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God’s Revelation Through History, Sacred Scriptures

And In The Philippine Culture
John Cenon D. Tulio

I. Introduction
How can one possibly know anything about God? Is God intelligible? Can He be
comprehended? This paper addresses these questions from a more deliberately biblical, historical,
doctrinal, and theological point of view. On the basis of God’s self-revelation, and through the
eyes of faith, one can courageously say that man can know something about God. There are many
theological convictions and formulations about God interpreted upon by the Church Magisterium,
the teaching authority of the Church. These doctrines of faith are not just simply mere concepts
and ideas, rather, these are born out of the expressions of individuals and shared religious
experiences of the faith community. By looking in and through one’s experiences, a person can
possibly formulate his/her own theological understanding and make personal claims on the manner
he/she witness God’s self-communication. Through this paper, the researcher aims to explore the
teaching of God’s revelation through the optics of Sacred Scriptures and the contemporary society.
The experience of revelation in the Old and New Testament and our ancestors’ human experiences
have their own way in talking about God experience. This paper dwells on the articulation to make
sense and find meaning in this different experiences God’s revelation through history, Sacred
Scriptures and in the Philippine culture.

II. God’s Revelation

In the Old Testament, God’s communication is not only limited through his self-revelation.
God also reveals something to humanity: a purpose and a promise. In the story of Moses, God
reveals the intention of liberty and justice for the enslaved people. This revelatory experience of
God “speaking” to the Israelites gave an impetus to their understanding about God, a God who is
commanding and liberating and a God who listens to the cry of their hearts. When God spoke to
Israel, he revealed himself as a ‘living God’, whose presence was manifested in his actions (Shorter
40). For the Israelite people, revelation is God together with his people working out his grace. The
exodus event, therefore, was central and foundational to the faith of the Israelites. It was the self-
manifestation of God. Since this revelation is historical, as a contemporary reader of the bible, one
becomes involved in ancient Israel, as if one meets God through their culture and history (Shorter
41). The Old Testament clarifies a God who speaks and cares for His chosen people. It is through
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this interpersonal relationship that God is known – a relationship of affection, of loyalty and
acceptance. On the other hand, the New Testament is clear that the text regard Jesus of Nazareth
as an ‘extraordinary person:

“In many and various ways, God spoke of old to our fathers through the prophets;
but in these days he has spoken to us by a SON, whom he appointed the heir of all
things, through whom also the created world.” (Hebrews 1: 1-2)

It is also within this context that God’s revelation to Israel and man’s hope Jesus appears.
His life, death, and resurrection became the fullness of God’s revelation. “He was himself the
manifestation of God” (Shorter 103). James Dunn, in his book Christology in the Making, says
that Jesus was thought of as “the climactic embodiment of God’s power and purpose (Dunn 211).
The disciples had the ‘unique’ advantage of witnessing the presence of Jesus as self-revelation of
God. In Jesus, one can experience a God who understands and comprehend fully the reality of
human pain and suffering. Jesus showed a God who reaches out to all. Thus, a God who is
inclusive; a God of unconditional love, acceptance and forgiveness. Hence, this revelation is made
visible to humankind through Christ and continuously realize through the Church. “Christ is the
summit and fullness of revelation” (Rahner 233). The Church is the sacrament of Christ. The
Church is the revelation of who God is. Even today, Christians encounter Jesus Christ through the
scripture, through their community and especially through their personal religious experiences.
Faith, then, becomes an experience, an encounter and an act of believing in Jesus. As a result of
this divine revelation people are consoled, encouraged, inspired and led in full maturity of faith as
Dei Verbum states:

In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to
us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word
made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to
share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation,
therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of
His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among
them (see Bar. 3:38)… (Pope Paul VI, 2)
Thus, divine revelation is a continuing and ongoing process of God’s self-communication.
God enters into a personal and intimate relationship with us. In this relationship, God is giving His
life to His people. God’s self-communication takes place in and through human experience. In
particular, it happens in and through our depth experiences which lead to religious experiences.
Thus, “religious experiences are revelatory experiences” (Niebuhr 56). The locus of revelation is
experience itself. There are certain experiences which are considered as religious. Therefore, one
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distinguishes that there are religious, divine, sacred element and dimension in these experiences.
Human experiences can lead to revelatory experiences if it well articulated and reflected.

In the Philippine context, religious experience, fanaticism or the excessive, usually

described as irrational zeal for religion can be seen everywhere. For some, these devotions are
revelatory experience wherein they encounter the Divine. Many Catholics are uncatechized yet
their zeal for religion or among popular devotions is incomparable. One of the well-known forms
of devotion in the Philippines is the procession of the 17th Century Icon known as the Black
Nazarene. This is the longest and grandest procession in the Philippines lasting for more or less
twenty-two hours. People from all over Manila and in different parts of the Philippines including
tourists flock to witness the event and to get closer and touch the icon in the hope of receiving
miracles. Most of the devotees are also throwing towels and give it to the guards of the statue to
rub on the ‘miraculous’ icon expecting for Divine favors. These may also be seen in numerous
devotions spread within the Archipelago: The Santo Nino of Cebu considered as the oldest icon in
the Philippines for it has been in Cebu since 1565; The Our Lady of Penafrancia also known as
Ina of the Bicol region; The Our Lady of Perpetual Help which is in Custody of the Redemptorist
Fathers in Baclaran, Manila; The Our Lady of Manaoag whose devotion was spread first by the
Augustinian Fathers in the 17th century in Pangasinan, now the Dominicans are already in-charge
of it and many other popular devotions running in the system of Filipino culture and tradition.
People flock and come grieving, weeping and exulting before these holy images; doing sacrifices
and pact (panata) because of their belief. Various people have experienced this revelation. This
images have the energy that pours forth such transforming love. In other words, it is a revelatory
experience which always puts man towards God. This same religious experience is manifested in
widely expressed devotions of people to various images. Bishop Pablo Virgilio David explains
this kind of feeling of devotees as they reach the images, he states, “they are suddenly enveloped
by an invisible blanket of reverence and awe”.

