Two Books That Reveal God

Two Books That Reveal God

Where is God revealed? If you wanted to learn about God’s power and His divine nature, where would you go? To the Bible, of course. But that’s only half the answer! There are two books that reveal God. The other one is the Book of Nature. And what’s that? It’s about the things that God has made and the way they operate. Hear what the Bible says about God: “The invisible things of Him are perceived ... by the mind through the things that are made, both His eternal power and divinity” (Rom. 1:20 JND ).

But Some Have No Bibles
Because God speaks through things man can see in nature, people are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20 NIV). People have the Book of Nature, and it speaks loud and clear to them: “The heavens declare the glory of God ... there is no speech and there are no words, yet their voice is heard” (Ps. 19:1-4 JND). “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world” (Rom. 10:18 NIV).

In the Old Testament times before there was a Book of Scripture there were nevertheless people who “feared God.” The majority of believers listed in what has been called the Bible’s “Hall of Faith” (Heb. 11) lived before the Old Testament Scriptures existed. Moses, for example, was one who “by faith ... was looking ahead to his reward” (Heb. 11:24,26); he was saved!

However, the knowledge of God that we obtain from the Book of Nature certainly is inferior to what we obtain from the Book of Scripture. In Scripture we see that Christ has come and made the Father known (Jn. 1:18); we see Jesus revealed as the Son of God (Jn. 1:1,14); and we see that the Holy Spirit has been sent to “teach (us) all things” (Jn. 14:26) – and He has, through the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

But what about those living by faith today who do not know the truth as we Christians do? We have an example of someone like that in Apollos (Acts 18:24-28). People who want to know the truth will readily accept it as he did, but we have the responsibility to do as Priscilla and Aquila did, and explain to them “the way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26). Thus the existence of the Book of Nature does not relieve us of the responsibility to make sure that all have heard (Rom. 10:14).

God’s Divinity: Revealed In The Universe
We see God’s divinity, His glory, in the fact that human beings are able to explain so much of the operation of the universe by simple concepts and by mathematical equations. But who but God could devise a universe where processes are determined by equations, by “natural laws,” but yet where chance can operate causing what man calls “chaos.”1 These “laws” operate in mountain building, snowflake formation, and reproduction – yet the resulting things are not identical. Through what man regards as “chaotic processes,” each mountain is different, each snowflake is different, and each living thing of the same species is different. These differences, arising out of so-called chaos, make creation beautiful and elegant – they glorify God.

God’s Divinity: Revealed In Living Things
God’s divinity is also revealed in the living things He has created. Human beings are still able only to speculate about how even simple living things could have arisen out of non-living matter. We marvel at how many different species there are, and how each species is so fitted to live where it does!

God's intelligence is revealed in the way He has arranged for living things to get the energy and chemicals needed to live from the sun and the earth. Plants are given roots to obtain the inorganic materials from the earth, and the green chemical, chlorophyll, to capture and chemically store the energy from the sun. Then, when animals or people eat plant material, they can get what they need to sustain life. Even when meat is eaten, the nourishment comes originally from plants and their seeds.

God’s wisdom is also seen in the way He has arranged for everything to be recycled. If it were not for the recycling produced by death and decay, life would come to a halt. Mankind, however, was not supposed to die but was to “increase in number and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Then sin came in, and as God warned, if you sin, “you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17).

God’s Divinity: Existence Of Moral Law
We see “moral law” among peoples everywhere. Through sin, what people regard as “right” and “wrong” might differ, but the concept of “right and wrong” exists everywhere. Where did it come from? God, who “created man in His own image ... male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). But mankind fell, and the knowledge of good and evil obtained thereby was through experience. The fall was down, not up!

God’s Power: Revealed In Creating Out Of Nothing
The Book of Nature, as well as the Book of Scripture, reveals that the universe had a beginning (Gen. 1:1). Through the Book of Nature what we observe enables us to perceive with our minds that, at the first instant, there was no time, no space, and no matter, but “by faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made of what was visible” (Heb. 11:3). Through the Book of Scripture we believe that “by Him all things were created ... and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17). Thus God created the forces that hold all things together.

We observe that nature operates in an orderly way, even in “chaotic processes” and in “disorder creating processes.” 1 The melting of ice is a “disorder-creating” process but the amount of heat absorbed per unit mass is always the same. Also, when we breathe, we increase “disorder” but God has created nature so that its operation is driven by such “disorder-creating” processes.

