Day 22: How Has God Revealed Himself?

The One True God has revealed the truth of His existence to us in creation, or nature. He has revealed His goodness in the message of the Bible. He has revealed His glory to us in the person of Jesus Christ. To understand who the One True God is, we must understand that He is first our loving and gracious Heavenly Father.

Jeremiah 10:10
But YHWH is the true God;
He is the living God and eternal King.

So far we have been making a major assumption: God exists and He is not silent. We believe that God’s existence is clearly evident. He has made Himself know in His creation, in the Written Words of the Bible, and in His One Unique Son, Jesus Christ. This reality may be denied or suppressed, but it remains true nevertheless. This week we are going to consider how the One True God has revealed Himself to us and who He is. 

God reveals Himself in Creation.

Psalms 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech
and night to night reveals knowledge. {ESV}

Romans 1:20
For His [God’s] invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

When we look at the complexity and beauty of our world and the vast expanse of the universe, we should come to the natural conclusion that there is a powerful and divine being—God—who created all these things. God continues to reveal Himself in all that He has created. For this reason, no one can say, “I did not know that God exists!” This is why Romans 1:20 tells us that people are without excuse. 

If we only had creation as a witness to God’s existence, we still would not know God personally. We need Him not only to reveal His existence, we also need Him to speak to us directly so that we can know Him in a personal way. The good news is that the One True God wants to be known and has spoken to us directly in both His Written Word, The Bible, and in His One Unique Son, Jesus Christ, the Living Word. 

God reveals Himself in The Bible
(The Written Word)

2 Timothy 3:14–15
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

The Bible is called the Word of God. It has this name because the Bible claims to be a Message from God to us. We will call it the Written Word in this study because the Bible reveals and leads us to The Living Word—The Lord Jesus Christ.

Earlier we discussed why we are confident that the Bible shows us the True Way of Life. In 2 Timothy 3:14-15 we get to the heart this study: The Bible, the Written Word, gives us wisdom for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. As we know, there is something wrong with us and our world. The Bible tells us clearly what these problems are and what He has done, is doing and will do to heal, restore, and renovate all things (salvation). All of this is focused in Jesus Christ. 

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Lord-God reveals His personal name: Yahweh. This is the name that He gave to Moses and told him, “This is My name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation” (Exodus 3:15). The Lord-God has many titles in Scripture, but only one name: Yahweh. This name means, “I am Who I am” or “I will Be Who I am.” Traditionally, the Jewish people have considered The Name to be holy, set apart and therefore it is not to be spoken. However, the Lord Himself told Moses this is the name that He is to be remembered by in all generations. The fact that the Lord-God would give us a personal name means that He invites us into deep, personal, intimate relationship with Him. HE IS and He Will Be with us.

God reveals Himself in Jesus, His One Unique Son
(The Living Word)

Hebrews 1:1–3 
Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word.

Finally, and most importantly, God has revealed Himself in His Son Jesus. Jesus is Father-God’s “one-of-a-kind” Son. There is no one else like Him. Even though God had revealed Himself in the Written Word before Jesus came into our world, when Jesus arrived He showed us what God Himself is like in human form. In this sense Jesus is the “exact representation of God’s true essence.” Jesus is the exact and true embodiment of the One True God and He is the focus of our attention.

We also hear that Jesus has been appointed “heir of all things” by Father–God. This means that everything belongs to Him—everything. Finally we hear that Jesus “sustains the universe by His powerful word.” Jesus is the One who is carrying, moving everything along toward His good and glorious conclusions.

As we turn to the Bible, we discover that it points us toward Jesus. Jesus himself tells us that all the Scriptures were given to testify, point to, give witness to Him:

John 5:39
“You study the Scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same Scriptures that testify about me…”

This study will focus on how the Bible reveals Jesus Christ to us. The One True God reveals Himself as our Heavenly Father who loves us. He has sent His One Unique Son—Jesus—to guide us back to Himself through the Holy Spirit.

For now, think about what we have discussed today:

In what three ways has God revealed Himself to us?

Why do you think God chose to reveal Himself in these three ways?

*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.