|
Home
Up
FOR THE
CHILDREN:
KidsAnswers.org
| |
Revelation Of God To Man
May 13, 2007 (AM) - Pastor Ronnie Wolfe
We have already discussed how that God is transcendent, far
above any created being. But God is not only transcendent, but God is immanent,
as we discussed last time.
God’s immanence is his living and working among his creatures
here on earth and throughout the universe.
Today we want to consider in what ways that God in his
immanence reveals himself to man. That is a miracle in itself.
REVEALED BY REASON
The Gift of Reason
Reason is that faculty of man which gives him the
privilege to accumulate and store knowledge in the mind.
Reason is given only to humans and not to lower
animals.
Reason is not knowledge of itself, but it is the
ability to get knowledge.
The mind cannot be the origin of knowledge. The
existence of knowledge is assumed in the world, but we are not the origin
of it. God must be the origin of real knowledge.
God has given us senses in order to receive knowledge.
Those senses do not create knowledge; they only receive knowledge.
We receive knowledge through our conscience,
observation, intuition, and instincts, all which God has given to us.
Reason, however, is an imperfect revelator. Reason
cannot obtain sufficient knowledge of God that would bring a person to
salvation or rewards in heaven.
This sufficiency was lost when Adam sinned in the
Garden of Eden.
Revelation By Means
God uses means to reveal himself to us, means such as
visions, dreams, and prophecies.
But how could those people who received dreams and
visions know for sure that it was God who talked to them?
God verifies these through miracles
Miracles were done by men who were proclaiming the
truth of God.
Through these miracles, man could know that the words
spoken were from God.
God verifies consistently
Another proof of whether a man was sent from God and
was preaching the truth is the consistency of his message to all other
revelations.
If a messenger gave a message that was inconsistent
with another messenger of God, then one of the two has to be wrong.
This protects against artificial miracles. If a
miracle is performed, but the message is false, then the miracle is
false, also.
Deut. 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or
a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign
or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us
go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer
of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love
the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Gal. 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed.
The magicians of Egypt, remember, did the same
miracles that Moses did. Just because someone produces something that is
supernatural, or above our understanding, does not mean that his message
is true.
Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets
shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were]
possible, even the elect. See Rev. 16:13-14.
So reason is the first revelator.
But we should remember that new revelation never
takes the place of old revelation.
Reason is not sufficient knowledge: In the
familiar picture of the elephant as described by four blind men, one man
described the elephant as being like a rope; the second, like the trunk
of a tree; the third, like a wall, and the man who encountered an ear,
thought an elephant was like a big tree leaf. All four men were
partially correct, but that the elephant was much more than even the sum
total of the four pieces of evidence presented by these blind
"scientists."1
REVEALED BY SCRIPTURE
Until Moses wrote the first words of the book of Genesis,
God revealed himself to men who were led only by reason. There were no
scriptures.
In that period of time, God spoke directly to people, and
many of them performed miracles.
Even without the scriptures, men could reason that God
exists, that he created the universe, that men are moral agents and
responsible before their Creator, that God would punish sinners, that God
had mercy and compassion. They even understood the need for sacrifice,
substitution and satisfaction, which are all biblical doctrines.
They saw those things only through a dark veil. They
could not see the clarity that we see today, having received the New
Testament from God.
Ps 119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in
heaven.
Ps 119:105 NUN. Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path.
Ps 119:140 Thy word [is] very pure: therefore thy
servant loveth it.
Ps 119:160 Thy word [is] true [from] the beginning:
and every one of thy righteous judgments [endureth] for ever.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word
is truth.
Since reason is not enough to give us a full
understanding of God, we must have more revelation, more detail.
The word of God is that revelation.
But even the word of God is not sufficient to answer
every question that we have about God.
1 Cor 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any
thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
2 Pet. 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by
the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the
Holy Ghost.
REVEALED BY CHRIST
Joh 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].
Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth.
Joh 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come
into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
REVEALED BY THE SPIRIT
1 Cor. 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can
he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.
Matt 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it
is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to
them it is not given.
Conclusion
God is meant to be known. He reveals himself to us in nature
for us to reason his existence, which is not hard to do. He speaks to us through
his word, the Bible, with specifics about himself and his Son, Jesus Christ.
Christ himself speaks of the Father, revealing God to us, and the Spirit of God
leads us to know him in a very special and specific way. This is what God does
in salvation.
Jesus Christ came to die for sinners, and those sinners have
a great need for salvation. If sinners will repent of their sins and trust his
death, burial and resurrection, he will save them.
If you are one of those sinners who has never trust Jesus Christ, may the
Spirit of God prick your heart today to come to him with repentance and faith,
and you will know God as you have never known him before.
____________________
1http://www.ldolphin.org/reveln.html
|