What is meant by the words “divine revelation?”
Divine revelation is God’s own self-disclosure to the human race: all that God has progressively made known of himself, of his will, and of his saving purpose, so that we might believe in him without delusion, find him, honor him worthily, and be saved. Revelation is progressive in its unfolding, “in many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets” (Heb 1:1; see Q139, Q237), yet single in its goal, for every word of God prepares for and points to the Word made flesh. St John of Damascus summarizes the conviction of the Fathers:
God “did not leave us in absolute ignorance,” for the knowledge of his existence is implanted in us by nature, and beyond this he has revealed himself “first through the Law and the Prophets, and afterward through his Only-Begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ” (St John of Damascus, Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, I.1).
The purpose of divine revelation is doxological and transformative: that we might know and glorify God, and in return be glorified by him, that is, be made participants in his own life and light (2Pe 1:4; see Q003, Q114). Revelation is not the delivery of information about a distant deity; it is God’s invitation into communion. This is why the culmination of revelation shown to the seer of the Apocalypse is not a doctrine but worship:
Day and night they unceasingly sing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come”… “You are worthy, our Lord and God, the holy one, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your will they existed, and were created.” (Rev 4:8, 11)
The Church’s Eucharistic prayer gathers the whole economy of revelation into one act of thanksgiving:
You brought us from non-being into being, and when we had fallen away, You raised us up again and did not cease to do all things until You had brought us up to heaven and endowed us with Your Kingdom which is to come. (Anaphora of the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom).
The task of the Christian, therefore, is nothing less than to behold and to reflect the glory of God: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, we are all being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, and this is from the Lord, the Spirit” (2Co 3:18; see Q383, Q470). The Wisdom of Solomon describes the one who receives divine Wisdom as “a reflection of the eternal light, a spotless mirror of God’s active power, and image of his goodness” (Wis 7:26; see Q035, Q118). St Irenaeus expresses the same mystery in a single sentence beloved of the Orthodox tradition: “The glory of God is a living man, and the life of man is the vision of God” (St Irenaeus, Against Heresies, IV.20.7; see Q024, Q090). Revelation, then, aims at nothing less than our deification (theosis), our transfiguration by grace into the likeness of the One who reveals himself.
