Table of Contents

 

 

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God Hath Spoken

Chapter 2

DIVINE REVELATION

      Deus locutus est—God hath spoken. Since God is, His purpose for creating must be that He be glorified by His creation. And, if God seeks to be glorified by His creation, then He must desire to communicate His will to men, for in all creation He made only man in His image. Man can know nothing about God but what God is pleased to reveal because His ways are past finding out.

     The communication of the knowledge of Himself to men is known as "divine revelation," and it has assumed 4 forms. First, natural revelation is the revelation of God in nature. Second, direct revelation refers to those times when God spoke to people "man to man," or person to person, as He did to Adam, and to Moses. Third, special revelation is revelation that is communicated through dreams and visions. Fourth is written revelation, which God has given as man's final authority in matters of faith, what he is to believe, and practice, how he is to behave himself.

Natural Revelation

     Psalm 8 shows what man knows from natural revelation. "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?" (vs. 1-4).

      Note first, that creation is here spoken of as the finger work of God. It was not a difficult thing for God to create the heavens and the earth. In Psalm 19, David calls creation His "handiwork." But when the psalmist speaks of salvation—of the new creation, he says "His arm brought salvation." Thomas Watson tells us, "It was a great thing for God to create man out of nothing, but it was a much greater work for God to save man when he was less than nothing."

    Natural revelation teaches the glory of God, for since the heavens are but the work of His fingers, and the firmament displays His handiwork, His glory is set above the heavens. What is His glory but His eternal power and Godhead?

    Second, natural revelation teaches the insignificance of man. "What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet [i.e. He has given man dominion]: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" (Ps. 8:4-9). In his oratorio, Elijah, Felix Mendelssohn paraphrases the first and ninth verse, "How excellent Thy name, O Lord, in all the earth!"

      In Psalm 19 we learn that natural revelation discloses the handiwork of God. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard" (vs. 1-3). The hymn writer penned, "And everywhere that man can be, Thou God art present there." There is no place in all creation where man can go and fail to see the handiwork of God. "Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof" (Ps. 19:4-6).

      In the 1860's, John Jasper preached, "The sun do move," and all the educated scientists said of him that he was a fool. But science now verifies the fact that the sun "do move." It has its own orbit.

     Romans chapter 1, verses 18-21 reads, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold [i. e. suppress] the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."

      God clearly reveals His eternal power and Godhead to every people, tongue and nation. He has revealed this from the beginning of the creation. All men everywhere know the truth of God, and therefore they are without excuse. God can judge people who have never heard a Gospel message, or who have never seen a copy of the Bible, because "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork." Men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them." How do we know this? "Because God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen."

  

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