All of us know about the inexcusable revelations
of God through nature and the written Word, but how many of us have ever sat
down to think about what this actually means? The Bible tells us there are two
forms of revelation through which God has chosen to reveal Himself to humanity:
This is the testimony
of God to mankind through all of creation. The reason it is general is because
all men have been given this degree of understanding.
General Revelation
allows us to understand three of life's four most important truths:
a. There is a God.
Paintings come from
artists, buildings from architects and creation from the Creator.
b. He is very good.
Life could have been
boring and even torturous, yet every day we are blessed with a number of different
tastes, smells, sounds and sights which we are more than pleased with. We are
surrounded by goodness in every direction which gives us confidence that God is
good.
c. Something is seriously wrong.
Since there is a God
and we know He is good, then where is He? Why is there separation between us?
Why does death and suffering occur in such a beautiful world?
Although these three
points of knowledge mentioned above are greatly needed and necessary for
salvation in Christ, no one will be saved apart from knowing and believing the
fourth and final truth which is:
d. God has made a way for sinners to be saved only through
the death and resurrection of His Son — the Lord Jesus Christ.
2.
Special Revelation.[2]
Special revelation speaks directly to the specific details
of the Gospel of Christ for salvation.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
states, “For I delivered to you as of first
importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance
with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures.”
Why is the distinction between both revelations so important? Because much damage has been done by
well-intentioned Bible-believing Christians in misinterpreting certain passages
of Scripture. A good example is found in Acts 17 when Paul is in Athens
preaching to the crowds in the Areopagus.
Acts 17:30 says:
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He
commands all people everywhere to repent.
Some have twisted this passage to mean
that since the Gentiles had not been exposed to the Gospel, then God was just
going to overlook their sin because they did so in ignorance. The problem with
this interpretation is that it would call into question God’s justice.
What had God overlooked? He was not
overlooking sins, for that would make Him an abomination to Himself.[3] On
the contrary, He was overlooking them — the Gentiles.[4] He
was giving them over to their own depravity.[5] It
was rare for God to send prophets to other nations in those days because Israel
was supposed to behave like a magnet in drawing the nations inward. Now, since the birth of the Church, He is
sending the Church to the world.
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