Divine Revelation

I like to study the big revelation, the one at the end of the Bible we know as The Revelation. However, that is not the only divine revelation in the Bible. We know that someone revealed the story of the beginning to Moses because he wasn't quite old enough to have been there with Adam and Eve. Then there is 1 Kings 19:11-13:

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

One might understand that question at the end as a rebuke or even a superior's desire for a report, but then again it has a certain humor to it also. A huge wind, so strong that it broke off pieces of the mountain. Then an earthquake and fire. Finally a little voice in the stillness. A whisper.

The prophet of the Lord had run like a scared puppy to his hiding place in the cave. He probably expected the Lord to come after him with the big destructive forces of nature, wind, earthquake and fire, but the passage states that the Lord was not in any of those things we fear. Instead, the Lord comes with the small voice in the peaceful stillness. There is Elijah the great prophet trembling before the Lord, twice he had said that he was left alone, the only believer in God, but the Lord seems to say, "I am here with you always."

The Lord could come to us with destruction for our sins. Instead, the love of the Lord for us brings Him with compassion, invitation to confess, restoration, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. Like Elijah found, we are far from alone as the Lord is with us always and there are many who still believe in Him.

Bucky