The topics in chapters 17 through 33 cover matters to practice after believing in the Lord. In this volume we begin to examine matters that a believer should know and pursue after being saved. The first matter relates to the knowledge of God. We need to see and know some crucial points concerning various aspects of God.
1. “Both His eternal power and divine characteristics, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world” (Rom. 1:20; see also Psa. 14:1; 19:1-2; 53:1; Acts 14:15-17; 17:26-27; Heb. 11:6).
God has revealed Himself in the universe through His creation. Since the creation of the world, God’s eternal power and divine characteristics have been manifested to men. Although men cannot see God, they can know Him through His creation. Therefore, creation is a proof of a creating God: “The heavens declare the glory of God, / And the expanse proclaims the work of His hands” (Psa. 19:1). All creation is a proof of the Creator. The order in the universe and the regulation of all things is a proof of the manifestation of God. Even the existence of human beings is a proof of God. When we consider the existence of all things and the regulation of the universe, we should realize that there is a God who created and governs the universe. When we consider the things related to ourselves and to our origin, this should also cause us to “seek God...grope for Him and find Him” (Acts 17:27). With such proof and evidence, a man will say, “There is no God,” only out of stubbornness (Psa. 14:1; 53:1). Every reasonable man should confess and believe that there is a God when he sees the things in the universe and the order in the universe.
1. “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son” (Heb. 1:1-2; see also 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21; Matt. 22:31).
God not only reveals Himself through His creation in the universe, but He also explains and reveals Himself through His speaking. When a person speaks, his speaking reveals his inner thoughts so that others may know him. If I stood in front of you without speaking, you would not be able to know or understand me. If God only created the universe but did not speak, we would be able to know of His existence, but we would not be able to know Him or the things in Him. But God has spoken. His Word reveals Himself, His heart’s desire, and everything within Him. In ancient times He spoke in the prophets; in the last of these days He has spoken in the Son (Heb. 1:1-2). Everything that He has spoken through the prophets and the Son is recorded in the Bible. Therefore, the Bible is the word He has spoken. He inspired the Bible; that is, He moved people to speak His word through His Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). Everything that we need to know about God has been included in the Bible. We do not need to conduct research or guess concerning these matters, because He has clearly revealed them to us through the Bible. Just as the creation is a proof of God’s existence, the Bible is a revelation of God Himself. We can know Him by the creation, and we can know and understand Him by the Bible.
1. “Great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16).
God has not only revealed Himself in the creation of the universe and in His speaking, but He has also come through His incarnation. He created all things to demonstrate His existence, He inspired the Bible to reveal and explain Himself, and He was incarnated as a man to manifest Himself. Although He revealed Himself through His creation and His speaking, He manifested Himself through incarnation. His creation pointed man to His existence, and His speaking enabled man to understand Him. However, His incarnation enabled man to see Him and meet Him. Thank the Lord that God has not only created and spoken but also manifested Himself in the flesh. The God who revealed Himself through His creation and His speaking has manifested Himself through His incarnation. Prior to His incarnation He revealed Himself to man, but through His incarnation He has manifested Himself to man. Jesus Christ was the manifestation of God in the flesh. This great mystery in the universe, the mystery of godliness, manifested God so that man could see God.
2. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18, see also vv. 1, 4; 5:18-19, 23; 10:30; 12:44-45; 13:20; 14:9-10; Phil. 2:6-7; Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15; 2:9).
God has been manifested to man through the only begotten Son. Before God was manifested in the Son, no one had ever seen God. The Son is the manifestation of God among men through incarnation. When men saw the Son, they saw God. To believe in the Son is to believe in God, to receive the Son is to receive God, and to honor the Son is to honor God because God is in the Son, and the Son is in God. The Father and the Son are one. The Son is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance. He has the form of God, and He is the image of God. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. The Son declared God among men even though He was in the likeness of a man and in the form of a slave.