Part 1: Knowing God Through Creation - Natural Revelation

"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, " Romans 1:19-20

In the section about the Knowledge of GOD, we saw that God desires all men know Him and that such knowledge becomes the motive of boasting of all men. Again, through Prophet Jeremiah, God said, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord , exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the Lord ." Jeremiah 9:23-24. This is the will of God, and it flows out of His love for each one of us, His creatures made in His image and likeness. However, whether we know Him or not, it does not add or remove anything from God, but it certainly robs us from the privilege of knowing Him and from having life, eternal life.

God desires to be known and thanks be to Him because He has made a way for us to know Him. The base scripture taken from Romans 1 says that "what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them." The writer of Romans is saying that if there is anything to be known about God it is only possible, available, or manifested to us because God has shown it, He disclosed to us. In another terms, we can only know God to the extent He reveals Himself to us. This is true because if God is God no one can pressure Him to make Himself known, neither someone can go up and visit Him in His dwelling place because God lives in a place of "unapproachable light," (1 Timothy 6:16). The truth is that what we can know about God is only possible to the degree God chooses to reveals to us. Fortunately, God has not only manifested the desire to be known, He has also provided human beings with means to know Him or means of revelation. These means are Creation and His inspired Word, The Bible. Theologically these means are also called "General or Natural Revelation" and "Specific Revelation"; However, in the last days, God granted us a Special Revelation, a more excellent way of knowing Him.

Creation - Natural Revelation

All creation bears witness of their creator. The bible says "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork." Psalms 19:1. The word translated Glory is the Hebrew word kabowd, and its meaning in relation to God according to Strong's concordance is, "honour, reverence, glory, as due to one or ascribed to Him." Thus, the Psalmist was saying, the heavens announce the honour due to God while the expanse or the heavens' surroundings proclaims the work God did by His hand. The Psalmist elsewhere said, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?" Psalms 8:3-4. The Psalmist contemplated the heavens, the work of God's hand and was left in owe of Him to the point that he wondered, who is man that you think of him; in other words, God you being so Majestic and Powerful, having created this marvelous things in the universe, why you bother thinking about man, or why you desire for him to know you! Again, it's because God loves us, we are the work of His hand, the chief of all His creation, He put His image and likeness on us, He cares for us! The point is that the Psalmist arrived to this contrast and reverenced God by beholding God's creation. Through observation of the things created, including human beings themselves, men is always left with owe and closer to His creator.

Since the recorded history of our civilization we have never seen things come into existence without someone actively and intentional bring that into being. The things that we so enjoy all have been planned, fashioned, built or manufactured by someone. Therefore, it is even inconceivable in our minds to entertain the idea that natural things that surround us just came into existence through unguided, mindless, evolutionary processes - such possibility defies the laws of logic and the simplest observations we can make on everyday life on how things come into existence. The device you so hold on your had that allows you to receive communication without being connected to any cable, aka wireless, was projected by someone even if by the time it gets to your hand you don't even have to know anything about the engineer who did so, and frankly we don't, yet you know someone envisioned, design, engineered and manufactured it. So did the heavens, the earth, and everything that exist - even if we don't know anything about the Creator, we know He exists. Nature makes a declaration about God's existence.

Although things are not perfect anymore due to the fall of men and creation itself is subject to the consequences of sin, yet it's still intriguing how everything on earth is so delicately cured to sustain life when compared to others planets. For instance, the distance of our planet to the sun and the moon is just perfect to grant us the kind of climate, seasons, and atmosphere we so enjoy on earth. Even looking to the universe as whole we can see that everything follow certain order and everything serves a purpose. By simply observation, we know that order and purpose do not appear until deliberate steps are taken; meaning, someone or something with a specific purpose in mind had to do it. The law of inertia, the first law of physics states, "every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force," (NASA.gov). Change of state requires the action of an external force. In the beginning, God specifically designed the universe and everything in it with order and purpose and placed them under laws.

