Secret Things and Revealed Things
Understanding Moses’s Words in Deuteronomy 29:29
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There are things that only God knows, and there are things he has made known to us.
God’s revelation (what he makes known) consists of natural and special revelation—“natural” referring to what can be known from creation and human conscience, and “special” referring to what can be known through Christ and Holy Scripture.
In Deuteronomy 29:29, Moses told the Israelites, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Moses spoke those words in the plains of Moab (Deut. 29:1) as the Israelites readied to enter the promised land. Once they entered the promised land, they were to take with them the words of the law and keep them. They were to live out a covenant life of true worship and obedience. The nations and neighboring peoples would bear witness to the people of God worshiping the true and living God.
The Israelites knew what God expected of them because he had revealed things to them. Moses was the mediator of many laws, but even before that work of mediation, the Lord had spoken the Ten Commandments to the nation which had gathered at the base of Mount Sinai (Exod. 19–20). These many laws were “the things that are revealed” (Deut. 29:29). God’s commandments now belonged to the Israelites as laws which were to be kept, taught, passed on, enforced, and trusted.
Some things the Israelites did not know. There were (and are) “secret things” that “belong to the LORD our God” alone (Deut. 29:29). We don’t know everything that happens, and we don’t know all the reasons why things happen. Our ignorance about things is vast, but such is not the case with God. He knows all things about all things. God is not in the dark about anything. While we can be easily bewildered, God is never entangled by mystery. His knowledge is precise, accurate, and total.
The claim in Deuteronomy 29:29 is a truth that should humble us. While we can know what God has made known, we do not know all that God knows. And we will never have the mind and full thoughts of the incomprehensible God. After all, how could we? We are creatures made by this great God.
Our inability to comprehend the fullness of divine knowledge, however, does not minimize the importance of what we do know. What God has revealed now belongs to us, that we might faithfully steward and teach this revelation. In Deuteronomy 29:29, the initial significance of “the things that are revealed” is related to the Torah laws, though such revelation is situated in the context of patriarchal promises, a redemption from Egypt, preservation through the wilderness, and the anticipation of conquest.
Over the course of the two Testaments, more revelation is given. In fact, we see the glorious person and work of Christ as the climax of God’s redemptive Story. These “things that are revealed” include not only laws but also gospel news—the good news of Christ’s humble birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, victorious resurrection, triumphant ascension, cosmic lordship, and sure return. This news has been revealed, and it belongs to us and to the generations to come.
The gospel is not among the “secret things” that are known only to God. The redemptive work of Christ is among the “things that are revealed” and should be proclaimed among the nations.
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