God’s Power: Revealed In The Creation Of Minds
Although we are in material bodies, we are nevertheless conscious, able to reason and create concepts. In other words, we have minds. Only God’s power can take “dust,” create “minds,” and bring the two together. And God expects people to use their minds! As we saw, “the invisible things of Him are perceived ... by the mind” (Rom. 1:20 JND). The Lord again and again tried to get His disciples to use their minds by asking them, “What do you think?” (Mt. 18:12; 21:28; 22:42). Let’s not allow anyone to make us afraid to think for ourselves, to use our minds.

Using The Mind To Perceive
What is it called when we use our mind to read the Book of Nature? Science! The believing scientist uses his or her mind to understand the Book of Nature and sees clearly in nature “the invisible things” of God! (Rom. 1:20 JND). Why then do so many Christians fear science?

First, the King James Version warns against “science falsely so-called”(1 Tim. 6:20 KJV), and too many emphasize these words without realizing that they are misleading. They wrongly translate the word “gnosis," as “science” when it should be translated “knowledge.” Better translations read, “Turn away from ... what is falsely called knowledge” (NIV, JND, NASB). The spiritual “knowledge” warned against later turned into the heresy called “Gnosticism.” “Neo-Gnosticism (New-Gnosticism) forms the theological basis for many modern cults” 2 and the Bible warns us against such “knowledge,” because its teachers “have wandered from the faith” (1 Tim. 6:21 NIV).

Second, people fear science because they wrongly think it denies the existence of God. But it doesn’t. Scientists merely agree not to invoke God as an explanation because doing that offers no understanding of how natural things operate.3

Third, people do not distinguish facts from interpretation. Both the Book of Scripture and the Book of Nature must be interpreted. If the interpretations contradict, one or both are wrong! In science, when the facts contradict the interpretation, the interpretation is revised. Our interpretations of the Scriptures can also be wrong and in need of revision; misinterpretations arise if we “distort”(NIV) or “wrest” (JND) them (2 Pet. 3:16). Christians often react with fear when their interpretations seem to need revision.

There are some things the mind cannot perceive in the Book of Nature. The Book of Nature reveals that my body is not composed of the same matter it was when I was a baby, or when I was an adolescent, or even last year; but it does not explain why I remained “me.” But the Book of Scripture does. It reveals that I am not just my material body, but that I am “spirit, soul, and body” (1 Th. 5:23 NIV). Also, only the Book of Scripture reveals that when a Christian dies and his body goes into the grave, his soul-spirit goes to be with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6,8). Only Scripture reveals that his soul-spirit will later be reunited with his resurrection body and taken back to heaven (1 Th. 4:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:50-52).1 Only Scripture reveals that to obtain this eternal life, we must be “born-again” (Jn. 3:3-7).

When asked by Nicodemus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” Jesus answered by comparing a concept from the Book of Nature with one from the Book of Scripture: “You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:7-8). Thus, while we can learn much about God from the Book of Nature, it is the Book of Scripture which reveals that people must get a new relationship with God, not just “get religion.”

Closing Thought
People have the Book of Nature, and it speaks loud and clear to them: “The heavens declare the glory of God ... there is no speech and there are no words, yet their voice is heard” (Ps. 19:1-4 JND). But the knowledge of God obtained from the Book of Nature is inferior to that obtained from the Book of Scripture. In Scripture we see that Christ has come and made the Father known (Jn. 1:18); that Jesus is the Son of God (Jn. 1:1,14); and that the Holy Spirit has come to “teach (us) all things” (Jn. 14:26) – and He has, through the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

END NOTES
1. The word “chaos” does not imply randomness in its modern usage. Phenomena in nature are often “non-linear” and non-linearity gives rise to what is called “chaotic behavior.” The interested reader should consult the following: Gleick, James; CHAOS: Making a New Science; Penguin Books, 1988. It is written for the non-technical reader.
2. Larson, Bob; Larson's New Book of Cults; Tyndale House, 1982.
3. For example, if I release a bowling ball and a helium-filled balloon of similar appearance, the bowling ball would fall and the balloon would rise. Then, if someone asked, “Why?” and we said, “God caused it,” that would be true, but it would provide no understanding of how “nature” was operating.

By Alan Crosby