📖 Biblical Definition
To unveil what was hidden. The Greek apokalupto (uncover, disclose) and its noun apokalypsis (unveiling, revelation) name the divine act. Scripture distinguishes general revelation (God making Himself known to all humanity through creation, conscience, and providence — Ps 19:1; Rom 1:18-20; 2:14-15) and special revelation (God making Himself known through specific divine speech to His covenant people, climaxing in Christ — Heb 1:1-2; John 1:18). The English title Revelation for the last book of the Bible reflects this: Greek apokalypsis Iesou Christou — the unveiling of Jesus Christ. The cultural usage of apocalypse as catastrophe is a secondary derivation; the primary biblical sense is the unveiling itself, not the disasters it depicts. Christian revelation is comprehensive: it covers God's nature, His redemptive purposes, the believer's identity, the church's mission, and the consummation of all things. Scripture is the church's authoritative record of God's special revelation, closed at the apostolic era.
📜 KJV Continual Tense
In KJV: revealeth — God’s ongoing unveiling.
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1 Corinthians 2:10: "God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things." The searching Spirit reveals continuously; what He searches, He shows.
Daniel 2:22: "He revealeth the deep and secret things." Continuous unveiling of mysteries to those who seek.
Romans 1:17: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." The righteousness is being unveiled across the gospel’s unfolding.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
To unveil; to disclose what was hidden.
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To make known; to disclose; to unveil; in Scripture especially of God’s self-disclosure — through creation, through Scripture, through Christ. The fundamental verb of biblical theology.
📖 Key Scripture
Daniel 2:22 — "He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him."
1 Corinthians 2:10 — "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
Matthew 11:27 — "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Either reduced to dramatic exposure ("reveal-style" television) or appropriated for any subjective insight ("the Lord revealed to me").
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Pop usage of "reveal" leans dramatic-television. Loose Christian usage applies it to any subjective intuition. Scripture’s revelation is more disciplined: God’s actual unveiling of Himself through Word and Spirit, anchored in Scripture, illuminated to the saint.
Recover precision: not every hunch is revelation; not every revelation is dramatic. Revelation is God making known what would otherwise be hidden — and He has supremely done so in Christ and the Scriptures.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek apokalyptō; Latin revelare.
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['Greek', 'G601', 'apokalyptō', 'to uncover, reveal']
['Greek', 'G602', 'apokalypsis', 'revelation']
Usage
"God reveals in Word, Spirit, and Christ."
"Apokalypsis is unveiling, not catastrophe."
"Revelation is anchored in Scripture, not subjective hunches."