Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Revelation, Public
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Job 42:1-6
It is not the brilliant, luminous glory of God's appearance that humbles Job but God's power, intelligence, and wisdom revealed in the creation. This, combined with His right to do with it as He pleases, brings Job to understand how ignorant, puny, and base he is by comparison.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Sovereignty and Its Fruit: Part Ten
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Psalm 8:1-4
Other translations use words like "glorious," "majestic," and "to be admired" rather than "excellent" to express the feelings generated by meditating on how God is revealed by the heavens He created! The starry heavens stretched before David showcase the awesome and spectacular majesty of God. Commenting on verse 1, the Soncino Commentary says that God's majesty is "rehearsed above the heavens." Rehearse can mean "to repeat" or "tell in detail." David tells us that God has invested the heavens with awesome splendor to direct man's mind to ponder the Creator's existence, majesty, and excellence. This thought also implies that He is just as majestic in demonstrating Himself on earth as He is in the heavens. What excellence do we see in earth and heaven? Power, order, beauty, loving providence, wisdom, reason, logic, and vastness of thinking. David intended this psalm to direct our thinking toward God's greatness and puny man's insignificance. However, that awesome, majestic, glorious God is glorifying Himself in man! He has chosen what the world considers weak and foolish—us—to appreciate and respect His glory, His name.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Third Commandment (1997)
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Psalm 19:1-4
David personifies aspects of God's creation, especially things that appear in the heavens. The reason for this is because all of us, before conversion, have had some concept of God. For some of us religious folk, that concept was very fervently, sincerely believed and practiced. But for most of us, the concept of God was vague, maybe even agnostic, doubting. For others, their concept of God was atheistic, that there is no God. Whatever the case, for most, their concept of God is drawn from the creation. David is illustrating this here. God's creation gives people a picture or an idea that God exists. They may be attracted by the beauty or the vastness they see in what God made, or it may be a combination of factors for their belief. David is showing that creation possesses its own eloquence. In the combination of its vastness, power, beauty, simplicity within complexity, etc., a person begins to think that there is more to life than himself, more than merely living out a span of time and then dying.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Unleavened Bread and Pentecost
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Psalm 19:1
Imagine David out in the fields one night, tending his flock, looking up at the starry mass in the sky, seeing the shadowy outlines of the hills in the distance and the moon reflecting the light of the sun, and considering what an awesome Mind it took to create all these things.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Psalm 23 (Part One)
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Psalm 19:3
It does not matter if a person is in Brazil, China, Russia, or America—the same sun is up in the heavens, the same moon, and the same Creator made all of them.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Psalm 23 (Part One)
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Proverbs 8:1-4
It is helpful to understand that God provides two distinct callings for every person on earth. The first is quite general, and everybody rejects it regardless of how religious he might be. Solomon writes in Proverbs 8:1-4: Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way, where the paths meet. She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors: "To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men." Here, the wisdom of God, personified as a woman, claims that the knowledge of God is readily available to mankind. Proverbs 1:20-26 affirms this: Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words: "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn at my rebuke: surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes." Again, God's wisdom is personified, and her testimony is that no one paid attention. All of mankind "disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke." With this in mind, recall what Paul writes in Romans 1:18-20: 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 [divine nature], so that they are without excuse. In other words, no man can stand before God and claim that he turned away from Him because God never provided any understanding of, not only His existence, but also many details of His power and works among men. How is this possible? Apart from the reality of creation, one reason is the ready availability of the Bible. Into how many languages and dialects have men translated it? Nearly everyone on earth can read or hear it in his own tongue! Romans 2:14-15 presents yet another claim of God that blocks mankind's excuses: . . . for when the 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 thought accusing, or else excusing them. . . . Deep within everyone, regardless of race or location, is a God-given awareness, a consciousness, not only of His existence, but even of some of the basics of what He requires, things written in God's biblical law. Despite all of this evidence, we universally reject Him. So thorough is mankind's rejection of God that, when He came as a man, we killed Him!
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Christian Fight (Part Six)
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Matthew 13:10-16
Jesus clearly declares that the Israelites have closed their own eyes and ears (verse 15) - they made a conscious decision to do so. This can be done by simply choosing to ignore what God says or neglecting what has been given to them. They have ignored the works of His hands - the Creation - by which it is clearly shown that He is (Romans 1:20)! Because the carnal mind is enmity against God (Romans 8:7) and does not want to be tied down to a relationship with God, it prefers to do something else.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Eleven)
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Romans 1:18-20
Paul is not saying that God has revealed spiritual truth or saving truth to these people, but even what He has revealed to them in regard to Himself and His power as Creator has been rejected. How much of mankind believes the theory of evolution? That is an outright rejection of God.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part Two)
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Romans 1:18
Verse 18 is an introductory statement to his argument, a kind of cannon shot across the bow, in which Paul asserts that men "stuff the truth." Mankind suppresses what is godly and right. It is evident that God exists, that He is the Creator, and beyond these, that He provides for His creation. He cares for it and loves it. But men still supress these truths and many others in unrighteousness.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Truth (Part 2)
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Romans 1:19-21
God Himself declares that at least some knowledge—a basic, foundational understanding—is available to virtually everyone. However, an interesting danger is revealed here. Note how this unfolds: ". . . 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" (verse 21). These people knew God, just as the people addressed by Isaiah and Amos and in Hebrews had knowledge of God. Yet, they obviously did not honor God by conducting themselves according to what they knew of Him. They failed to put their knowledge into action, and instead, let their imaginations run wild and began worshipping things apart from what God had revealed of Himself. Their imaginings, Paul says, led them straight into idolatry. In other words, they did not hold fast to what God gave them.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Seeking God (Part One): Our Biggest Problem
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Romans 11:33-34
To know the fullness of God's thoughts on any subject or any event is, of course, so far beyond us to be unimaginable. To this end, we truly do look through a glass darkly. However, He has revealed certain things about Himself, His way, and His plan sufficiently enough that we may seek Him, come to conversion, and grow thereby. He has also revealed much to us about His attributes, His aims, and His activities as Creator, Sovereign Ruler, Provider, Lawgiver, Judge, Savior, and Father so that we are not completely without some knowledge and understanding of how He functions within His creation. Deuteronomy 29:29 confirms God's revelation by saying, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." I Corinthians 2:10 provides a New Testament confirmation of this: "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." We can understand a great deal about God. The "catch" in all this, though, is whether we choose to believe Him and thus choose to conduct ourselves within the parameters of what He reveals in His Word. Far more, it seems, choose not to believe. Some say they believe, but carelessly continue living their lives as though they, and not He, are all that matters - until some crisis occurs and He suddenly becomes very important to them.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Is God to Blame?
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