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by Kevin Pauley
Immediate and mediate general revelation
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun. - Psalm 19:1-4 HCSB
King David taught that every human is continuously surrounded with evidence of God’s existence. The universe itself is a billboard proclaiming God’s sovereignty. Though there is no audible speech, nor spoken words, the medium is all the more potent for it. If the message had come in any one language, a particular race or culture could have proclaimed ignorance of that message. Had the information been localized rather than universal, some forgotten tribe in the jungles of Borneo might have been accidentally overlooked.
Paul and Barnabas pled with the Lystrans, urging them to turn to the one true God. They argued that though God had been patient in times past, He had not left Himself without a witness. His many blessings, spread lavishly on both the righteous and the unrighteous,[1] testify to His innate goodness and beneficence.[2]
When God reveals Himself thus in nature, demonstrating His power in creation, and His beneficence in nature’s blessings, we call this “mediate general revelation”. All men are capable of perceiving Hashem’s divine characteristics in nature.[3] However, God also uses “immediate general revelation”, implanting an innate sense of Himself deep within our spirits. This is why God is justifiably angry when humans deliberately suppress both the natural evidence and this implanted enlightenment.[4]
When humans resist this deep-seated urge toward d’vekut,[5] choosing their own ideas of God rather than taking Him as He presents Himself, they begin sliding down a terrible slippery slope. Rejecting God’s enlightenment, they darken their souls and gradually subside into a moral quagmire.[6]
If there is anything to be learned from general revelation, it is that there is no favoritism with God. All those who sinned without special revelation (i.e. knowing the Scriptures) will be judged accordingly. However, even these people reveal their innate knowledge of the holiness of God because the moral law written on their hearts and their own consciences either condemn or excuse them, depending on their obedience.[7]
All this work, all this careful attention to building information in an accessible format for all humans of every culture and language into the very fabric of our natural existence, was done so that we might seek God, and perhaps reach out and find Him. It is a testament that no one is far from Hashem, for in Him we live and move and exist.[8]
[3] Psalm 19:2-4; Romans 1:18-21,25, 28,32; 2:14-15
[5] A deep, passionate and intimate spiritual relationship with Yahweh
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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