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What the Bible says about Public Revelation
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Job 11:7

Theologians have long discussed a general or public revelation that anyone with eyes and a brain could figure out for himself. Zophar, one of Job's counselors, alludes to this empirical revelation.

The American pamphleteer and propagandist, Thomas Paine, wrote a book entitled The Age of Reason, in which for his thesis he attempted to answer Zophar's double-pronged question. To the first part, he answered unequivocally in the affirmative, citing the order and design of the cosmos. Paine, a practicing Deist, points to Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork" as affirmation of the general or public revelation.

Romans 1:20 more definitively substantiates the idea of a public or general revelation: "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." Even with such an overwhelming testimony, some hapless fools, having immersed themselves in evil behavior, have deluded themselves into rejecting this general revelation, refusing to see God (Psalm 14:1). Even the public or general revelation cannot penetrate the darkened minds of those whom, because of their addiction to sin, God has given over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:21).

Thomas Paine responded to Zophar's second question, "Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?" with a resounding, "No." Largely, Paine is right on target. The carnal mind, because of its propensity to sin and lawlessness, is enmity against God (Romans 8:7). Knowledge of God's intent or purpose has always been conditional, linked to obedience to His holy law. He promises to those He has scattered for disobedience:

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice. . . . (Deuteronomy 4:29-30)

Consequently, the answer to Zophar's second question has strings attached. We may see God's intent and purpose for our lives more clearly if 1) we yield to His will, and 2) we actively and tirelessly seek for Him as we would for buried precious minerals.

David F. Maas
Why Does God Keep Secrets?

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)

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)

Luke 7:10

Those who were sent to the house where the sick servant had been found him completely healed. The evidence of the servant's healing was abundant, excellent, and very visible; they did not need to look through a microscope to prove that he was healed. He had been paralyzed, in great pain, and near death, but now he was completely well. They needed no other proof to convince them that a genuine miracle had occurred.

Jesus provided many infallible proofs during his ministry that confirm his supernatural ability and divine purpose (Acts 1:3). The world makes every effort to discredit God the Father and Jesus Christ and their miraculous works, when the proof of their sovereignty and power are seen in everyday things. "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20-21, ESV). Do we see God at work in our lives?

Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Healing a Centurion's Servant (Part Three)

Romans 1:18-19

God reveals to mankind what can be known about Him: Himself and His creative power by displaying the marvels of the creation.

David C. Grabbe
What Evolution Really Means

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)

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)

Romans 1:19-20

God can be understood—even the unconverted can comprehend some things about Him. Despite these verses in Romans 1, the opinions of learned men say that God is incomprehensible, yet Paul is saying that there is a clear testimony. It is a constant and natural revelation of God's power and nature, and that revelation is sufficient for God to hold these people responsible for their conduct.

This natural revelation, however, is not sufficient for salvation because God shows in other places that salvation requires a specific and personal revelation of His word. "No one," Jesus says in John 6:44, "can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."

But this revelation through what God has created is clear enough for Him to hold people responsible for their conduct. Thus, if His invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature are clearly understood by the visible things that God has made in this world, then all we need to do is to use a little common sense in connection with plain statements from Scripture to find out what God really looks like. So, if God says that His attributes can be clearly understood by the unconverted, and if He is seen in the visible creation in this world, what visible things on earth give us a picture of the invisible God?

The very thing that God Himself says in Genesis 1:26. We—mankind—look like Him.

Is that so difficult? Just understanding this principle, it is no wonder that the Greek gods of mythology reflected mankind in all of our foibles, weaknesses, and passions. The Greeks simply turned the principle around. They turned the image around, reflecting in their gods the things of man.

Other portions of Scripture, like I Corinthians 2:6-16, explain the special, personal revelation of God that helps us to know the things of God, so that we can have the mind of Christ and put on His image. However, we know from other passages that the created human being is but a pale reflection of the reality of God, and that God's creative power is still at work reproducing His image in men. That is, we are a work in progress and still unfinished.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Image and Likeness of God (Part Two)

Romans 1:20

Even without the Spirit of God, without God having fully revealed Himself to a person, it is still possible for him to recognize that a creation demands the existence of a Creator. He can see that an intelligent Designer is necessary rather than the natural world coming into existence by sheer chance. Thus, God says that they are without excuse because they can understand the things that can be known about Him, if they choose to accept it.

David C. Grabbe
What Evolution Really Means

Romans 1:20

Even with such an overwhelming testimony, some hapless fools, having immersed themselves in evil behavior, have deluded themselves into rejecting this general revelation, refusing to see God (Psalm 14:1). Even the public or general revelation cannot penetrate the darkened minds of those whom, because of their addiction to sin, God has given over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:21).

David F. Maas
Why Does God Keep Secrets?

Romans 1:21

They became that way! Even though God may not have given a specific calling to these people, because evidence of His existence is clearly available, God considers them to have rejected the possibility of a relationship with Him. This is how God feels about what man has done.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Eleven)

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

In II Thessalonians 2, Paul leaves out some significant details. For example, in verse 10, he writes of the love of the truth, but he does not specify which truth he has in view. In verse 11, he speaks of believing “the lie,” but fails to identify it. He also mentions not believing the truth in verse 12, but provides no specifics.

The truth to which he refers does not have to indicate the doctrines that only the church of God understands. It could be as common as the truth that there is a God. The Creator gave the nation of Israel tremendous truth, truth His people could grasp even without the Holy Spirit. Likewise, He has given all humanity truth for which it is accountable, which is why Paul writes that mankind is without excuse (Romans 1:20). In Romans 1:18, he mentions men suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, and the truth under discussion is the simple truth that a Creator God exists, and He requires mankind's worship.

