HAS GOD REVEALED HIMSELF?

The Threefold Manner of Revelation

If there is a God, and that God has related himself to man, it is reasonable to believe that such a Being should reveal himself to the human race. This He has done, and that in a threefold manner:

1. God Has Revealed Himself In The Things He Has Made For Man

Before bringing him forth from His creative hand, God took intensive pains to prepare for man a suitable habitation. The earth was stored with vast resources; the atmosphere was charged with its mighty energies; the sun poured forth its warming rays; the starry hosts glistened in the nightly sky; the dew, the rain, the frost, the snow; summer and winter, seedtime and harvest! Man's sin has brought a curse upon creation which hangs over it like a pall, yet despite all that sin has done, God is revealed to any heart that desires to know about Him through His works. See Gen. 1:1; Psalms 19; Rom. 1:20.

2. God Has Revealed Himself Through A Lengthy Correspondence With Man

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets . . ." (Heb. 1:1). Since the beginning of time, the God who created man has kept a direct contact with at least some portion of the race. Fallen though it be, there have always been hearts within it with which He could communicate; through a long series of prophetic messengers He has sent His word to man.

One of the greatest wonders of the centuries is that of the prophetic soul. Through it, God kept up His intercourse with man and also revealed events to occur centuries ahead, which none but an omniscient Being could communicate.

3. God Has Revealed Himself By A Personal Visit To Man

"God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son" (Heb. 1:1-2). "The Word was God ... and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14).

Creation and correspondence at length found their completion in a personal visitation, when Jesus walked among men, God manifest in the flesh.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDENT

Can you conceive of a God who would create man and then leave him without a revealed knowledge of His existence? Answer yes or no, then give reasons for your answer.

TEST QUESTIONS

1. State from memory the three ways in which God has revealed himself.

2. Take up each of the three statements you have just made, expound and explain.