The Issue of Knowing God
Theology proper is a discipline that seeks a clear and accurate knowledge of God. To know God we must study God, and to study God we must investigate God. God can only be investigated, and discovered, in accordance with His revelation of Himself, for God is a Spirit and not a man, and He sovereignly chooses in what manner, fashion, and timeliness He will reveal Himself. Orthodox Christendom agrees God has chosen to reveal Himself through two universal mediums: creation and the Holy Scriptures. Theologians designate these two revelatory conduits with the categories of general and specific revelation. General revelation concerns the revelation of God in creation; special revelation concerns the revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures. The category of general revelation is not a hotly debated issue among orthodox circles; most disciplines hold similar if not identical views of this category. The greatest variance exists between the classic Reformed tradition and the Arminian view. They disagree in regard to the transcendence and immanence of God, that is, how actively involved He is in creation. Still, even they can agree on several fundamental concepts of God’s general revelation. One can look at the universe and empirically draw indisputable conclusions about God: He is orderly, He is powerful, He is purposeful and sovereign in some degree over all things, and He is holy. Only those who fall outside of clear and honest reasoning question such indisputable facts, and they are but those who are fleeing from the very God they seek to deny. Of these vagrants we will not concern ourselves, but rather, we shall examine the nuances within the boundaries of orthodoxy in regard to God’s revelation of Himself from a new covenant perspective.
A New covenant Distinction of God’s General Revelation
General revelation finds common agreement between each of the various theological disciplines today. Every orthodox theologian purports that God is creator and that He governs the universe; these things are agreed upon, as was noted above. Thus, in order to investigate the variants within orthodoxy over the categorization of general revelation, we must investigate God’s revelation in light of His intended purpose, for in so doing we shall find this is the path upon which the various theologies divide. It is in the guise of redemptive progress and deistic purpose that we find theological courses diverge in regard to the general revelation of God. A New covenant perspective of general revelation is distinct in its view of general revelation because it is unique in its purported view of both the design and purpose of God in creation. From a New covenant perspective, creation is not to be understood apart from the centrality of the coming of Messiah, the establishment of His Kingdom, and His covenanted mediation to the church in the latter age. Adam, Eden, and the creative order are all subservient to God’s chief messianic design. Therefore, creation is but a means to an end, that is, a conduit to the determined salvific establishment of one true and abiding covenant. Every act of God, mankind, and this created world, from the first revolution of the earth, to the establishment of a nation called ‘Israel,’ and its subsequent demise, was to the designed goal of the establishment of the New covenant between the Father, His Son, and the elect church. Every star in the sky, every breeze that has turned an ocean vessel’s course, every famine, every sparrow that has fallen, has been to the intended sovereign design of the coming of Messiah and the New covenant. Understand this does not discount the various subsets of God’s revelation of Himself, nor does it disparage their place in redemptive history. Instead, they are rightly designed to amplify the magnificence of Christ. It is right to say that God purposed to declare His holiness and righteousness. It is also right to say that He intended from the beginning to call forth the descendents of Jacob from Egypt that He might show His glory. But it is not right to say that these were, individually, or together, God’s chief fulfillment of His redemptive goal. All things pointed to Christ; He was the terminal design behind both the nation Israel and the creative order. God’s greatest glorification of Himself is accomplished in His Son’s Lordship.
Unlike other theological schemata, New covenant theology exalts the church to the place of God’s chief intended design in all of His redemptive acts. Israel, narrowly using the word to refer to the physical descendants of Jacob, was never purposed to be more than a temporal flume to prepare for the coming revelation of the true people of God. Equally, creation was but an established ground for the foundation of salvation and the coming new covenant. Thus, Creation serves the purpose of God to the end benefit of His people, that is, the church, by means of a covenant, that is, the new covenant. God has ordered general revelation in such a way that it mirrors His redemptive glory to His church. When one sees the eternal, omnipotent design of the heavens, where every star is upheld and where every creature fits the eternal design, one can look and declare that God is both purposeful and sovereign in every detail and design. The seasons are so designed to display such glory. Consider that the three chief Jewish festivals of the law--Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles--are all but portraits of the church age. It would be foolhardy to state that the church resembles creation or Israel. For all these are but types, parables, and shadows, those that display God’s salvific glory to the church. From the first sheath of blood gathered at Christ’s passion, to the first fruits of Pentecost, to the final consumptive ingathering of all the elect in the coming feast of trumpets, God has used creation and its seasons to glorify His ecclesiastical redemptive glory. Consider then the principal importance of the church in New covenant theology. Creation is not God’s chief design, nor is the nation called Israel of old, but rather, each act of divine revelation has been a simple emblem of the greatest redemptive glory and reality that has been found in the church. New covenant theology exalts the place of the church to its rightful position as the goal of all general revelation. It serves to mimic the glorious salvific mercy and justice of God found in His church.
