HOW WE GOT THE BIBLE
•	REVELATION
Lecture 1

REVELATION OF GOD
•	First -  an assumption:
•	Because of the nature of this course - the doctrine of General Revelation will not be addressed.  We assume that nature points to God.
•	Psalms 19: 1;
•	 Romans 1:20
•	It has been said, “God cannot be explained by nature; nature is explained by God.” (Johnson, Intro to the Bible), 24.
OUR BEGINNING
•	We begin where the Bible begins in Genesis 1:1
•	that God created the world and then His story begins
•	As Dr. Jimmy Draper, Foundations of Biblical Faith, p. 11, says, “When we look at the world and see all the different ideas about God, we long to know the truth. We want to discover what is right about God. One thing is very evident. WE WILL NEVER KNOW GOD UNLESS GOD REVEALS HIMSELF.”
PROOF OF GOD
•	This is total foolishness!
•	Some things are just obvious -
•	Can you prove the sun exists?  
•	Sure, you say, Just open the window and look and see the sunshine
•	The Bible writers felt no need to prove what they considered obvious
The Bible Itself
•	Not merely _______________________
•	It is a DIVINE LIBRARY
•	Written over _____centuries and by _________or more authors
•	Book of wonderful variety
•	beautiful love stories reflecting tenderness and human passions
•	political intrigue that rivals today’s world
•	stories of blood and gore which make us shiver
The Bible Itself
•	Poetic passages that soar to the heavenlies
•	There are stories of everyday occurrences
•	narratives of interest and intricate plot
•	we find strange and cryptic passages filled with symbols and allegorical twists to prove difficult to understand
•	Yet, there is _________coherent theme
•	It tells ___________story
•	This prevents any idea of collusion between the authors - It is a _________________

The Bible’s ONE story
•	it is the story of how God became flesh
•	the immortal became mortal
•	the Eternal One became a temporal being like ourselves
•	for awhile
•	in becoming a man
Did You Know?
•	Our English Bible has 1189 chapters? 
•	929 in OT and 260 in NT
•	The longest chapter is Psalm 119?
•	The shortest chapter is Psalm 117?
•	The Middle chapter is Psalm 117?
•	The longest verse is Esther 8:9?
•	The shortest verse is John 11:35?
•	(taken from Halley’s Bible Handbook) 
The Bible = God’s Revelation

•	AVENUES OF SPECIAL REVELATION
1. THE ____________
•	We would not regard this highly today, but it did serve its purpose to communicate God’s mind to His people
•	Numbers 26:52-56=
•	1 Samuel 10:20-24 =
•	Proverbs 16: 33 =
•	Luke 1:9=
•	Acts 1: 21-26 =
2. THE __________and _____________
•	The breast plate of the High Priest’s robe in the Old Testament was a beautiful piece of garment. It had 12 precious stones and two of these were the Urim and Thummim in his pouch.  These were similar to the Lot and used to determine the will of God.
•	Ex 28:30;   Joshua 7:10-15;   Ezra 2:63
•	Deut 3:8 Moses gave them to the tribe of Levi to care for them
•	1 Samuel 14:41-45
3.  _________________
•	God used over a dozen dreams in the OT period in order to communicate His will to people.
•	Apparently this will happen again at the Second Coming of Christ
•	Joel 2:28
•	Even non-believers in the OT received dreams from God
•	1 Sam. 28:6

A Note About Dreams:
•	Note every dream was considered to be from God
•	3 types of Dreams in the OT
•	1. The simple “message dream” did not need interpreting (Matt 1 & 2) Mary & Joseph
•	2. The simple “symbolic dream”, used symbols, but the symbolism was clear enough for the dreamer and others to know its meaning (Genesis 37 & Joseph)
•	3. Complex “symbolic Dreams” needed the interpretive skill of someone to show the meaning (Daniel 2 & 4)
Were Dreams Foolproof?
•	Jeremiah 23:28 =
•	Jeremiah 27:9 shows Jeremiah lumping dreamers with what other kinds of people?
•	Jeremiah 29:8
•	Zechariah 10:1-2
4. _____________________
•	If there is any difference between visions and dreams it seems that visions are mainly auditory, while dreams appear to be visual.
•	The human agent in the dream also seems more active in the vision than in the dream.
Two purposes seem to exist for Visions 
•	1. given for immediate direction – Genesis 12:1-3 Acts 12:7
•	2. Given to develop the kingdom of God by revealing the moral and spiritual deficiencies of the people of God in light of God’s requirements for maintaining a proper relationship with Him. See Amos, Hosea, Micah, etc
•	Isaiah 6:1
•	Ezekiel 1:3
5. _______________________
•	A physical appearance or personal manifestation of a god to a person.
•	Before the incarnation, theophanies were associated with the appearing of the Angel of the Lord who communicated the divine message to people.
KINDS OF THEOPHANIES:
•	1. Human form – Genesis 32:30; Exodus 32:30
•	2. By Vision – Numbers 24:3-4 (Balaam)
•	3. By angel – most usual form called “Angel of God” or “Angel of the Lord” Gen 16:7-13
•	4. Non-human form-burning bush (Exodus 3:2-4:17) cloud & pillar of fire (Ex 13:21)
•	Note: the incarnation is NOT a theophany! Theophanies are temporary and for a particular situation. 
•	_______________________
•	God used created angels to carry His message to people
•	They often revealed God’s will or announced key events:
•	Daniel 9:20-21
•	Luke 2:10-11
•	Revelation 1:1

7. _________________
•	The Hebrew word “nabi” means one who is called to speak
•	Old Testament prophets announced God’s message to mankind.
•	They would predict the future.  In addition they often called Israel to honor God
•	They often called the people to obedience by reminding them of their past failures and the future.
•	2 Samuel 23:2;  Zechariah 1:1
•	New Testament prophets also spoke to the people for God
•	Ephesians 3:5
8. _________________
•	God’s activity in history also constitutes a channel of revelation.
•	Micah 6:5 indicates that the deliverance of Israel from Egypt was an act of God
•	Acts of judgment reveal who God is
•	Ezekiel 25:7
•	Of course, the incarnation of Christ reveals the nature of God 
•	John 1:14
9. ___________
Without a doubt the clearest and most major avenue of revelation is Jesus Christ
•	He has exegeted the Father for us (John 1:14)
•	He has revealed the nature of God (John 14:9)
•	He has shown the power of God (John 3:2) and the wisdom of God (John 7:46)
10. THE __________________
•	This is the MOST INCLUSIVE of all the avenues
•	It incorporates all the other avenues in its record
•	While the Bible is not a total revelation of ALL God did and said
•	The Bible is the accurate record of the aspects of special revelation and the revelation itself
10. THE BIBLE
•	is not only INCLUSIVE, it is also
•	ACCURATE (John 17:17)
•	PROGRESSIVE (Heb 1:1)
•	and PURPOSEFUL (2 Tim 3:15-17)
A SUMMATION
•	Special revelation as now recorded in the Bible furnishes the content of God’s message to the world
•	Inspiration concerns the method God employed to actually record that content in the Scriptures
•	Inerrancy relates to the accuracy of that recording
•	Topics for lectures 2 and 3