Through the Bible we see that God is love. The Holy Spirit is the voice or conscience of the Father and the Son living in us. Just like God used Moses to reveal himself to the Israelites, God often uses other people and situations to reveal himself to us.
My daughter and son in-law recently experienced this in a big way…. Due to some issues my daughter experienced when giving birth to her first child, her doctor informed her that the possibility was there that she might have to have a C-section with her second child. At Mount Sinai, He rescues His people and thunders against sin and injustice. To Jonah, He was the One who condemns sin but forgives the penitent. In Bethlehem, He is the Babe of heaven, come to bring peace on earth.
And at Calvary, He sacrifices Himself that you and I might live. God wants to give us the light about Himself! He reveals Himself universally through 1 nature, 2 humanity and 3 history. God reveals Himself in a variety of ways in the Bible. Theologians categorize these into two groups: general revelation and special revelation.
General revelation refers to the things we can know of God through 1 nature, 2 humanity, and 3 history. A brief study of these theological terms and their meanings will greatly enhance our understanding of how God reveals Himself to us.
It will also help us better understand why we need daily personal Bible study using the keys that we have learned. Both of these types of revelation are important to our understanding of God.
But it is vital to understand that some ways reveal God more clearly than others. General revelation is usually considered to include nature, human beings and history. General revelation is accessible to everyone in the world, universally providing the opportunity to follow God. This is how God gets our attention and point us to our need for Him. The study of nature reveals much about the creativity, order, and forethought of God, yet nature has been marred by sin and no longer perfectly represents its Creator.
Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth. We can think and reason, as well as discern between right and wrong. We are capable of kindness and emotion. These are God-like characteristics. Human beings also have an intuitive knowledge of God that propels us to search for Him Acts For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.
Yet humanity is far from a perfect revelation of God. We only have to glance through our daily news feed to recognize how far human beings have fallen from their original holy state. We are naturally alienated from God Colossians Unlike the mirrors of today, these mirrors were made of beaten and polished metal that required constant polishing.
The vision was imperfect at best, clouded with scratches on an unclear surface. Like this imperfect mirror, the finite limited human being can only know in part the majestic and infinite God. We see through this cloudy mirror of our sin-nature, so what we know is scratchy, cloudy, and imperfect. The clear purpose of His revelation is that humanity might come to know Him in a personal, intimate relationship.
General revelation includes ways that God reveals Himself to all people in all places since creation. His divine providence, governance, and care for His creation throughout history reveals evidence of general revelation.
Paul refers to the general revelation of God in creation. God has made plain to humanity His eternal, invisible power and divine nature through the things He has made.
Thus, humankind is without excuse as to a general revelation of God because God can be seen and understood in His creation. Discoveries in science, nature, and medicine are evidence for the revelation of God. Part of the promise of God is that all people will know God because His laws will be written on their hearts. Instinctively, we have a certain revelation about right and wrong. Paul says that when the Gentiles do instinctively what is right according to the law, they demonstrate that the law of God is written on their hearts.
Lewis points out, human beings have this inherent idea that they should behave in a certain way, which they just cannot get away from. Humans know right behavior, and still manage to behave wrongly. The general knowledge of God simply is not enough to bring humanity into an intimate relationship with God. Even when they say they love Him, they continually stray from His side and have not known His ways. The Scripture says of itself:.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof for correction, for instruction in righteousness 2 Timothy God has given humanity ample opportunity to know about Him by means of nature, the human conscience, Jesus Christ, and through the Bible. Humanity has no excuse whatsoever for rejecting God.
God has revealed Himself to the human race in four major ways: nature, the human conscience, the Person of Jesus Christ, and finally in the Bible.
Each of these methods testifies to his existence. Humanity has no excuse whatsoever for rejecting him. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry.
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