What am I holding in my hand? You don’t know do you? In fact, you don’t even know if I am holding anything in my hand at all. Maybe my hand is empty, and I am just trying to trick you. How can you know? What I possess is knowable to you only if I choose to reveal it to you. I am holding….drum roll please….a tomato.
How can we know if there is a God of not? To know if there is a God, He too must reveal Himself to us. We cannot discover who God is or figure Him out on our own. Thankfully God took the initiative and revealed Himself to us. The Bible talks about several ways that God has opened His mighty hand to reveal Himself to us. All of these ways can be put into two categories; 1) General revelation, and 2) Special revelation.
I. General revelation:
1. The world He has made: Psalm 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. In other words the orderliness found in nature proves that there is an intelligent mind, and immensely powerful being that made all things. Look at it this way, if we see a painting how do we know there was a painter? The painting is absolute proof that there was a painter. If we see a building how do we know there was a builder? Would our intelligent minds ever lead us to believe that the building was the result of an explosion in a brick factory? Absolutely not! Although we may not know who the builder or the painter was, the very existence of the painting and the building absolutely proves that there was a builder and a painter. Psalm 19:1 uses that same logic to demonstrate the seemingly obvious fact that if we see creation then we undoubtedly know that there was a creator.
2. God also reveals Himself to us by the existence of the conscience. The word conscience is Latin. It is formed from two small words, “con” means with, and “science” means knowledge, so conscience literally means “with knowledge.” The word conscience implies that we have an innate knowledge of a standard of right and wrong that is superior to mankind. The Bible would teach that our conscience is damaged by the fall which explains variations in individual understanding of right and wrong, because as Roman’s 1 teaches men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. However, we all understand the concepts of fairness, and guilt. We understand that selfishness is bad, and self-sacrifice is commendable. Why? How do we know that it is good to save life and bad to take it? If there is no God then literally nothing is objectively right or wrong! Racism. Rape. Theft. Arrogance. Nothing is wrong if there is no God, but somewhere in our conscience we know there is a right and a wrong; and therefore we know there is a God.
Rom. 2:14-15 puts it this way For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. Jew and Gentile alike disobeyed what they knew in their hearts to be right. Since, all mankind knows there is a God and all mankind knows what is right and wrong but chooses their own way over God’s way, God is perfectly just to punish every man because he rebelled against the truth that he knew. All men are without excuse (Romans 1:20), and it is by grace that God even offers the opportunity to repent and believe. In fact, it is solely by grace that God provided us with a sacrifice in which to place our trust!
Now let us go back to tomatoes. Aren’t tomato’s wonderful vegetables? Are they? Well…The answer is actually no, they are not wonderful vegetables and that is not a matter of opinion. Regardless of whether you believe tomatoes are wonderful or not, tomatoes are not vegetables they are fruits. Some of you may have known that, for years I did not. I was unsure what made a tomato a fruit, but I cared enough to find out.
To really figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, you need to know what makes a fruit a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable. The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS? If the answer is yes, then technically, (botanically) you have a FRUIT. This, of course, makes your tomato a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts all fruits as well. Along with the fruit from a plant or tree, we can often eat the leaves (lettuce,) stems (celery,) roots (carrots,) and flowers (broccoli.) Many of these other parts of the plant are typically referred to as VEGETABLES. Now don't go looking for tomatoes next to the oranges in your grocery stores; fruits like tomatoes and green beans are usually (alas, incorrectly) referred to as "vegetables" in most grocery stores and cookbooks.
When I show you a tomato you do not automatically know everything that is knowable about a tomato, and let’s face it….Who really cares? I just want to eat it anyway. It really is not that important. However, I used it to serve as an illustration of how that many people approach God. They look at nature. They recognize the conscience. They rightly deduce there is a God, some may be more comfortable calling Him a “Higher Power.” They do no want to become “religious fanatics,” and they feel that believing in God is good enough. James responds to this type of belief with an intense, attention grabbing response. James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -- and tremble!
God does not call men to simply believe in Him, he calls them to know Him. Phil. 3:8-11 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Important question, can we have the “knowledge of Christ Jesus” V. 8, obtain “faith in Christ” V. 9, or “know him and the power of His resurrection” V. 10 by looking at the heavens or contemplating our conscience? No; and that brings us to the next way that God has revealed Himself to us. Come back soon for Part II; Special Revelation.
No comments:
Post a Comment