A Good Word – ἀποκάλυψις (Revelation)

You don’t know what you don’t know.

At various points in my life, this saying has either hit me hard or helped me along. When I was a know-it-all and life revealed me to be a know-but-little, this saying rebuked me; it reminded me that I should be humble because I don’t know everything. Other times, I fully knew I didn’t have all the facts and couldn’t figure out what to do. This saying reminded me that I’m human. I can’t know everything, and that’s okay to admit. This little saying forces us to acknowledge the limits of our knowledge. As finite humans we don’t know everything, and sometimes we need help to learn what we don’t know.

This concept—being told something we do not know—exists in the New Testament in the Greek word apokalupsis, which means revelation. It refers to the act of making something fully known to someone who does not know it. This noun (and the related verb apokaluptō, to reveal) occurs often in the New Testament to highlight God’s revelation of truth to believers. Paul uses the noun in 1 Corinthians 14:6, 26, to refer to a revelation in the context of public worship. An insight or understanding given to a member of the congregation by God to edify the entire body, revelation is embodied today in the preaching and teaching of God’s Word.

Revelation in the New Testament is often centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Paul himself received a revelation from God when Christ appeared to him at his conversion (Galatians 1:12; 2:2). The mystery of the gospel, the full understanding of the universal scope and significance of Christ and his work, was revealed to Paul, which he then proclaimed to unbelievers (Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:3). The second coming of Christ will be a revelation as his full glory and power will be disclosed to all the earth (2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7, 13; 4:13). This word is applied to the last book of the New Testament as a title, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1). Revelation makes known the person and work of Christ both now and in the end times.

The word apokalupsis helps us understand important truths. First, God is in the business of telling us things we don’t know. He is a revealing God who graciously discloses Himself to us. Second, this revelation is often centered on our Lord Jesus Christ. God wants us to know about His son Jesus and reveals Him to us through His Word and the work of the Spirit. Third, it reminds us that we don’t know everything. We must lean on God’s Word for understanding so that we will learn what God desires us to know.

So, it’s okay to admit: We don’t know what we don’t know. But praise God that he reveals to us what we don’t know so that we can love and exalt our Lord Jesus Christ.