Over time, God has revealed Himself to individuals, in historical circumstances, and also through natural phenomena. In a personal manner, He revealed Himself in many ways to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But He has also revealed Himself to His people through history and through the natural.
Before the time of Christ, His most extraordinary self-revelation in historical circumstances was during the Exodus from Egypt. In the later years of Jacob, his son, Joseph, had carried the family down to Egypt so that they could escape the famine which had gripped the land. At that time in Jewish history, Joseph and his family were well-received by Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Over time, however, long after Joseph and his immediate family had died, the Israeli people had become very numerous and were perceived to be a threat to Egypt. To counter that threat, Pharaoh turned the Jews into slaves. By the time that Moses was born, they had been in bondage to the Egyptians for about four hundred years. After so many years of captivity, God heard the pleas of His people, sent various plagues on Egypt, and then with a mighty hand, used Moses to bring them up out of that land and out of their bondage. For the nation, Israel, that deliverance represented a great victory and served as a constant reminder of God's power and greatness.
During the time of Christ, God again revealed Himself in a mighty way, on that occasion to deliver those, who have chosen to follow Him, from the burden and penalty of their sins. Throughout history, God has revealed Himself in historical circumstances so that He can show His glory and honor, demonstrate His grace and faithfulness, and also display His power in weakness. Because He was faithful to the Jews and because they had fallen into submission to Egypt, He took up their cause and set them free from their antagonizers. Because He is faithful to those of us who have received Him and because we have fallen into submission to our sins, He has been and is faithful to give us a way to escape our burdens and, at the same time, to enter into a personal relationship with Him. Awe have already seen, God takes the initiative to reveal Himself to us, and these two examples in history clearly show one aspect of this truth.
God also reveals Himself in natural phenomena. He can perform His works through miracles. He can also use the natural and the ordinary. For instance, during the Exodus, He parted the waters of the Red Sea so that the fleeing people of Israel could escape the pursuing chariotmen of Egypt. That act was a great miracle for those who experienced it. At the same time, God takes the dirty, filthy heart of the would-be Christian and miraculously transforms it into a clean heart that loves and seeks Him. That action, too, is a great miracle of the Lord. Yet, at other times as was just stated, God also reveals Himself in natural phenomena through the natural and ordinary events of life. A person, for example, can watch the sun come up or go down and sense the Lord's awesomeness. A person can see the majesty and power of a storm and realize that God's mighty hand is at work.
God's self-revelation in history is special because it shows Him getting actively involved in the lives of His people. His self-revelation through natural phenomena, on the other hand, more than having this same specialness about it, many times shows how He works. Because of the difference between the two, His self-revelation in history and through natural phenomena can and often do overlap.
Tom of Spotswood "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews
Lesson 12 - God The Father In The New And Old Testaments
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