Sermon quotes on divine revelation
Thomas Aquinas
This is the ultimate in human knowledge of God: to know that we do not know Him.
Questiones Disputatiae de Potentia Dei (On the Power of God), trans. by the English Dominican Fathers, The Newman Press, 1952, question 7, article 5, paragraph 14.
Augustine of Hippo
It’s not in the book or in the writer that readers discern the truth of what they read; they see it in themselves, if the light of truth has penetrated their minds.
John Calvin
For who is so devoid of intellect as not to understand that God, in so speaking, lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children? . . . In doing so, he must, of course, stoop far below his proper height.
John Calvin
The highest proof of Scripture derives in general from the fact that God in person speaks in it.
Institutes 1.7.4
John Chrysostom
Nothing makes one so dizzy as human reasoning, which sees everything from an earthly point of view, and does not allow illumination from above. Earthly reasoning is covered with mud. Therefore, we have need of streams from above, so that, when the mud has fallen away, whatever part of the reason is pure may be carried on high and may be thoroughly imbued with the lessons taught there. This takes place when we manifest both a well-disposed soul and an upright life.
Homily 24 (John 2:23-3:4)
Jean Pierre de Caussade
Each moment is a revelation from God.
The Sacrament of the Present Moment. Translated by Kitty Muggeridge. Harper & Row.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
Millard Erickson
Inspiration presupposes a long process of God’s providential working with the author.
Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids; Baker, 1998), p. 225.
Julian of Norwich
God wishes to be seen, and he wishes to be sought, He wishes to be expected, and he wishes to be trusted.
Revelations of Divine Love (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2011), 14, 28.
Thomas à Kempis
Every creature will be to you a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine.
The Imitation of Christ, Ave Maria Press.
Jack Kinder
You’re not made in a crisis—you’re revealed. When you squeeze an orange—you get orange juice. When you squeeze a lemon—you get lemon juice. When a human being gets squeezed—you get what is inside—positive or negative.
Thomas Paine (For Contrast)
The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has been the most dishonourable belief against the character of the divinity, the most destructive to morality, and the peace and happiness of man, that ever was propagated since man began to exist. It is better, far better, that we admitted, if it were possible, a thousand devils to roam at large, and to preach publicly the doctrine of devils, if there were any such, than that we permitted one such impostor and monster as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible prophets, to come with the pretended word of God in his mouth, and have credit among us.
Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody persecutions, and tortures unto death and religious wars, that since that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but from this impious thing called revealed religion, and this monstrous belief that God has spoken to man? The lies of the Bible have been the cause of the one, and the lies of the Testament of the other.”
The Age of Reason
John Piper
In all of knowable reality, God is unique. He is knowable not like the multiplication table or the table of elements; he alone is knowable as the one totally in control of being known. He is not at the disposal of the human mind. He is known when he wills to be known. Yet he is known in and through created reality, which is known naturally. Therefore the glory of God is exalted most not when we know God apart from observation and reading and study, but when we know God as a result of his free and gracious self-revelation in and through our earnest observation of and meditation on his work and Word in history.”
The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God
Gayle Somers
All the cards in the deck of revelation about God’s mercy and kindness are stacked in favor of the unthinkable.
Paul David Tripp
Every awesome thing in creation is designed to point you to the One who alone is worthy of capturing and controlling the awe of your searching and hungry heart.
Taken from Awe: Why it Matters to Everything We Think, Say, and Do by Paul David Tripp, © 2015, pp.21. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
B.B. Warfield
If God wished to give His people a series of letters like Paul’s, He prepared a Paul to write them, and the Paul He brought to the task was a Paul who spontaneously would write just such letters.
The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Presbyterian & Reformed, 1979.
Scott Erickson
But the rub of revelation is that it’s a transformation you’re not in charge of.
Honest Advent: Awakening to the Wonder of God-with-Us Then, Here, and Now, Zondervan, 2020.
Scott Erickson
Revelation is a hard gift to receive. You must give up everything else to receive it—like finding a treasure in a field and selling everything you have so you can get that treasure.
Honest Advent: Awakening to the Wonder of God-with-Us Then, Here, and Now, Zondervan, 2020.
Ignatius of Antioch
There is only one God, revealed by Jesus Christ his Son, who is his Word sprung from silence.
Christian Mysticism: Texts from the Patristic Era with Commentary, 2nd ed. (New York: New City Press, 2013), 36.
Thomas à Kempis
O Light eternal, surpassing all created brightness, flash forth the lightning from above and enlighten the inmost recesses of my heart. Cleanse, cheer, enlighten, and enliven my spirit with all its powers, that it may cling to you in ecstasies of joy. Oh, when will that happy and wished-for hour come, when you will fill me with your presence and become all in all to me? So long as this is not given me, my joy will not be complete.
Imitation of Christ (c. 1418–1427)
Thomas Merton
Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows himself everywhere, in everything- in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without him. It’s impossible. The only thing is that we don’t see it.
Life And Solitude (tapes)
Still Looking for inspiration?
Consider checking out our illustrations page on Revelation.