This brings us to the Greek words apokalupto to reveal, and apokalupsis revelation.

The Greek word kalupto means the opposite of the Hebrew galah "to uncover", it means

"to cover" or "to veil" kalumma meaning a veil (II Cor. 3: 13). Apo, meaning "away

from", makes apokalupsis therefore an "unveiling". The English words veil, and reveal,

both come from the Latin velum, a covering or a veil--so that "revelation" in our own

tongue means exactly the same as the Hebrew galah and the Greek apokalupsis. Secret

or hidden things are the subjects of "revelation". God is spoken of as "He that revealeth

secrets" (Dan. 2: 29), and a "secret" sathar is something that is hid (Exod. 3: 6;

Deut. 29: 29; Gen. 4: 14). The unveiling of hidden secrets is the object of revelation,

and cannot be attained by unaided human reason.

(3) THE REVEALER. The personal element in the conception of revelation.

The subject of revelation deals with the most wonderful of all subjects, the purpose of

the ages, the problem of sin and its remedy, the manifestation of the nature of God and of

man, and the revelation of grace in the person and work of the Redeemer. All this is

personal to a degree. Man does not put up the request for revelation, God initiates the

unveiling. Man would never have dreamed of the existence of the hidden secrets that

form the core of Divine truth. God had a desire unto the work of His hands, He sought

fellowship with His creatures, He crossed the barrier that divides the absolute from the

conditioned, the invisible from the manifest. It is God Who reveals, and gives that

revelation to man.

(4) THE RECEIVER.

The fact of a revelation, written or spoken in human language, using figures and ideas

that are intelligible to man, not only presupposes a Personal Revealer, but demands some

affinity on the part of the receiver. Just as it is impossible for one human being to

conduct an argument until some common ground is reached where both persons

concerned are in agreement, so it is impossible for God to communicate His Revelation

unless the ones to whom such a revelation is directed have some common ground with

the One Who made the revelation. God is Creator, man a creature, and a great gulf

divides the two; but God created man in His image and likeness, and by so doing made it

possible that the thoughts of God could be communicated to the lowly yet honoured work

of His hands.

(5) THE MEDIUM.

As the ages unroll, and the need for a revelation of God's purpose became insistent, so

the means used changed until it was concentrated in "The Word".

To the translation and interpretation of the Scriptures therefore we next turn our

attention as we seek to attain to their meaning.