How does Infinite God, who is the ultimate Mystery communicate to us

 Dogma: Faith and Revelation

10. (a)  How does Infinite God, who is the ultimate Mystery communicate to us, the mortal human beings, we call it Divine Revelation? (b)  How do we explain that according to the New Testament witness the self-manifestation of God is decisively embodied in Jesus Christ?  (c)  How God in Jesus Christ has been reliably and definitively revealed to us once for all eternity? (d) How do we explain Jesus as Son of God through his central proclamation of Kingdom of God, his ministry, his saving death and resurrection, ascension ,and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, a new relationship between God and all humanity is established? 

Introduction:  Revealtion is the the communication of by God to man.  God's self disclosure of Himself and His will to His creatures. It is ‘unmasking’ or ‘unveiling’ of that which was previously unknown. In Christianity, it came into being through a history. It is a history salvation which is the manifestation of God’s love to man. It is“for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed God did not send the Son   into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (Jn.3:16-17). The infinite became finte. The transendant became imannant.   

The Communication of God to Mortal Human Being: God’s communication  to man is not at all in a sudden or abrupt event but it continues through the human history. At the fullness of time it came in real when “Logos” (Jn.1:1) which became Incarnated but ‘born, not of the will of the flesh or of will of man, but of God’ (Jn.1:13).  God the Father began the saving actions which men experienced from the very beginning of his fall. Thus it is found in the Old Testament the the communication of God to man in some particular events. 

God’s Covenant with Abraham: Covenant history begins with God’s call to Abraham. God had chosen individuals as His instrument in former covenant but here God chose a nation, a chosen one to represent Him before the world, to receive and to safe guard his truth and to bring salvation eventually to all mankind.

Prophetic Prophesy about Savior: The Old Testament Scriptures do contain a multitude of prophecies about this Messiah who will come as ruling, triumphant King and set up his kingdom. This hasn't happened yet, but will when Jesus returns. In addition to this portrayal of the Messiah as King, hundreds of other Old Testament prophecies clearly refer to the Messiah as a Savior for their sin. This is what Jesus did, and was believed by many Jews, yet rejected by many others. “In the beginning the sacred writers speaks of deliverance from merely temporal evils (Sam.10:19.11:9). Then of the deliverance of the chosen people from the Egypt (Ex.14:13) and from the Babylonian Exile (Is. 45:17). Gradually as the prophets took forward to messianic times, salvation comes to mean deliverance from sin (Is.33:22-23).

The explaination according to the New Testament witness the self-manifestation of God is decisively embodied in Jesus Christ: The New Testament gives us a concrete picture of God’s self manisfestation embodied in Jesus. It is is dicussed in the following points. 

Divine Conception: Mary miraculously conceived Jesus while remaining a virgin. “To become the mother of the Savior, Mary was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role. The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as ‘full of grace’.  It is in other word The Annunciation to Mary which inaugurates the fullness of time, the time of the fulfillment of God's promises and preparations. Mary was invited to conceive Him. In whom the ‘whole fullness of deity’ would dwell bodily. The divine response to her question, "How can this be, since I know not man?’ was given by the power of the Spirit: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon You’ (Lk.1:26). Thus we see that Jesus’ birth took place in this world in a miraculous way. St. John in his gospel, identifies Jesus’ preexistence as the “Logos” (Jn.1:1) which became Incarnated but ‘born, not of the will of the flesh or of will of man, but of God’ (Jn.1:13).  Paul focuses on contrasting the birth of Jesus with the fall of Adam, and presents Jesus as the "firstborn of all creation", and a second Adam, in Col 1:15-16.

The Birth of the Saviour: The gospels of Luke and Matthew describe Jesus being born in Bethlehem, in Judea, to a virgin mother where Jesus is born and laid in a manger. Angels proclaim him a savior for all people, and shepherds come to adore him. In Matthew, wise men follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the King of the Jews. This is the story that was foretold many years ago by the prophet Isaiah that “virgin will conceive and bring forth a child” (7:14). This how the logos became incarnated and lived among us. St John in his writing said that “Declare to you the eternal life that was with Father and was revealed to us” (1 Jn.1:2). St. Paul very clearly said the aim of the birth of the Son  of Father in the following way “ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”( Phil.2:6-11).

Jesus’ Miracles beginning of the Saving Work and revelation of God in Him: Jesus performed many miraculous acts in His three years preaching which had been ever found before in human history. The divine nature in Jesus has been manifested clearly in His miraculous power. We see that raising Lazarus from dead (Jn.11:1-44), Feeding the five thousand (Mk.6:30-44), walk on the water (Mt.14:22-23), healing leper (Lk.17:9) giving sight of the blind Bartimeus (Mk.5:34) are the concrete examples that expresses uniquely Jesus as God. These are the initial signs of the beginning of Jesus’ mission as a Savior.   

 Jesus’ Sacrifice and Final Salvation on the Cross: In the New Testanent of writing of St. Paul cleraly states how God’s rvelation embodied to Jesus Christ.   “In Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,  in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue should confess  that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”(Phil. 2:6-11). 

 Jesus fulfilled every will of the Father. He gave the last drop of His blood for entire salvation of the human being. It was the ardent will of God. Final salvation or the saving work of Christ’s got the full meaning only when He laid down His life for us. St. Paul states that “Christ’s sacrifice once for all” (Heb.10:12). Death is not the end of everything. There is resurrection which assurers our eternal life that was band for the sins of first Adam. 

The resurrection: The resurrection of Jesus is a unique and eminent event in the human history.  It is never possible for a man to be resurrected unless God present Himself or intervenes there. Here is a clear indication that Jesus was uniquely God. His apostle Thomas seeing the resurrected Christ cried out saying, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:28). Another way the Bible teaches that Jesus is God is by showing that He has all of the attributes of God. He knows everything (Jn. 4:29), is everywhere (Mt.18:20 ;) has all power (Lk.7:14-15), depends on nothing outside of Himself for life (Jn.14:6 ), rules over everything (Rev.19:16) never began to exist and never will cease to exist (John 1:1; 8:58), and is our Creator (Colossians 1:16). In other words, everything that God is, Jesus is. For Jesus is God. 

The Ascension: It implies Jesus' humanity being taken into Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Item 668) states: Christ's Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God's power and authority. This event of Jesus clearly states the divinity of Jesus that He is truly God. It is also found in the biblical narrative that an angel tells the watching disciples that Jesus' second coming will take place in the same manner as His ascension.  So the Church from early time till now is “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Tit 2:13).

Saving Works continues through the Church By the Holy Spirit:  The death and resurrection of transformed the understanding of Jesus. It gave them a new understanding in preaching of God’s Kingdom. Church is primarily as a structure or organization, now at last we began to realize that we ourselves were the Church. The Church is much more than an organization: it is the organism of the Holy Spirit, something that is alive, that takes hold of our inmost being. This consciousness found verbal expression with the concept of the ‘Mystical Body of Christ’. It is always sanctified and saved by saving action of Jesus, the savior of the World. “Jesus as the world’s Savior redeemed by the by the blood in the Cross. So redemption for the human being is to be sure, promise in Adam and fulfillment in Christ.” Thus the saving mission of Christ is continued through the Church. 

Conclusion: Father is the initiator of the salvation. The fall of first man need made a need to be reunited with God that is way salvation was very necessary for human being. It did not come all in a sudden but at fullness of time according to the plan of Father. Jesus the only begotten Son of the Father by sacrificing His Life on Cross make sure the human salvation. So from all the ends of the earth call Him Savior of the World.