Now, lest critics think this proposition too reductionistic, consider how God is such a reductionist. Has He not from the beginning been laboring to reduce the broad spectrum of His omnipotent glory from the glorious works of creation to the simplistic death of one Man? It is foul for men to exalt any revelatory act of God either above or to a similitude of the glory found in Christ Jesus the Lord. Clearly the New covenant, as an everlasting covenant (purposed, planned, brought, and established forever), mediated by the God-man, is His chief and highest glory. He has called a people; He has redeemed a people; He is saving His people, and shall save them, to the uttermost. Thus no mere image of the old age, portraying His Christological glory, can ascend to the revelatory magnificence found within the church age; for it is now that we see the greatest of God’s salvific glory exemplified and His exemplary revelation made known. No typological representation of Christ, which was found in Adam, Noah, Moses, David, nor Solomon, can stand head and shoulders with Christ. No blood can be as precious and purifying as the Lord’s. No religion is more pure in its accomplished magnanimity of God than New covenant Christianity. No liberty is freer than new covenant liberty. No Covenant is more effectual than the new covenant. Therefore, New covenant Theology is not reductionistic in its view of general revelation, but rather, it is aggrandizing to the rightful glory of God. Simply put, it rightfully glorifies the Godhead as God has glorified Himself in His creation. While the variance between theologies in regard to general revelation finds much agreement, still, the difference is significant as it concerns God’s rightful glory, when one considers the presupposition that underlies each theology. One exalts Adam too highly and another Israel, but Christ and His New covenant obtain preeminence in New covenant Theology. If one questions the importance of this brand of Biblical Theology, simply consider that it strives to establish a triune balance of glory. Under the New covenant, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, obtain their greatest exaltation thus far in redemptive history. For even in the glory to come, the cross, the church, and the covenant called ‘new’ shall hold a prized and special place in glory.
A New covenant Distinction of God’s Special Revelation
We see the most marked difference between new covenant theology and the other disciplines, in the category of special revelation . The eternal salvific design as God’s ultimate goal carries forth in application from creation that termed general revelation, to the scriptures in a new covenant system. Just as our understanding of God’s chief goal determined our view of general revelation, so also it determines how we understand the development and primary focus of special revelation. Ecclesiastical prominence again finds itself the chief indicator of distinction between each discipline . As we have seen, one’s view of God’s ultimate design in creation, whether it views creation as God’s ultimate desire, or Israel as his greatest accomplishment, or the church as his true goal, determines how we understand God’s developing providential design and plan in the creation. The same applies in the understanding of the scriptures. In New covenant Theology, we see the church as God’s ultimate realized end of all precursory revelations from creation to the incarnation. Even God’s final compendium act of judgment in the parousia is but a designed and accomplished act in saving His church. Thus, the church alone bears the significance as the chief object of all--special revelation and Christ its chief subject. Creation and national Israel are but means to God’s determined design in saving His church. From the first verse of Genesis until the final verse of Revelation God’s chief goal is to glorify himself in the salvation of His church. Understanding this brings clarity to our understanding of all that God has revealed in his word. For we do not seek any design or purpose in the revelatory actions of God, other than the salvation of his people which leads to the highest exaltation of his name and the ultimate glory of his Christ.
So that we might better understand the developmental aspects of special revelation, let us take a brief perusal of the flow of historical revelation. Following creation and God’s demonstrative action of revelation in the general theater of Eden, it is not until the days of Moses that we see God extend His revelation beyond the heavens and earth to the written page. Prior to the Torah, God did reveal Himself to men, but tradition, word of mouth, and patriarchal care transmitted the revelation through the spoken word. This, though, is but a shadow of true, special revelation, where God spoke and declared, "write it in a book." Thus, the first known incidence of God choosing to reveal Himself in a special, codified manner does not occur until Mt Sinai. Israel, then, obtains a significant position in the occurrence of special revelation. The Old Testament is but the writings of the Old covenant. It would be fitting, then, to declare that special revelation bears two forms: the Old covenant and the new covenant. To put it succinctly, special revelation is covenant revelation. Some might argue that covenantal revelation should include the additional biblical covenants, including Adam (for some), Noah, Abraham, and David. There are clear grounds for refuting this claim: First, Moses and Christ are the only two men designated mediators of a covenant and both fill the roles of prophet in declaring the word of God in written form. Next, every Old Testament scripture was written in relation to the Old covenant and every New Testament scripture in light of the new covenant. Prior to Moses there was no written Scripture; thus when he writes the Torah, it is in accordance with God as revealed in the Old covenant. This can be seen in the various allusions to the law, sacrifice, covenant, and commonwealth prior to regulation and inauguration at Mt Sinai. God reveals Himself in a manner beyond creation in a covenant and He has so chosen to earmark two covenants as the height of His special revelation. It would be remiss to fail to designate the divisions of Torah and Gospel as wholesale divisions of special revelation.