That the universe is controlled by laws is so telling that even scientists were able to describe and postulate them. Jeremiah 5:22, "Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord . ‘Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it." Had there not been laws governing the universe, randomness and chaos would be the norm, and our planet would be unpredictable and uninhabitable. The tools of scientific discovery as we know today would be ineffective. No wonder many who pioneered the scientific endeavor, the study and formulation of the laws of the universe were devoted believers. People such as Johannes Kepler, Robert Boyle, Blaise Pascal and others believed that the order in our universe were evidence of God's existence. God exist and creation bears witness of it. Through creation we can know about God, His attributes can be seen on it. He who created the heavens and the earth and established such laws has to be powerful, transcendent, wise, creative, sovereign, and much more. By simply observing the things created we get closer to the knowledge of God.

One day, Jesus Himself called His disciples to observe creation in order to teach them about God's care so they could know God more and better. He said, '“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?'" Matthew 6:25-30

Notice Jesus told them, "Look at the birds of the air [...]" and "consider the lilies of the field [...]." The point was since God took care of the birds, the lilies and every other creatures, would He not likewise take care of men since they God's special creation, the crown of them all? (Psalm 8:3-9). Yes, He would and He does. Therefore, we should not be anxious about our needs rather trust our creator with them. Do you see it friend? We can learn a great deal about God by examining His creation. It bears witness about Him.

"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." Romans 1, 19-20. Moreover, Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge." Again, the Psalmist said, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord , our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!" Psalms 8:3-9.

Natural revelation helps us to know about God or acknowledge His existence; however, by itself, natural revelation is not enough for us to know Him. While one can have an idea of who The God who created the universe and everything in it ought to be, i.e., powerful, transcendent, omnipresent, loving, and etc., he will not ultimately know who He is. There are so many claims about who God is and so many gods out there, even gods made by human imagination and hands. At least, one can see that the God who is able to create the heavens, the earth, and everything in it cannot be made of wood, silver or gold and produced in a shop by man (Acts 17:29). He cannot; otherwise, the man who made him would be his god. This is a contradiction, and Isaiah calls it the foolishness of idolatry.

It's written, "The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, Fashions it with hammers, And works it with the strength of his arms. Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails; He drinks no water and is faint. The craftsman stretches out his rule, He marks one out with chalk; He fashions it with a plane, He marks it out with the compass, And makes it like the figure of a man, According to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. He cuts down cedars for himself, And takes the cypress and the oak; He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand. And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?" Isaiah 44:12-19

Natural revelation does its job by revealing the glory of God, making a statement about God to all men, and getting anyone who sees closer to the knowledge of God irrespective of who they are or where they had been born. Only a fool can says there is no God. The bible says, "'The fool has said in his heart, “ There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.'" Psalms 14:1. Although what may be known about God is manifested to all men because creation bears witness some people can still choose to deny or suppress the truth about God, but it's not due to lack of evidence rather it's because their unrighteous deeds will come to light, yet God will hold no guilt man innocent, even if they live in denial of the truth.

Romans 1:18-23 "'For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 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, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Professing to be wise, they became fools,'"

In short, natural or general revelation is the first mean God chose to reveal Himself. It's available to all men, it's God's ways of getting the knowledge of Him out for all. As "a painting alludes to a painter, a building to a builder, and a writing to a writer" (Ray Comfort), so creation bears witness of God in conjunction with the law God wrote in the hearts of every men - the universal sense of right and wrong or our conscience. Natural revelation, along with the heart-written law causes all man to be without excuse on the day of judgment. it's written, "'For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them ) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.'" Romans 2:12-16.

Although not complete for one to truly know who God is, natural revelation does it job by providing every men with evidence of their Creator and hindering us from idolatry in our pursuit of God, so that all men will be without excuse on the day of judgment. Natural revelation does it job but calls for special revelation, The Word of God. Though the attributes of God can be clearly seen and understood through the things created, it's when coupled with special revelation that the whole picture is seen and His identity known. Even from all that is written above, you can see that most of the claims about nature or God are followed by bible verses to make it complete. Natural revelation needs to be placed along side the specific revelation for the full picture to be seen, for us to begin to truly know who is. While natural revelation tells you there is God, specific revelation tells you who He is.

When Paul was talking to a group of people who has accustomed to see the natural manifestations of God, though they attributed to their Roman gods, he initially made use of natural revelation, yet did not leave them only with it. Paul then specifically revealed God. It's written, "[...]“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Acts 14:15-17. It's When natural revelation is combined with special revelation that one can truly know and understand The One and True God.

Praises be to God, "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, Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.'" Psalms 19:1-6

May God bless you, and may you know Him more and more.