God’s Revelation in Words & Acts

We all know from common experience that people reveal things about themselves in at least two ways. On the one hand, they can tell us what they are thinking. They can speak about themselves and what they want. But on the other hand, we can also learn a lot about other people by what they do. The ways they act reveal what kind of people they are.

When we look at Scripture, it quickly becomes clear that the Bible often speaks of God revealing himself in his actions. For example, listen to the celebration of God’s revelation in Psalm 98:2-3:

The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Notice that in verse 2, the psalmist said that God “has revealed his righteousness,” using the Hebrew term “gala,” meaning to uncover, unveil, or reveal. The psalmist said that God has revealed or uncovered his righteousness in the sight of the nations. But how does this passage say God did this? Was it by speaking the words, “I am righteous” to the nations? Not in this case.

Here the psalmist had in mind the display or revelation of God’s righteousness when he delivered his people. The revelation of which the psalmist spoke was an act of God. Act revelation of this more miraculous sort appears throughout the Bible. For example, the act of creation displayed the power and character of God. The Exodus of Israel from Egypt displayed his power over enemies and his love for his people. In a similar way, the establishment of David’s dynasty, the exile of Israel and Judah, the return from exile, the incarnation of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ — all of these, and many other events recorded in Scripture, reveal God’s character and will.

At the same time, while evangelical biblical theologians have stressed the importance of act revelation, they have also affirmed the crucial need for word revelation, that is, verbal revelation from God. In the Scriptures, God does not merely act; he also talks about his actions. He explains his actions with words. Consider for instance in Mark 3:22-23 how Jesus’ exorcisms were misunderstood by some and how Jesus gave the true interpretation of his actions.

The teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." So, Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?”

Some people witnessing these great acts of God wrongly concluded that demons were exorcised by the power of Satan, but Jesus accompanied his actions with words to make it clear that he acted in the power of God.

The ambiguity of acts of God recorded in the Bible helps explain why word revelation regularly accompanied act revelation. God’s verbal revelation explained events to clarify their true significance.