• Home
  • About us
    • The Message
      • The Logo
      • Ern Baxter
    • The Messenger
      • David Orton
        • The Story
        • Endorsements
      • Jenny Orton
      • Virginia Orton
    • The Mandate
    • The Manifesto
    • Our Credo
  • Ministries
    • Lifemessage
    • Publications
      • Snakes in the Temple
      • Fire on the Earth
      • The Blind Servant
    • The Gathering
    • Online Tutorials
  • Resources
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Recommended Reading
    • Archive
  • Connect
    • Subscribe
    • Donate
    • Contact

Lifemessenger

A Countercultural Commentary of the Contemporary

  • God’s Communication
    • Worldview
    • God Speaks
      • The Creation
      • The Incarnation
      • The Bible
      • The Charismata
    • Theology
    • Books of the Bible
    • First Principles
    • Meet the Creator
  • God’s Purpose
    • Covenant Relationship
    • God’s Government
    • New Earth
    • Cultural Reformation
    • Restoration History
  • God’s Ways
    • Theonomy
      • Law & Gospel
      • Ethics
    • Path to Maturity
    • Life in the Spirit
    • Character Studies
  • God’s Community
    • Apostolic Architecture
    • New Reformation
    • Covenant Community
You are here: Home / God's Communication / God Revealed

God Revealed

October 5, 2016 by David Orton

God-revealed

God is the self-revealing God.

Paul underscores that he is clearly revealed to every person through creation:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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 1:19–20 ESV

And also through conscience:

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

Romans 2:15 ESV

This knowledge of God is so clear to the whole of mankind that they are without excuse. By virtue of God’s arrangement with our first parents the whole of humanity, regardless of belief, are in covenant relationship with God. Some, through faith in Christ as the last Adam and the second man, are in covenant obedience; but others, through unbelief, are not (1 Cor 15:45-47). Still in Adam, they are covenant breakers and despite being made in God’s image are at moral enmity with him (Rom 8:7; Col 1:21; Jas 4:4).

No matter where a man turns, God is there. If he looks outward to the created order he sees God. And if, as one made in God’s image, he turns inward, he again cannot escape God’s presence. As the Psalmist exclaimed:

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Psalm 139:7–8 ESV

This is not merely the probability that there may be a ‘god’. It is the clear revelation that assails all our human faculties that the true and living God exists—that he is the Originator and Upholder of all that is. His divine nature, power, and attributes are clearly revealed to every person—believer and unbeliever alike. While this knowledge of God is not exhaustive, it is true.

For the unbeliever, then, to survive this overwhelming manifestation of God’s presence he must resort to mental speculations to justify his moral enmity with God. He must, as Paul explains, “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18 NASB), thus, becoming “futile in their thinking” (Rom 1:21 ESV) and “claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Rom 1:22 ESV). The unbeliever must contrive an alternative “reality”, believing a lie, in an attempt to deny his knowledge of God, particularly as the Originator and Upholder of all things.

This leads to worldviews and philosophies that seek to exorcise the universe of God’s physical and moral control. All unbelieving thought-systems are at heart an attempt to rationalize humanity’s would-be autonomy—that is, its independence of God and freedom of thought. Man’s mind now dictates reality. Man has become his own measure.

But unfortunately, a mind at enmity with God becomes futile. It becomes its own ultimate reference point, refusing to think the thoughts of God after him, and thus, misconstrues reality. By its own admission, the history of philosophy, therefore, is a failure to provide an intellectually coherent interpretation of the universe.

Because of God’s clear revelation to every person there are no atheists, only anti-theists. The believer, therefore, need not be an expert in philosophy to speak to the human condition; and can be confident that biblically grounded Christianity provides the only intellectually coherent interpretation of the universe.

This groundedness begins in God as the Originator of all things and ends in him as their Upholder.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33–36 ESV

Print-friendly pdf: God Revealed

 


Download God Revealed as PDF


+1
Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

Filed Under: God Speaks, God's Communication, The Creation Tagged With: creation, Creator, revelation, universe

David Orton

About David Orton

David has served as a teacher and ministry leader for over 40 years. He teaches with a measure of prophetic gravitas and as the founder of Lifemessenger carries a message of reformation, particularly for the Western church and culture.

Sign up to Lifemessage

Receive FREE weekly teachings!

The Message

21st century Western man is now living in the moral debris of the 20th century experiment—the experiment of messianic statism – Marxist, Fascist, and now secular Humanist – with its rejection of God in Christ as the genius of the Western cultural heritage. Spiritually, morally, and financially bankrupt the West has now exhausted its options. 

Our message despite the historic failure of humanity, including the church, is one of certainty and hope. God has a purpose for history and for nations—for their governance, prosperity, and peace. God’s plan for the planet is more than adequate for its crisis. Lifemessenger is committed to speaking a prophetically pertinent word to church and culture.

Publications

Tags

authority bible brokenness cosmos counter-cultural covenant creation Creator culture eschatology ethics experiential foundation freedom glory gospel government hinge of history history humanism humility incarnation judgement justice kingdom knowledge Law and Gospel Lordship mind nations new humanity pain Pauline theology purpose reformation relationship revelation science secularism sovereignty time of transition trial truth wisdom Worldview

Lifemessenger Inc

Lifemessenger Inc is a non-profit religious foundation incorporated in the state of Victoria, Australia.
PO Box 777 • Mount Eliza • VIC 3930 • Australia
ABN 26 743 269 442

Copyright © 2019 Lifemessenger Inc

donate

Join us in getting this message out to the nations. Lifemessenger was established in 1996 to facilitate biblical teaching and thinking. Donate today!

Copyright © 2019 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in