01.03 - Chapter 3 - Can God Be Known?

Chapter 3 CAN GOD BE KNOWN? The manifestation of God in nature, His revelation in the Scriptures, and His incarnation in Jesus Christ, assure us that God can be known —Dr. David Clarke The Biblical Declaration

Many years ago, a little boy lay on his small bed, having just retired for the night. Before going to sleep, he moved in the direction of the large bed on which his father lay and said, "Father, are you there?" And the answer came back, "Yes, my son." In time of personal tragedy, we are prone to ask, "Father, are you there?" And the answer comes back to the hurting heart, "Yes, I am still here and I still care." It is the consistent teaching of the Bible that God can be known.

♦ Isaiah 11:9 "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord."

♦ John 17:3 "This life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

While God can be known, He can only be known in a certain way and that way is Divine illumination of the Spirit concerning the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

♦ 1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

♦ Matthew 17:5 "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." The Argument of the Agnostic In contrast to the Biblical declaration that God can be known is the view of the Agnostic who says that God cannot be known. Though God may or may not exist, it does not matter for He cannot be known. How happy this thought has made some who want nothing to do with a moral Lawgiver. Why? "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7) With the coming of the French Revolution (1789), a stream of opposition to biblical truth developed in Europe to sweep away the historic Christian faith. The French Revolution witnessed the first concentrated attack on the Christian Church since the days of the Roman emperor Diocletian (AD 284-305). In the years to follow, other men picked up pens of poison to write in triumph, "We have killed God...there has never been a more grandiose act and those who are born after us will belong, because of this act, to a higher history...we are God’s assassins" (Nietzche) To some extent, the German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzche (1844-1900) was right. Another generation did emerge to follow the banner of agnosticism. Not knowing God, nor believing that He even exited, the Communist community arose to mock the Lord. Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov laughed and said that during his orbit seventeen times around the globe, he looked into space and did not see God. A Response to Agnosticism

Certainly God is under no compulsion to reveal His existence to mankind in general, nor to skeptics in particular. What God will do is laugh at those who mock Him for He knows the foolishness of men’s thoughts. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." (Psalms 2:4) There is nothing to prove with certainty that God cannot be known. The pre-suppositional thinking of the Christian faith declares that God has manifested Himself to man as a sovereign choice of Divine delight. The heart rejoices that there is the Sovereign One who has "made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself.” (Ephesians 1:9) For many years C. S. Lewis existed as a pagan skeptic until he began to consider the evidence. Then he wrote these words. "When I was an atheist...my argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A person does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line...Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning." (Mere Christianity) The Distinction between Apprehension and Comprehension The Christian, in humility, might concede to Agnosticism that there is a difference between apprehension and comprehension. It is true that even when God manifests Himself to His creation, there is still only a partial understanding of ultimate reality. But it is equally true that men can know God is without knowing all He is, just as a person can touch the earth without being able to embrace it all at once. Those who choose to remain uncertain of the existence of God are to be pitied. “It is a great irony of life,” said David Clark, “that a child can know God while many a philosopher cannot find out the perfections of the Almighty” (Matthew 18:1-6; 2 Corinthians 1:18-31; Colossians 1:25-29). Can God Be Defined?

Men have always struggled to define God. Simonides, a heathen Greek poet of Ceos (6 th - 5 th century BC), being asked by Hiero, king of Syracuse, "What is God?" desired a day to think upon an answer. When that day came to an end, he desired two days more. When those were past, he desired four-day still. Then he continued to double the number of days with this explanation, "The more I think of God, He is still the more dark and unknown to me!"

Augustine also wondered if God could be adequately defined. "Surely such a One as he, who, when He is spoken of cannot be spoken of; who, when He is considered, cannot be considered of; who, when He is compared to anything, cannot be compared; and when He is defined, groweth greater by defining of Him!" While God cannot be limited in any way, there are characteristics which are revealed about God’s essential essence and which can be defined. The Bible teaches many things about God.

• God is the only living and true God.

• God’s subsistence is in and of Himself.

• God is infinite in being and perfection.

• God’s essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself.

• God is a pure spirit.

• God is invisible. He is without body, parts, or passions.

• God is immutable (unchanging).

• God is immense.

• God is eternal.

• God is incomprehensible.

• God is almighty.

• God is infinite in every way.

• God is holy.

• God is wise.

• God is free.

• God is absolute.

• God works all things according to the counsel of His own immutable (unchanging) and righteous will and for His own glory.

• God is love.

• God is gracious.

• God is merciful.

• God is long-suffering.

• God is abundant in goodness and truth.

• God forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin.

• God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

• God is just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin. He will by no means clear the guilty.

Study: 1 Corinthians 8:4, 1 Corinthians 8:6; Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10, Isaiah 48:12; Exodus 3:14; John 4:24; 1 Timothy 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Malachi 3:6; 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23; Psalms 90:2; Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 6:3; Psalms 115:3; Isaiah 46:10; Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36; Exodus 34:6-7; Hebrews 11:6; Nehemiah 9:32-33; Psalms 5:5-6; Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:2-3.

Special Note. The attributes of God divide themselves into what are termed communicable: which means perfections that belong to Him that are seen in some degree in man as well. Some of these communicable attributes are love, hatred, mercy, justice, and knowledge. Then there are the incommunicable attributes of God which has reference to those perfections that belong to Him alone. These cannot be ascribed unto man. For example. Immutability is an incommunicable attribute. It cannot be found in man, or any other creature but it is part of the Divine essence. (Ferrell Griswold) In summary, God is altogether wonderful, majestic, and marvelous.