Read Chapter 1.1: Creation and Revelation

God identified Himself to Moses and Israel as ‘I am’ (Ex. 3:14) because it is part of His very nature to exist. It is impossible for God not to exist. Consequently, God is eternal (‘the King eternal’: I Tim. 1:17). He had no beginning. He always was, is, and always will be. God and only God is eternal and uncreated. “…by Him were all things created…” (Col. 1:16). He created both the physical world (everything detectable, or potentially detectable, with our senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste) and the non-physical world (everything that is not detectable with our senses).

“God is spirit” (John 4:24). Therefore, unless He chooses to reveal Himself, human eyes cannot see Him, ears cannot hear Him, tongues cannot taste Him, noses cannot smell Him, and skin cannot feel Him. Unless He wanted us to perceive Him, God would be undetectable and unknowable. He would not have to ‘hide’ to be unknown to us. He would not have to do anything at all.

In fact, considering the awesomeness of God and how far we fall short of His glory (Rom. 3:23), we do not deserve to know Him. It seems only ‘natural’ that such a God should be unknowable to us. However, astonishingly enough, this is not the God of the Bible. Instead, the God of Scripture desires to be known.

Before man’s rebellion, God apparently made it a habit to walk and talk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day (the implication in Gen. 3:8a). Even after the Fall of man, Enoch ‘walked with God’ until God took him directly into heaven (Gen. 5:24), Abraham ‘was called the friend of God’ (James 2:23), Moses spoke with God face to face ‘as a man speaks to his friend’ (Exo. 33:11), David was chosen by God as a man ‘after His own heart’ (I Sam. 13:14), Israel was cherished as the ‘the apple of His eye’ (Deu. 32:10), New Testament believers are adopted children who can call Him ‘Abba’ (Rom. 8:15), and the church is cherished by God in the way a bride is cherished by her bridegroom (e.g. Song of Solomon).

From the very beginning God has sought out man so that we could know Him. To do so, God has condescended to reveal Himself to man. Although He could create the entire universe and its components in an instant and still not need rest, He condescended to create over the course of six days and rested on the seventh day as an example to man (Mark 2:27; Exo. 20:8-11).

A couple thousand years ago “…the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14). God went so far as to humble Himself and take on the form of a servant (Philippians 2:6-7)—all as an example to us. Jesus Christ even permitted a greater abasement than that. He allowed our sin to be placed upon Him, and He allowed Himself to take the full measure of punishment for our sin. He actually received on Himself His Father’s anger towards our sin and paid for an eternity of suffering for the sins we committed. And He made Himself ‘to be sin’ for us, so that we might enjoy an eternal relationship with the Almighty Holy God (II Cor. 5:21).

He did so much for us that all we have to do in return is believe in what Christ has already done (Acts 16:31)—to trust that He has done all that is necessary for us to be acceptable in God’s sight.

As part of the revelation of Himself to man, God created the physical world so that humans could see His invisible qualities and attributes (Rom. 1:20a). This was true of ‘even His eternal power and Godhead’ (Rom. 1:20b). According to the larger passage (Rom. 1:18ff), God has so convincingly used His creation to show His attributes that every person has actually already come to ‘know God’ (Gen. 1:21a). Every person did not just come to know about God; every person has come to know God. God’s revelation through His creation is so effective that no person is left with an excuse. No one will be able to stand before God and say that he or she never knew God.