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HearHim.net
He reveals Himsel
How do we accurately defne God,and how do we truthully describeman? What is the basis or truth?
T
he Scriptures and Tradition
 Many have argued that the scriptures arethe foundation for truth and certainly thereis merit to that argument. However, these samescriptures have been used to justify some of thegreatest atrocities in human history. People weretortured, burned to death and multitudes murde-red all based on somebodies understanding of thescriptures!
So scriptures themselves can be used for good or evil.
Jesus, Paul and believers throughout the ages faced
their greatest opposition from those who knew the
scriptures. Paul spoke of the letter that kills … healso spoke of the message in a completely differentcontext – living epistles.It is obvious then that interpretations of scripturescan be a big stumbling block, that can so easilypervert the message of the scriptures. Recognisingthis, men have started institutions to tell us how tointerpret scriptures. The idea is that if we tap intothe collective interpretation and history of inter-pretation of many people, we will thereby developa tradition that is more or less fail safe.This idea that tradition preserves the truth is com-pletely rejected by Jesus Himself. His verdict ontradition is clear: “you nullify the word of God for
the sake of your tradition” (Mat 15:6) Tradition does
not preserve the truth … it perverts the truth!God has often been misunderstood and misrepre-
sented. It’s in the very midst of such misunderstan-
ding that He comes to reveal Himself, to interpretHis thoughts Himself, to represent Himself. I’m so
glad that God reveals Himself and thereby removes
every obstacle of misinterpretation.
The Context of God’s self-revelation
 There were many ideas about God that were com-
monly held at the time of Christ. Let’s rst look at
the Roman and Greek philosophies about the gods.
Roman & Greek Philosophies
 The thought of enmity between the gods and man,
was one of the most basic concepts. The saying that
the highest tree catches most of the wind and ismore likely to be zapped by lightning, was used to
describe man’s relationship with the gods. If a man
prospered or excelled in anything he was liable toattract the attention of the gods … and that was nota good thing at all!The two most prominent philosophies of that timewas Epicureanism and Stoicism. The Epicureansdescribed a state of being called ataraxia, which
meant complete serenity, no anxiety and no physical
pain. The closest humans could come to this statewas death! The gods alone enjoyed ataraxia … butthat necessarily meant that they were completelydetached from people, from the world as a whole.If they were to have any interest in us or in thisworld, they would open themselves up to the pain
and problems of this world and thereby loose their
perfect serenity.The Stoics believed that tranquility could only beattained through the removal of all emotion. Theysaw desire and emotion as the cause of pain and
evil. This was even more true for the gods. For them
god would cease to be god if he felt pity or wrath –
their god was beyond all emotion … a heartless god.
April 13, 2011
Page 1
http://hearhim.net/wordpress/2011/04/13/he-reveals-himself/
Andre Rabe
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He reveals Himsel
The god of Epicureanism is uninterested, evenunaware of mans existence. The god of Stoicismcan’t care less, in fact he is incapable of feeling!
Jewish concepts
 Now let’s look at how the Jewish concepts of Goddeveloped.The one word that probably summarises theirconcept best, is the word ‘holy’. “No one is holy like
the LORD” (1 Sam 2:2) Holy meant separate, different
and set apart. The emphasis on this understanding
of God’s holiness, resulted in the following:
Completely Different
 God became completely ‘other’, unapproachableand inaccessible. Direct contact with Him was un-thinkable! To even see God would result in imme-
diate death. In Gen 32:30 Jacob responds with great
surprise that he was able to see God and yet live.The concept of ‘otherness’ or as theologians wouldcall it, the transcendence of God became a majorfeature in the Jewish consciousness: He is beyondall we can imagine or describe; beyond creation,beyond space and time, beyond our comprehen-
sion and so most denitely beyond our reach. The
thought of direct contact with Him, was absurd.Distance was at the core of this concept.And so we see something very interesting deve-loping. In Deut 5:24 it clearly states that God spokedirectly to Moses in giving the Law: “…Surely theLORD our God has shown us His glory and Hisgreatness, and we have heard His voice from the
midst of the re. We have seen this day that God
speaks with man; yet he still lives.”But by New Testament times this concept of God’stranscendence was developed so far that we aretold on more than one occasion that it was actuallyangels that gave the law! (Acts 7:53)
Unknown & unpredictable
 
Another consequence of this understanding of God’s
holiness, is that He becomes unknown and unpre-dictable. Man has absolutely no rights before Him.He can do whatever He wants to and man has noidea what it is that He wants. (Jer 18:1-10)
Hates Sinners!
 