In all of these religious and revelatory experiences, faith therefore can be considered as an
act of believing. These images inspired people to have faith and hope in God and entrust everything
to him. For all the ghastly, evil things that is happening in our world, it is through faith in God that
deters all these things. Sustains even though one is experiencing pain, sorrow and trouble. The act
of believing is an act of entrusting oneself to God.
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Faith then is a basic guide in life, a fundamental conviction that “I believe in God”.
Believing in God is trusting in Him and, in that sense, it is believing in Someone – a greater reality
that transcends human comprehension and will forever remain a mystery. Faith in Him means
believing that reality is ultimately trustworthy. It demands a total surrender and humble submission
before His Presence. Thus, through total surrender, one is hopeful that he/she will encounter God
in his/her personal experience.

III. Conclusion:

Revelation is God’s initiative to manifest Himself to human in order to enter in an intimate

and personal relationship. It is God’s expression of self-manifestation to people so that He can be
known by God. God would always remain a mystery that transcends the limit of our
comprehension yet through His self-expression, He made himself known to human beings, not
through necessity or external force but purely because of His own initiative. God makes known
Himself not for His own glorification and benefit, rather, this divine action is for human’s
sanctification. God would always be God even without human and our prayers and thanksgiving
certainly do not add majesty to His name. And our response to this God’s invitation is our faith.
Faith is our personal conviction and decision to be in a relationship with God. Faith is our desire
to know and recognize the presence of God in our lives. It is in and through the eyes of our faith
where we can easily recognize God’s action in our lives. It helps to become more sensitive to
God’s intervention.

Biblical revelation is interpersonal. It is a personal communion between God and man. It

is through this communion that man can have a glimpse of who God is and what He is like. As
Walter Eichrodt explains it, “awakens not only our curiosity, but enlarges our understanding of the
mystery” (Eichdrodt 40). “The notion of the Old Testament regarding revelation is that it uses
revelation as a term but rather the “Word of Yahweh” in the sense of hearing God’s word
manifested in the events of history – God being anthropomorphic. In the New Testament, Christ
was already the summit and fullness of God’s revelation exactly imprint of God’s very being
(Ranada, Lecture, July 28, 2016). What is visible in God is made visible by Christ. Christianity is
the good news of Christ to all the nations. Lumen Gentium begins with the statement: Christ is the
light of nations” (Pope Paul VI, 1), thus Christianity is not limited but goes beyond religious
affiliation. Moreover, Christainity is not above and against other religions. Hence its place finds
its completion in its relation to one separate and brethren (other Christian churches) and extends
to those who have not yet received the gospel.
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Gabriel Moran in his book, Theology of Revelation, began by saying “theology is not a
closed system of established truths but a living, dynamic search for the truth, the partial success of
the search only stimulating the desire to reflect more deeply on the inexhaustible riches of Christ”
(20). Revelation then is a continually and always progressing. It is the task of every theologians
and those who seek for truth to help the community reach the reflective understanding of Christian
truth.

Theology begins with God’s relationship to human. This God initiates in entering this
relationship with us by disclosing Himself to us. Thus, faith is human’s initial response to this
Divine self-disclosure. Human believe in God. Human believe that God is truly accessible in and
through human experiences. The creation comes to meet and know his creator in and through his
human experiences. Truly, God can be known not because of His attempts and efforts, not because
of man’s intelligence and capacity to comprehend, rather, because of His initiative and desire to
enter into an intimate relationship with mankind. One cannot totally fathom Him, yet what gives
him the courage to continuously speak about God and dare to respond to His revelations is the
assurance of His love and mercy to human. His glory would always be human fully alive.
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Works Cited:

Eichrodt, Walter. A Theology of the Old Testament. London: CTS, 1961.

Dunn, James. Christology in the Making, London: Paperback, 1980.

Moran, Gabriel. Theology of Revelation. New York: Herder and Herder, 1966.

Niebuhr, Richard. The Meaning of Revelation. New York: Macmillan Paperback, 1962.

Pope Paul VI. "Dogmatic Constitution on the Church - Lumen Gentium." Vatican: the Holy See.
Rome, 21 Nov. 1965. Web.
Pope Paul VI. "Dogmatic Constitution on the Divine Revelation of Vatican Council –
DeiVerbum." Vatican: the Holy See. Rome, 18 Nov. 1965. Web.
Rahner, Karl. Revelation: God’s Self-Disclosure to Us. New York: Crossroad, 1984.

Shorter, Alyward. Revelation and its Interpreatation. London: Geofrey Chapman, 1983.