God’s Revelations
Mike Johnson
Some people do not believe that God has revealed Himself to mankind. In fact, they do not even believe that God exists. These people are called atheists. Another group, the deists, believe in the existence of a deity, but they think He has not given us a specific revelation; they believe God created the earth and those who inhabit it and just went off and left. According to this position, God is not in any way involved in the affairs of people today. Finally, another group, the agnostic, does not know whether there is a god or not — there may or may not be, according to them.
It should be evident to everyone that there is a God. The beauty and orderliness of the universe say there is a God. Things did not just come together by accident — there must be some power and intelligence behind the universe and earth’s existence. Psalms 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” We know that design demands a designer. Someone mighty and intelligent created this “design.” From this, many conclude that there must be a god! This type of revelation is called “natural” revelation. Natural revelation tells us about a god but not about the God.
Fortunately, God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Eph. 3:3-4; 1 Thess. 2:13). Because we have the Scriptures, we can learn about the God. We understand what His will and expectations are for us — we learn about His compassion and love and that He is a god of justice who expects obedience (Jn. 3:16; Heb. 5:8-9).
Without the Scriptures, we would not know the answers to three great questions that plagued humanity. They are: where did I come from, what am I doing here, and where am I going? Since God has given us a special revelation, the Scriptures, we can learn the answers to these questions. The Bible is such an important book; it is God talking to us.
We have a natural revelation, which tells us that a god must exist. But, thankfully, there is a special revelation, the Scriptures, which tells us about the God of heaven and through which he communicates to people today.