April 13, 2011
HearHim.net
He reveals Himself
How do we accurately define God,
and how do we truthfully describe
man? What is the basis for truth?
T
he Scriptures and Tradition 
Many have argued that the scriptures are
the foundation for truth and certainly there
is merit to that argument. However, these same
scriptures have been used to justify some of the
greatest atrocities in human history. People were
tortured, burned to death and multitudes murde-
red all based on somebodies understanding of the
scriptures!
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 … he
also spoke of the message in a completely different
context – living epistles.
It is obvious then that interpretations of scriptures
can be a big stumbling block, that can so easily
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pervert the message of the scriptures. Recognising
this, men have started institutions to tell us how to
interpret scriptures. The idea is that if we tap into
the collective interpretation and history of inter-
pretation of many people, we will thereby develop
a tradition that is more or less fail safe.
This idea that tradition preserves the truth is com-
pletely rejected by Jesus Himself. His verdict on
tradition is clear: “you nullify the word of God for
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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-
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sented. It’s in the very midst of such misunderstan-
ding that He comes to reveal Himself, to interpret
His thoughts Himself, to represent Himself. I’m so
Andre Rabe
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 first 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 is
more 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 to
attract the attention of the gods … and that was not
a good thing at all!
The two most prominent philosophies of that time
was Epicureanism and Stoicism. The Epicureans
described a state of being called ataraxia, which
meant complete serenity, no anxiety and no physical
pain. The closest humans could come to this state
was death! The gods alone enjoyed ataraxia … but
that necessarily meant that they were completely
detached from people, from the world as a whole.
If they were to have any interest in us or in this
world, 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 be
attained through the removal of all emotion. They
saw 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.
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He reveals Himself
The god of Epicureanism is uninterested, even
unaware of mans existence. The god of Stoicism
can’t care less, in fact he is incapable of feeling!
Jewish concepts 
Now let’s look at how the Jewish concepts of God
developed.
The one word that probably summarises their
concept 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’, unapproachable
and 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 would
call it, the transcendence of God became a major
feature in the Jewish consciousness: He is beyond
all we can imagine or describe; beyond creation,
beyond space and time, beyond our comprehen-
sion and so most definitely beyond our reach. The
thought of direct contact with Him, was absurd.
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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 spoke
directly to Moses in giving the Law: “…Surely the
LORD our God has shown us His glory and His
greatness, and we have heard His voice from the
midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God
speaks with man; yet he still lives.”
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But by New Testament times this concept of God’s
transcendence was developed so far that we are
told on more than one occasion that it was actually
angels that gave the law! (Acts 7:53)
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Unknown & unpredictable 
Another consequence of this understanding of God’s
April 13, 2011
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 no
idea what it is that He wants. (Jer 18:1-10)
Hates Sinners! 
Lastly, but very significantly, 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 let
the wicked be no more. Ps 104:35
Look, the day of the LORD is coming – cruel, with
rage and burning anger to make the earth a deso-
lation and to destroy the sinners on it. Is 13:9
God’s holiness not only meant that He separated
Himself 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 provoke
Him perish from this world”
Jesus’ radical revelation! 
I don’t know if we realise how radical and different
Jesus’ message about God and man was … and is! He
did not meet the religious expectations … and still
doesn’t. He did not confirm their interpretations of
scriptures, but rather condemned it. Despite the fact
that these people had access to sacred scriptures,
despite the sacrificial system given by God, despite
the prophetic glimpses He gave them, He makes this
astounding statement “ …no one knows the Father
except the son …” Mt 11:27
All the ages of studying the scriptures, of deve-
loping the traditions did not bring them any closer
to 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 a
person … not a theory or a book. The most accurate
translation happened when the Word became flesh!
Initiative & Likeness 
Against the expectation of religion, Jesus reveals
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He reveals Himself
that God is not unapproachable or inaccessible. In
Christ Jesus, God approaches us! God wants to be
known! His holiness is not a separation from us,
but a separation unto us. Jesus demonstrates that
God 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 flesh of our flesh 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 likeness
displayed in human life, is realised in Christ Jesus.
At the core of what Jesus reveals about God, is not
distance, but union. In Christ Jesus, God and man
are 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’ is
strangely familiar to us. It turns out that man too
is very different from the rest of creation – very
‘other’. There is a spirit dimension in man which
is compatible with God! Instead of revealing God’s
‘otherness’, He unveils our ‘otherness’ and in that
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uncovers 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 has
given us understanding so that we may know Him
who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His
Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 5:20
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Jesus gives the final 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-
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dict is: favour! And His favour is utterly predictable
– He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His
mind has always been made up – that’s why He
April 13, 2011
entered His rest. He is quietly expectant that His
vision of who man truly is, will triumph.
The God we see in Jesus, the God who is willing to
take 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 fickle.” James
1:17
“if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in
him.” Heb 10:38 He has done it all for us to boldly
come. He has demonstrated His love in the most
convincing 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 difficulties 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 fire … 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 confidently 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 confidence 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 confident 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 toward
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 April 13, 2011
HearHim.net

He reveals Himself

us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died of our lives. His Omnipresence, expressed through
for us.” (Rom 5:6) Christ, is personal and relevant. His location is here
“even when we were dead in trespasses, made us and His time is now.
alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:5-7)

When God became a man, He did not pursue sinners

to destroy them. He did not even repel sinners …
He attracted them! How different is God from the
concepts we had of Him! Sinners found the com-
pany of Jesus attractive because they found value
there, they discovered their true selves there, they
discovered a greater reality than sin – their true
design and being in Him.

Intimate Involvement! 
God, as revealed in Christ Jesus, does not avoid our
problems and pains lest it disturbs His tranquility.
Unlike the Greek & Roman concepts of a god that is
unconcerned or even unaware of us, this God has
no greater concern, nothing of which He is more
mindful, than man. Neither does He simply observe
our challenges from afar, but He enters into our
lives, into our conflict in the most real way possible,
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by becoming flesh.

He does not conquer evil by obliterating it with a dis-

play of omnipotent power. Ultimately He conquers
evil, by entering right into the midst of it, becoming
sin with our sinfulness and handing over His life
to death. There in the midst of darkness, His life
bursts forth and destroys evil in the most compre-
hensive way possible. At His most vulnerable, He
overpowers evil.
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Even our doctrines of His Omnipotence, His Omni-

presence, His  Omniscience, needs to be redefined in
the light of what He revealed about Himself. His Om-
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nipotence, expressed through Christ Jesus, is tender

and vulnerable. Omniscience, expressed through
love, is interested and involved in the smallest details

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