First of all, there is what’s referred to as a NATURAL or a GENERAL REVELATION. That means that God has revealed Himself naturally through His creation—through nature. There are a number of Scriptures we could look at in this regard, but we’ll just look at one in the Old Testament and then one in the New Testament. These are familiar texts to us. Let’s look first at Psalm 19, verses 1 and 2. As we think about God revealing Himself in nature, we read, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.” There is a declaration and a revelation that is MADE BY THE CREATION—a bold, straight statement, a loud statement made by what was created that, “we, the created of God, didn’t ‘just happen,’ regardless of what people say.” Other Scriptures in the Old Testament which show that God has revealed Himself naturally through His creation are: Psalm 8:3; Isaiah 40:12-14.

We made a trip to the Natural History Museum the week before last when the grandkids were out of school. I’d been there before, but within past couple of years, the Museum has been redone. On this trip through the Museum, it bothered me, even more than it had in the past, that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is presented factually, and it’s presented again and again and again throughout that Museum. The Museum is quite interesting to tour, but after we’d been through it, I felt compelled to talk to the grandkids on the way home about some of those false teachings. In reality, this is what our kids are learning in their text books in school! A few of us here still have children in school and some of us have grandchildren in school. If you look at a fifth, or sixth, or seventh grade science book, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution states that we began life by crawling out from under a rock as a one-celled entity of some kind. This THEORY is presented in the public school books as FACT. That’s what our kids are learning. But we read here in Psalm 19, specifically, that the creation declares—makes a declaration—that there indeed is intelligence, that there is thought, that there is order behind this creation.

Paul will say the same thing in Romans, chapter 1, verses 18 through 20: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the Truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” Verse 20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…” Well, God reveals Himself through nature—through His creation. See also: Acts 14:15-17.

He has also revealed Himself through HISTORY. The context of Acts, chapter 17, is that Paul is in Athens and is speaking to the Athenians, those who enjoyed debate and discussions and learning new things. In Acts 17, verses 26 and 27, we read that Paul says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us…” The Lord has determined—He has made the nations—He has set up the boundaries—and so on. He has been active and continues to be active in history. See also: Psalm 75:6-7.

God has also revealed Himself in MAN’S CONSCIENCE. This is probably an area that deserves more time and more investigation than we’re going to give it this evening. Look over in Romans, chapter 2, beginning with verse 14. Writing to the church in Rome, Paul says, “for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them…” [Romans 2:14-15].

These are a few of the ways that God has revealed Himself. He has revealed Himself through a natural, or general, revelation—that being nature, that being history, and that being even through the consciences of men. This natural revelation tells us only that there IS a Divine Being, a Being of great power, a Being of great knowledge—that there, indeed, IS A GOD!

But is that all there is? Is what we have looked at thus far all there is? Is that enough? Well, there is more to God than just these things. You see, while natural revelation is good, and that’s part of how we know God, it does not tell us Who He is! And it doesn’t tell us what His Will for us is! And so, in addition to the natural, we have a special or a SUPERNATURAL REVELATION. This has to do with what God reveals—or has revealed—through His contact with men, either through Himself (that is by His direct contact with individuals), or through His Son, or through prophets or through men like the apostles. This special revelation emphasizes God’s righteousness, His holiness, His love, His mercy, and His justice. This special revelation also reveals and declares to us His commandments—that is, His instruction, His doctrine for us.

This special or supernatural revelation has been carried out in various ways throughout human history. First of all, God spoke directly to the patriarchs—to men like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on. We know that we can go to the Scriptures, and we can see that God directly dealt one-on-one with them. Later, God spoke through his prophets, those who were specially called by Him, those who had a special mission, a special purpose. He spoke to prophets such as Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and so on. [These prophets of God would then tell people what God had told them to say, with God guiding the prophets as to who should receive His divine message.] So God has been revealed in this supernatural way in these two manners.