However, today we are witnessing a defection from even this basic reality. As human knowledge has increased, people have misused it to deny the existence of a Creator. The theory of evolution functions as a prop so people do not have to face this reality. Evolution—now at the core of Western culture—is blindly accepted but rarely “proved” individually. Even so, the Western world has subscribed to it so extensively that a person is not taken seriously if he speaks of Creation.

A second basic truth that is being forsaken is that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. The apostle John gives this as an attribute of those who are “anti-Christ,” and he uses the existence of such beliefs as proof that it was already the last hour (see I John 4:1-3). We are seeing people divorce themselves from this truth as well. People will say that Jesus existed, but that He was not God but a created being, that He was just a prophet, or that He later settled down with Mary Magdalene and had children. Islam declares that the very idea of God having a Son is blasphemous. Thus, the basic truth about the nature of God—the Father and the Son—is not only being forsaken in the West, but it is also a cause for increasing persecution.

The number of those who hold even these basic truths is declining in the United States, both as a percentage of the population as well as the total number. The biggest declines are in the numbers of Catholics and mainline Protestants, but even the evangelicals' numbers are declining. Conversely, the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation—the “nones”—is increasing, and now nearly one-fifth of Americans who were raised with a religion now profess to have none.

In Survey: Christians Are Not Spreading the Gospel (November 30, 2017), pollster George Barna observes:

Given the dominant influence on peoples' decision to embrace Christ [i.e. the environment during one's youth], the future is not promising for Christianity unless current patterns change. The adults who are of parenting age are part of the generation that is least likely to be born again, suggesting that the existing and coming segments of children in America are also less likely to embrace the gospel.

Even as the number of “nones” is swelling, the number of Americans with non-Christian beliefs, such as Islam and Hinduism, is also growing. Though the relative numbers are smaller, Wicca and unabashed Satanism are surging. More sobering still is that the U.S. is the most “Christian” of all the nations of Israel. The other Israelitish nations have fallen away even more. In Britain, more people attend mosques each week than churches. We are seeing a falling away from—a forsaking of—even basic truth and a ready acceptance of just about anything else.

Even among those who still profess a belief in the Father and the Son, such belief is becoming so anemic that it is not translating into everyday life. Whereas nominal Christianity was once a bulwark against obvious immorality, now it is succumbing to fluid definitions of murder, marriage, stealing, and lying. It is operating under increasingly shallow ideas of righteousness, grace, love, and obligation. Mainstream Catholics and Protestants may retain their professions of faith, but in practical terms, they are defecting from what truth they formerly held.

David C. Grabbe
The Falling Away

Hebrews 1:10-12

Was I born into this world merely to eat and drink?—merely to dress up my body and to follow my fleshly desires wherever they might take me?—merely to talk, laugh, work, sleep, and play games?—merely to accumulate money, to travel to see all kinds of sights, to enjoy myself but never to think about time and the fact that my time on earth would end? What happens then?

Hebrews 1:10-12 tells us that this earth—which appears so solid that it will endure forever—and even the heavens are growing old and will perish. II Peter 3:10 confirms this, explicitly saying that the heavens and the earth will "pass away with a great noise." They and all the works that are in it will burn away in "fervent heat." Where will we be?

The works of statesmen, writers, architects, and engineers are all short-lived. Each generation watches the passing of its creative people, only to see them replaced by others with different names and different achievements as the new generation arrives. In Ecclesiastes 1:14, King Solomon, at a time of depressed contemplation on this seemingly endless and pointless process, writes, "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for wind." Either Solomon did not know—or if he did know, did not believe what I know and believe—what we have been created for.

Many are in the same mental state as Solomon. It is not because the opportunity to have a far better life is not available but because their priorities in life are severely misplaced, and they combine this with undervaluing what is open to them through a relationship with God. Paul writes in Romans 3:11, "There is none that seeks after God." He adds in Romans 1:20, "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."

God is not hiding; mankind is ignoring. Scripture indicates that man's disregard is largely a deliberate choice, driven by terribly skewed priorities resulting from people placing little or no value on a relationship with God. Therefore, they give only passing attention to what He says that man must do with his life. God even challenges mankind: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

I Peter 1:17 informs us that God "without partiality judges according to each one's work." Jesus says in Luke 12:48, "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more." God does not show favoritism, nor does He respect the honors bestowed by men. He rewards no man's heritage, wealth, rank, position, titles, education, or beauty. He is unconcerned whether a person is a millionaire, middle-class, or poor. Because He does not see with a man's eyes, He does not value highly what man values.

He measures our heart and our works against that of His Son, our Savior. What matters is how well we have done spiritually and morally with what we have been given. Those who do well will be those who value highly—as precious above all gifts—what God has given them to attain His Kingdom. Those who do well will be those who, regardless of their station in life, use those gifts to serve God and mankind to glorify God. They will use them because they have caught a vision of their worth. The apostle Paul considered our calling a prize that he pressed toward as a goal (Philippians 3:12-14).

Peter refers to Jesus Christ's sacrificed blood as "precious" (I Peter 1:19). Since His shed blood has been deemed by God to be sufficient to redeem the life of everyone who has ever lived on earth, it is more valuable than all the lives of everyone who has ever lived or will live. Why? First, because of whose blood it was, a sinless God-Man. Second, because it can free us from the shackles of a pointless life that ends in death. Third, because it opens the door for us to an eternity of life with joy, peace, and accomplishment.

Our Savior gives us some precious wisdom: "He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him" (John 8:29). Why did He do this? Because nothing was more valuable to Jesus Christ than His relationship with His Father and fulfilling His life's purpose. Like Him, let us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness always (Matthew 6:33).

John W. Ritenbaugh
Nothing Is More Important


 




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