This is the fourth part in the five-part series by Father Gerard Beigel, S.T.
The Revelation of God in Jesus Christ
The fullness of God’s revelation is found uniquely in His Son, Jesus Christ. This truth is forcefully proclaimed in the opening of the letter to the Hebrews:
“In times past, God spoke in fragmentary and varied ways to our ancestors through the prophets. In this, the last day, He spoke to us through a Son, whom He made heir of all things and through whom He created the universe” (Heb 1:1–2).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church declares that the “Son is his Father’s definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation after him” (CCC, 73). In simple words, Jesus is “the mediator and fullness of all revelation” (CCC, 64). He is the one who uniquely reveals God the Father to humanity.
Jesus Reveals God the Father There are many ways that Jesus is the fullness of God’s revelation. First, Jesus clearly reveals God as Father. As the unique Son of God, Jesus knows the Father and His will perfectly. No other human being could ever reveal the hidden things of God as Jesus does. Moreover, through the sending of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after his death and resurrection, the Trinity of Persons in God is revealed. God has thus revealed His inner life and heart to humanity through Jesus Christ. Jesus has revealed truths about God that no human being ever suspected. All of this manifests the deepest desire of God, His goal in all the work of revelation—to offer Himself and His own life as gift to us, to raise us up to share in the very life of God!
Jesus is also the fullness of God’s revelation insofar as he shows us our true state—that we are sinners in need of a total redemption. Christ alone accomplishes the work that makes us right with God. In a complete and perfect act of love, Jesus took our sins upon himself. In the agony of the crucifixion, Christ suffered the punishment of sin for us, though he himself was innocent of sin. In the depth of his suffering on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This cry of abandonment reveals the depths to which Jesus lowered himself to bring salvation to every human being. No one has ever experienced as Christ did on the cross the depth of suffering and separation from God. The cross of Jesus Christ reveals more powerfully than any other event in history the redemptive and merciful love of God. Through the death of Christ on the cross all the obstacles that blocked humanity’s access to God are completely shattered. In and through Jesus a new and living way has been opened for all humanity that leads to the heart of God in heaven.
Obstacles to Receiving God’s Revelation
God’s revelation of Himself in the created world, in salvation history, and in Jesus Christ is not an event in the past. Creation, the history of salvation, and the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ on the cross—these are all gifts of God that are present and continuously offered to every generation. Whoever opens his or her heart to God’s presence in creation, in salvation history, and in Jesus Christ can receive the revelation of God and His plan of merciful love for humanity.
There is nothing lacking in God’s gift. We stated above that God has two goals in revealing Himself to human beings—to share His own life with them, and to heal them of their sins. In Jesus Christ, God offers every human being the fullness of His grace so that all may reach and experience these two goals—sharing in God’s life and having their sins cleansed. From the perspective of God’s gift, there is absolutely no obstacle that He places in the way of revelation. The only obstacles that can exist now between humanity and God are those that we allow to remain in our own hearts. What are these obstacles within us that block our reception of God’s revelation?
The most obvious obstacle is unrepented sin within us. When we refuse to face our sin, or when we persist in some sinful pattern of behavior, we block God’s work in us. How can we hear God when we persist in disobedience to Him? There are other obstacles that are connected with the destructive effects of sin in us. Sometimes people cannot hear God, because they need inner healing; they may have been so injured or abused that they cannot trust the Lord. God has to open them to His revelation by first working an inner healing in them. When we see people who need such healing it is important that we pray very specifically to God for the things that need to be healed in them.