General Revelation
GENERAL REVELATION
Definition: When we speak of General Revelation, we speak of the way that God has revealed Himself in a general sense to men through His acts of creation and providence. It is still revelation. It is an active act of God in revealing Himself to men. But it is also general and is available for all men to see and to understand.
Scriptural Support. The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. (Psalms 19:1-3). When you go and look at the solar system and the planets and the galaxies, there is a message there for us to be seen and read. Those heavens give us a message and a declaration. They tell us something and it is something we can know if we are listening. In Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe, one footprint on the sand showed to the marooned hero that another person was on his island. In the same way, the heavens and the earth are filled with the countless footprints of the Lord.
...that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20).
Here is what we must understand about revelation. It is not merely the existence of random elements of evidence. It is deliberate. It is revelation. The signs of God's presence in the realm of nature are only visible to us because God has revealed them to us. This is also described as “natural” revelation. This does not mean that it merely comes naturally. Rather, it means that it is revelation that takes place within the realm of nature.
God's invisible attributes||By what has been made|
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|Are clearly seen...|[|Being understood...|| This passage states that there are two specific aspects of God's existence which are revealed in creation. His eternal power. His divine nature. This sets forth the limitation of this general revelation. No one ever looked at a sunset and deduced the doctrine of the Trinity. You cannot look through a microscope and see the principles of justification and sanctification. General revelation is limited in what it reveals about God.
God has revealed His power and divinity through His creation. The immensity of creation shows that He is very big. The fact of creation shows God's divine nature. This revelation has broken the infinity barrier. This revelation has left men without excuse.
False Views of General Revelation.
It is all we can know|Those who deny that the Bible is the word of God are left only with general revelation. But the truth is that if God has not spoken in the Bible, then God has not spoken.|
It is sufficient for the unregenerate|Some have taught that the spiritual insight in the mind of a natural man can reason logically and conclude truths about God. But the truth is that there is no “spiritual insight” in the mind of the unsaved that has not been darkened by sin and blinded by Satan.|
It is a natural byproduct of creation|General revelation is revelation. That is, it involves a deliberate revealing of God as the Creator of heaven and earth.|