Revelation OR Our God Who Reveals

Sabbath School Class—Life as Discovery and Hope 

There will be no full class notes this week.  You may wish to check out our class blog at:  http://ssclassnotes.blogspot.com)

May 2, 2009
Larry R Evans

Reflective Quiz 

1.        One of the first things God did after completing creation and then after sin entered the world was to speak to Adam and Eve.  [Gen. 2:15; 3:9]  True or False? 

2.       If studied carefully, nature will reveal insights into the character of God.  [Ps. 19:1-4; Rom. 1:18-20]  True or False? 

3.       Our conscience is a gift from God and a clear conscience proclaims our innocence.  [Gen 42:18-23; 1 Cor. 4:4]  True or False? 

4.       Prophets of God consider the “whole picture” and then decide what part of the revelation from God they will share in their counsel and/or writings.  [Ex. 7:1-6; 2 Tim. 4:3-4]  True or False? 

5.       The personal credibility of the one who shares Bible truth has much weight as to whether that truth will be accepted or not.  [2 Tim. 3:14-16]  True or False?

 

6.       Scripture is to the soul what food is to the body.  [Ps 119:105-112]  True or False? 

7.       Scripture, like any good textbook, is primarily for learning.  [Jn 5:36-40]  True or False? 

8.       The Bible and nature are “the” ways God reveals Himself to us.  True or False? 

Concluding Reflections 

 God reveals.  The magnificence behind these two words is tremendous.  How easily we conclude that this is as it should be. Why shouldn’t He be a god of revelation? However, once we consider the enormity of  our sinful rebellion we approach the question much differently.  Not only does God reveal but He has a redemptive purpose behind His revelations.  There is something inherent about God’s revelations that both pulls and pushes.  Those who appreciate God for what He has done for them in His creative and redemptive acts feel pulled towards Him.  Those who wish to strike out on their own see God as interfering with their plans and see revelations from God differently.  They are pushed away from Him by the same revelations that pull others to Him.  Note the following: 

“‘God is love’ is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green -- all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God and to His desire to make His children happy.”  . . .  

“God has bound our hearts to Him by unnumbered tokens in heaven and in earth. Through the things of nature, and the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us. Yet these but imperfectly represent His love. Though all these evidences have been given, the enemy of good blinded the minds of men, so that they looked upon God with fear; they thought of                               

Him as severe and unforgiving. Satan led men to conceive of God as a being whose chief attribute is stern justice,--one who is a severe judge, a harsh, exacting creditor. He pictured the Creator as a being who is watching with jealous eye to discern the errors and mistakes of men, that He may visit judgments upon them. It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God, that Jesus came to live among men.”  Ellen White in Steps to Christ, pp. 10,11.      

We must not fail to see that God has an overwhelming desire to be one with us and that He is going to extreme measures to make sure we know just how much He loves each one of us.  At the same time, and we must not neglect to see this important aspect, there is another “person” who wishes to distort and malign every good thing that proceeds from the mouth of God.   In the end it will be declared, 

“The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.”  Ellen G White in The Great Controversy,  p. 678.   

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