Clearly then, God’s special revelation has appeared in two forms, those writings of the old covenant and those writings of the new covenant. Now let us assert the clear reality that the relationship between the twofold division of old covenant and new covenant, in special revelation, does not find equality between its constituent parts. Clearly Christ Jesus as the fulfillment of the writings of the old covenant, demonstrates the superiority of the new covenant. New covenant Theology must then far exalt the place and position of the New Testament in special revelatory categorization. This is substantiated in the basic rudimentary composition of the two covenants. The Old covenant is a type and representation of the New covenant, yet the New covenant is not a type and representation of the Old covenant. Moses was a foreshadowing of Christ, but never was Christ a foreshadowing of Moses. The Old covenant was, by design, a replica of the coming glory found in the New covenant; never does the New covenant look beyond its own scope and design to another, better covenant. God has spoken through His Son and through Him alone. He has finished and accomplished the end of special revelation. There shall not come another to eclipse the glory of Christ found in the New covenant. It would be foolish for men to exalt the Old covenant to equality or supremacy over the New covenant, for God by His own design has revealed Himself, especially in two definitive covenants, and He declares the new to be far superior to the old. Often in our day movies are remade, and when one sees the superior effects and filming of our day in comparison to the old films, the old cannot amaze the viewer like the new. There is a similar comparison in viewing the covenants, for one does far eclipse the other in awe and glory. Moses rightfully bows before Christ. He has faith in Him; He looks for a better covenant.
Nevertheless, a place remains for the special revelation of the Old covenant in the New covenant schemata. We do not cast away any revelation of God. We do not turn our eyes from creation so that we never marvel at the glories of God’s omnipotence in the wonders of this world. We do not turn our thoughts from thanksgiving to God for His providence, care, and mean supplement in this life. In these things we learn of God and know of God experientially, yet we do not know the divine justice, holiness, and righteousness of God from creation; we must learn of His unapproachable glory from His specially revealed person. In the scriptures we learn of the attributes and character of God, yet to know God simply from an Old covenant perspective is to not know God aright, for God is only partially revealed in the Old covenant-- a veil still remains. We do not necessarily need teach Moses to learn Christ. Now that we have Christ, we do not teach Moses to learn of Him, but now we learn Christ in His effulgence and thus rightly read Moses as he portrays our Lord and our need for Him. When we read of Moses we think of Christ. When we read of sacrifice, of sin, and of nations, we think of our covenant. The Old Testament becomes a precious momento to the saint of God, demonstrating God’s care, faithfulness, and love for His people. It is like a sailor’s love letters read late in life, when a spouse weeps over his espoused care of long ago. We delight that He called a man named Abram, we take great joy to know that He sought one called Ruth. For each person, each decree, each twist of providence, every action was but a component of the foundation of our covenant. Thus we rejoice to read what God has done.
Yet the Old covenant shall never be read without reading of Christ and His love for His church. We can read the New covenant without Moses; we can bypass David for a moment, but never can we gaze upon creation or dwell upon the covenant of old without Christ. The superior revelation of God in the fullness of His glory and design is seen in the new covenant. It is there that we learn of true propitiation, of love, of justice, and of mercy. Men knew of these in days of old, but the extremity of God’s glory displayed in the new covenant was not known. A right heart is not satisfied with shadows and structures of days gone by; it is not settled with seasons and festivals, but it must see Christ; it must know of the cross and of redeeming blood. In the New covenant is the hope of the Old covenant found and not vice-versa, and in the coming glory of a consummate day, the hope of the new covenant remains in Christ. Special revelation is marked by a forward flow historically; there is no reliving the past. The better Covenant in God’s design eclipses all others. The rudiments of covenant hope found in Adam are soon replaced in Noah, with sacrifice and covenant, yet the relics of Noah are soon eclipsed by the glorious promises of God to Abraham. Still, even then, when Moses and the old covenant were established, they never could annul the greater hope and supremacy of the new covenant. For in the new covenant, all the covenants, shadows, law, and acts of God in both creation and Old covenant special revelation are fulfilled. They have met their end in Christ, His superior covenant, and in the glory of His name.