It goes without saying
that unless we have a proper understanding of God, our understanding of sin,
salvation, and many other significant truths, will be wrong. If you've
ever read Genesis, you’ve probably noticed that the Bible begins with the
assumption of God. The very first verse in the Bible says, “In
the beginning God….” And then the story of God begins, a story is
traced throughout the entire Scriptures. One thing is certain, we could never truly know
God unless He reveals himself
In the broader use of the
term, revelation signifies God’s disclosure of Himself through creation
or nature (Ps. 19:1-6; Acts 14:15-17; Rom. 1:18-20), history (Ex. 7:4-5; Deut.
28), the conscience of man (Rom. 2:14-15) and Scripture. It is given in both
event and word. Revelation
thus is both “general”—God revealing Himself in nature, history, and conscience,
and “special”—God revealing Himself in the Scriptures and in His Son.
General (Natural)
Revelation
“For his invisible
attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has
made. As a result, people are without excuse” (Rom.
1:20). Speaking of those who had not heard the Gospel preached, Paul declared
that there is a general revelation of God in our world.
Four points to keep in
mind:
First, there is the revelation we find in material substance. Everything begun owes its existence to some producing cause. Why?
Because ex nihilo nihil fit (out of nothing, nothing comes). The very idea that
something has a beginning means that it owes its existence to some producing
cause. God speaks to us through
the material universe. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the
expanse proclaims the work of his hands” (Ps. 19:1). This material universe is part of the general
revelation.
We have learned from
science that the universe has not existed from all eternity. The Bible is quite
clear and categorical in its explanation, the author of Hebrews says: “By
faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of
God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible” (Heb.
11:3). Clearly, there is nothing haphazard or accidental in the coming into
being of all that exists. By the way, the faith spoken of in Hebrews is not a
blind faith, but a faith supported by evidence.
Second, we have
a world of order and purpose.
This world may seem irrational, but it is not erratic. It is a world that is
governed by certain natural laws. We would be foolish to assume that the world
could be governed by laws if there were not a Law Giver. Why don’t the planets
collide and destroy the universe? The laws, the order, the purposefulness of
this universe require that there be intelligence adequate to produce it. This
is a world of intricate order. We can send a man to the moon because we are
aware of the laws that govern the universe. Those laws presuppose an intelligence that would produce such order.
To study the design and beauty
of that which has been created and to deny the existence of a majestic, all-powerful,
intelligent, and divine Being, is to prove what Paul argued in Romans 1:18-20
(NIV), “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the
godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because
God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s
invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made, so that people are without
excuse.”
The universe’s design,
order, beauty and purpose are stamped with God’s majesty, power, glory, and
divinity. It is no wonder why the psalmist exclaims, “The heavens declare
the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands” (Ps.
19:1). Consider the words of Christ in Matthew 6:28-29, “… Observe how the
wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell
you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these”
(Matt. 6:28-29). Indeed, it is the very God of creation who paints the sunrise
and sunset, who displays the beauty of a rainbow across the sky, who gives the
Honeysuckle its wonderful scent, and gives color and beauty to the petals of
the dahlia.
Third, part of the general revelation is the intelligence of man. Man is a rational, moral, and intelligent being. It
is inconceivable that intelligence could come out of unintelligence. Believing
that man’s intelligence, morality, and his rational being just happened is just
as ridiculous as believing and arguing that the Encyclopedia Britannica resulted
from an explosion at the print shop. The general revelation of God reveals that
the intelligence of man owes its existence to something.
Fourth, the
religious nature of man. We have
never discovered any tribe of people, no matter how primitive, who did not have
some form of worship. They will worship something. They might worship the sun,
an animal, but they will worship something! If God was just a figment of our
imagination, why is man, by nature religious in all places and at all times
even among people who have never communicated with each other? The religious
nature of man is strong evidence for the existence of God.
Although general
revelation gives ample evidence of and therefore proves the existence of a very
powerful God, I am not claiming that nature proves that this God is the God of
the Bible.
General revelation is the
foundation for higher revelation. The reason is obvious, nature cannot tell me about love, it cannot
tell me how much God cares about me, and how wants to redeem sinners and
forgive them of their sins. Nature cannot tell me about eternity and the life
beyond, it does not speak of the future of the human soul and of the kingdom of
God. Nature can give me hints and evidences of God, but it cannot tell me what
kind of God he is. General revelation, as strong as it is, is only the basis of
a greater, more supernatural revelation.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible.
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