Understanding Our Faith 002 General Revelation 01 Intro + Nature
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Today we are looking at what is called the ‘Doctrine of Revelation’.
The word ‘revelation’, which is the same word for the name of the last book of our Bible, is the Greek word “αποκαλυψις” (apocalypse).
What do we think when we hear this word? The apocalypse, some disaster or other, end time drama, maybe we think of some film. Actually what ‘apocalypse’ means is revealing; to uncover; to unveil.
The only way we know God is because He has chosen and allowed Himself to be known. God is willing to be known. He desires to be known. In this we are different from the animal kingdom in that we have the faculty to receive revelation from God. Because we are made in the image of God He has given us a will, intelligence, conscience and a spirit that can know Him. However, this image is marred because of what happened in the Garden of Eden when sin was first committed therefore. It caused our faculties to become darkened.
It is thought that there are two types of revelation:
General revelation
This is knowledge of God that is available to all people in every age, in every place. God has revealed Himself in certain ways to everyone.
Special Revelation
This is knowledge of God that is available to specific people, at specific times, in specific places. God has revealed Himself in certain ways to a few.
General Revelation
General Revelation
Many people will dispute that there is any knowledge of God to be had. Hence we have those who are atheists who hold there definitely is no God. It is a bold statement. When the Russian Cosmonaut Titov came back from space he commented: “I didn’t see God up there.” Yet other astronauts have come back and their faith was strengthened. For the atheist to be so firm in their understanding means that they are relying upon reasoning that can let them down, if indeed their brains and thoughts are nothing other than chemicals working. And what of the saying “there are no atheists in a shipwreck”?
Still there are others who believe there are many gods otherwise known as polytheists. This is better than atheism even if they are bowing to carved crafts that can neither see nor hear.
Then there are others who do not know whether there is or isn’t a God. It is was Huxley who called himself an agnostic and the term caught on. This is a bit like those in Athens who had an altar to the unknown God. Actually there is a real sense that God cannot be known.
Truly You are God, who hide Yourself,
O God of Israel, the Savior!
God cannot be full known, this is true, but agnostics say He cannot be known at all. And we shall see that this is untrue. Of course, if we could fully describe God then we would also be gods or God would cease to be at all.
Then there are those who really do think that people are gods which is the root of humanism.
Now we come to those ways in which God has revealed Himself to everyone:
Nature; through creation.
God is simply assumed from the first page of the Bible:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
There is no explanation – it simply is – and God IS. We are to take the statement at face-value. The Scripture is not explaining God or how He came about or trying to prove His existence – God is before all things. Time and space came into being when God spoke and everything we now see came into being. Before creation there was no time – simply eternity. His creation though is evidence that He exists.
The classic argument is this:
The universe is an effect
Every effect must have an adequate cause
The universe must, therefore, have an adequate cause
That cause is God
Creation suggests that there is a creator. The fact that there is design in nature shows that there must be a designer. Scripture backs this up:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.
In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
The Psalm clearly indicates that the universe, what we see under a microscope or with a telescope shows how amazing God is. We know instinctively that when we see the stars, when we hear the thunder, when we smell the freshly cut grass, when we taste chocolate that God gave us all this. Creation has its own language – not of words – but a clear demonstration of the power of God. In the Psalm we see that the witness of Creation is non-stop: Day unto Day, Night unto Night. No one is exempt from knowing that God has done all this. Even one who is physically blind have their other senses. Nature is God’s book written in creation.
Paul declares:
because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
Without excuse – but of course, we do hear excuse after excuse and the world’s worst scientific theory has taken their eyes off what God has revealed to be His power at work into evolution, an unscientific theory. Scripture does not teach evolution as kinds give birth to the same kinds not different kinds. No cat has turned into a dog, for instance. God has revealed Himself but people refuse to acknowledge that He has done so.
I love nature programmes and am impressed by the sheer variety of species - I’m watching this new series ‘Planet 2’ with the enormous diversity of life in the sea living in extreme conditions. Then there are certain species that simply exist to help another, for instance, certain bees are designed for one particular flower. How did the flower exist without the bee or the bee without the flower – both must have come into being at the same time. The key is in the word design.
It has been said that; “every atom has the look of a manufactured article”
The makers of the programmes do not see it as God’s handiwork yet we ourselves could not exist unless all the enzymes, all the proteins, all the bodily functions come together at exactly the same time. What a mockery evolution is! Our physical eyes are so complex but they are so blind to God. Who other than God could do all these things?!
William Paley, in his book called “Evidences of Christianity” in 1802 wrote:
In crossing a field one day, I strike my toe against a watch. I pick it up and examine it. I find that it consists of a complicated arrangement of wheels, springs, jewels and balances, all neatly combined and arranged in a gold case and covered with a crystal. Then I note that every tiny piece of its intricate mechanism is performing according to a definite schedule, and each part is so related to the others that the hands are moved about the dial according to a dependable and unvarying routine. Now, having never seen a watch made, suppose I reach the conclusion that this watch had neither designer nor maker; that out of the earth came iron and gold and the elements of glass; that they refined themselves, fashioned themselves into springs and wheels and crystal, assembled themselves into this case, wound themselves up, and started to tick. What would you think of my reasoning? You would think me a fool of course. You would say that my story violates your reason; that the existence of the watch is positive evidence of the preexistence of a watchmaker and a creative mind and imagination.
The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Truly the heavens declare the glory of God! No wonder Scripture says that the fool says in his heart there is no God. For they have chosen to ignore the evidence.
However, creation is not the full revelation of God. We cannot get to know God personally this way. Creation reveals that there is a God. It should cause them to look beyond creation to gain more understanding. It is here we find many misled down to worship creation or creating other gods. But creation is there and the choice is theirs to find out what really is the truth but most chose not to. But creation is the first way God reveals Himself.
Next time we’ll see other ways God has revealed Himself.