Beginning to Know God (Revelation)

“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, ESV)

“Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20–21, ESV)

Once Our Hands Are Removed

In last week’s post, I wrote about the necessity of God removing our hands from our eyes in order to know Him more fully. Once we understand this truth, an important question comes next: Once our hands are removed from our eyes, where do we look to know God more fully?

God’s Revelation

Herman Bavinck begins his chapter on “The Knowledge of God,” by saying, “All knowledge of God rests on revelation” (53). Basically, Bavinck is telling us that we could know nothing about God unless He reveals himself to us—unless He makes himself known to us. That’s what “revelation” means. 

Two Types of Revelation

When we turn to God’s Word for answers, we see that God has revealed himself to us in two ways: through creation and through the Bible. 

General Revelation

As I mentioned last week, Romans 1:20 says, “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.” Another way to say this is: God has clearly revealed himself to us through creation. 

We call this “General Revelation” because God reveals himself to us in a general way—in contrast to a specific way. When we look at the world God has created—even with our hands removed from our eyes—we get a general picture of who God is and what He has done. We can see his power and divinity and creativity and beauty. 

Special Revelation

Yet, God has revealed himself to us in a more specific way—through the Bible. 2 Peter says, “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Scripture is another way God has revealed himself to us—made himself known.

We call this “Special Revelation” because God has revealed himself to us in special/specific way. When we read scripture, we find out more than attributes about God, but we find out his character and plan and purposes. Most importantly, through scripture God clearly reveals the Gospel of Grace. We cannot come to know the Gospel through creation (General Revelation) only through scripture (Special Revelation).

Why This Is Important

Some of you may be saying something like this, “Alright, this is interesting, but why does it matter?” There are many ways I could answer that question. Here’s one of them. 

Jesus said this to his followers: “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3, ESV). What is eternal life? Knowing God. Actually, he says that eternal life is knowing “the only true God, and Jesus Christ.” So, we must know God truly and Jesus Christ to find the eternal life they offer. 

So, how do we know God truly and know Jesus Christ? Through General and Special Revelation. Through creation and the Bible. That’s how we come to know God truly and more fully. That’s how we grow in our knowledge and love of God.

So, once God has removed our hands from our eyes, we begin to know God through the ways he has revealed himself to us: creation and the bible. We can finally see Him more clearly in these things, and our hearts are stirred more deeply to worship Him for who He is and what He has done.