and facts reported would be verifiable in one way or another.  This is necessary because any revelation given would require involvement of the revelator, with the object of the revelation.  The revelator would have to be God, and the recipient of the revelation man, who lives in a time-based, event-oriented existence.  Any true revelation must involve history, because the revelation would have to take place in the natural world in the form of events.

The last item, which prohibits contradiction or deception, presupposes the revelation would be the truth.  The supernatural occupant of eternity could have no possible motive to lie, because, there would be nothing to be gained by deception.  If you own eternity it is hard to improve on that.

These four characteristics of revelation also give us an idea of the subject matter we might expect in a revelation.  The primary information we need is that which would tell us about God, the eternity He occupies, and our relationship to both.  Man has demonstrated the ability to find out just about everything, but the nature of God and Man’s relationship to God is unknowable without revelation.  The Hebrew writings found in the Old Testament of the Bible  meet all four of these requirements.  No other alleged revelations can pass this test.  They invariably fail at points three and four.  They conflict, or do not line up with observable facts.