Lastly, but very signicantly, this idea of God’s ho
-liness meant that He is utterly against the sinner.His aim is their destruction!Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and letthe wicked be no more. Ps 104:35Look, the day of the LORD is coming – cruel, withrage and burning anger to make the earth a deso-lation and to destroy the sinners on it. Is 13:9God’s holiness not only meant that He separatedHimself from sinners, but that He actually pursues
them, to destroy them. In William Barclay’s book
‘The mind of Jesus’ he mentions a rabbinic saying:“There is joy before God when those who provokeHim perish from this world”
Jesus’ radical revelation!
 
I don’t know if we realise how radical and differentJesus’ message about God and man was … and is! He
did not meet the religious expectations … and still
doesn’t. He did not conrm their interpretations of 
scriptures, but rather condemned it. Despite the fact
that these people had access to sacred scriptures,
despite the sacricial system given by God, despite
the prophetic glimpses He gave them, He makes this
astounding statement “ …no one knows the Fatherexcept the son …” Mt 11:27All the ages of studying the scriptures, of deve-loping the traditions did not bring them any closerto knowing God, or knowing themselves. So God
comes Himself and in the person of Jesus Christ, He
demonstrates the correct interpretation of scripture.
He unveils Himself and shows that the beauty and
complexity of truth can only be fully expressed in aperson … not a theory or a book. The most accurate
translation happened when the Word became esh!
Initiative & Likeness
 Against the expectation of religion, Jesus reveals
April 13, 2011
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He reveals Himsel
that God is not unapproachable or inaccessible. InChrist Jesus, God approaches us! God wants to beknown! His holiness is not a separation from us,but a separation unto us. Jesus demonstrates thatGod does not want to be God with or by Himself,but with, for and in man.Jesus does not come with a message of God’s trans-
cendence or ‘otherness’, rather in Jesus we recognise
God as esh of our esh and bone of our bone. Ins
-tead of shocking us with a vision of God’s trans-cendence, He surprises us with the revelation of our likeness! God’s idea of His image and likenessdisplayed in human life, is realised in Christ Jesus.At the core of what Jesus reveals about God, is notdistance, but union. In Christ Jesus, God and manare in direct contact … more than contact, union.God is present! God is here and God is now.
Yes, God is beyond time and space. Yes, God is more
than His creation. But! But, we too have our origin
in an eternal realm beyond time and space. We
originate in God and therefore His ‘otherness’ isstrangely familiar to us. It turns out that man toois very different from the rest of creation – very‘other’. There is a spirit dimension in man whichis compatible with God! Instead of revealing God’s‘otherness’, He unveils our ‘otherness’ and in thatuncovers the greatest mystery: likeness.
Consistent Favour
 
Jesus removes yet another misconception about God
– the idea that He is unknown and unpredictable.
John sums up the mission of Christ as follows: “And
we know that the Son of God has come, and hasgiven us understanding so that we may know Himwho is true; and we are in Him who is true, in HisSon Jesus Christ.” 1 John 5:20
Jesus gives the nal word concerning God’s attitude
towards man – He is for us. He is for us consistently.
God has made up His mind about man and the ver-
dict is: favour! And His favour is utterly predictable
– He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hismind has always been made up – that’s why Heentered His rest. He is quietly expectant that Hisvision of who man truly is, will triumph.The God we see in Jesus, the God who is willing totake our punishment upon Himself and reconcile
us to Himself, this God never changes. He is still the
same. What He revealed about Himself in Christ is
as relevant today as it has always been, and will be
how He is for all eternity. “There is nothing deceitful
in God, nothing two-faced, nothing ckle.” James
1:17“if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure inhim.” Heb 10:38 He has done it all for us to boldlycome. He has demonstrated His love in the mostconvincing way even while we were at enmity
against Him. We never have to draw back again.
His love is consistent, beyond dispute!
Acts 27 tells of some severe diculties Paul and his
companions went through, including a shipwreck.
Acts 28 continues the story after they made it to
shore. Being cold and wet they make a re … and a
snake emerges from the wood and bites Paul! How
many Christians, in a similar situation, would start
questioning whether they are in the will of God,
questioning the favour of God? How many will start
rebuking the snake, the Devil and whatever else
seems out of line with their view of a perfect world?
Paul quietly and condently shakes off the snake.
Contradiction did not make him question the favour
of God, for God has already demonstrated His fa-
vour in the most convincing way by giving His own
life for us. “In returning and resting you shall be
saved; in quietness and in condence shall be your
strength.” Is 30:15.“And the effect of righteousness will be peace [in-
ternal and external], and the result of righteousness
will be quietness and condent trust forever.” Is
32:17
Destroys enemies … by making them friends!
 
Against the religious expectations of His time, Jesus
does reveal a God who is set on the destruction of 
sinners, “but God demonstrates His own love towardApril 13, 2011
Page 3
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