Secrets & Revelations

Image from Web    The last book in the Bible is called the Book ofRevelation or the Book of the Apocalypse or The Apocalypse of John. Apocalypse means disclosure or revelation, not catastrophe. Some erroneously call the Book Revelations.

Of the 66 Books of that make up the Bible, it is perhapsthe most misunderstood and misused. Does its rich and abundant use of symbolismwithhold secrets or disclose revelations? Take the number 666. ‘Here is wisdom.Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is thenumber of a man: His number is 666’ (Rev. 13:18).

Some think 666 refers to Nero, the great persecutor ofearly Christians. At the time of the Reformation of the Church, it was synonymouswith the papacy, as in false christs and prophets or antichrists (Matt. 24:24;1 John 2:18), claiming to be head of Christ’s Church of which Christ alone is itshead (Col. 1:8; Eph. 1:22). More fanciful, and closer to our own day, somelinked it to Ronald Wilson Reagan, (count six letters in each name), and, becausea birthmark on his head, others attributed the ‘mark of the beast’ to Mikhail Gorbachev.There are, no doubt, many others, past, present, and future, who have received orwill receive the appellation of the Antichrist.

Image from Web    When it comes to speculation about verses such as the666 passage, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 4:6 gives this warning, ‘Do not go beyond whatis written.’ And Moses wrote, ‘The secret things belong to the LORD our God, butthese things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that wemay do all the words of this law’ (Deut. 29:29). So, when it comes to secretsand revelations within Scripture, the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)keeps the main thing the main thing where it says in chapter one paragraph six,‘Allthings in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear untoall; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed,for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scriptureor other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of theordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.’

    There is always atension between plumbing the depths of Scripture to garnerinformation and wild speculation. For example, the formation of the doctrine ofthe Trinity is easily seen when the Bible is viewed systematically. Using the ruleof interpretation regained during the Reformation, that Scripture was not opento any private interpretation, but that Scripture alone is to be used tointerpret Scripture, then God is seen as Father and Son and Holy Spirit, i.e.,Triune. It takes a great deal of private interpretation and wild speculation todeny this. However, many aberrational and downright heretical Christian sectsand cults have been formed through a misunderstanding the Biblical doctrine ofGod. Again, the Westminster Confession keeps us on track where it says inchapter one paragraph ten, ‘The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies ofreligion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancientwriters, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and inwhose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking inthe Scripture.’ 

It is no secret that it is not by boards or councils but only by the Spirit workingwith the Word that Christians (each individually) see the divine nature ofJesus who says, ‘If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father’ (John 14:9).