The better we prepare to fulfill our calling as witnesses, the more consistent and effective we will be in this work that God has appointed to us. And the more we discover just how gracious and kind God is to have chosen us for this vocation, the readier we will be to step into His work of making Himself and His glory known throughout the world.

Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
Psalm 119.105

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Psalm 19.1

The God Who Reveals Himself

“If God is real, then why doesn’t He do something? Something I can see?”

Ever heard that response to sharing the Good News of Jesus? This defense of wrong belief has been around for a long time. Those who employ it insist that if God really cared about our knowing Him, He would make it plain, you know, by healing a sick friend, or bringing bread and loaves to the hungry masses, or making my boss ease up on me a bit.

The implication, of course, is that, if God did something like that, then, well, I might consider Him.

This demand that God reveal Himself is not unreasonable. Indeed, it plays right into God’s wheelhouse. Scripture tells us that He has revealed Himself and continues to do so in three powerful ways. The Word of God is what we might call the bright light of divine revelation. Everything we can know about God, all the knowledge of Him we need to be saved and enjoy Him forever, is right there in Scripture.

But there is also a secondary light of divine revelation, and this comes through the things God has made, through creation. Trees, birds, stars, all the creatures of the woods, even our own divine-image-bearing friends and co-workers. Even many aspects of the culture we create—all these are revealing something about God.

Finally, Jesus Christ is the focusing light of divine revelation. He shows us what to look for in Scripture and creation—Him, in all His beauty, wisdom, power, love, faithfulness, kindness, patience, goodness, suffering, death, and resurrection. Him, exalted in glory, the Centerpiece of all Scripture and the end toward which all other knowledge is to be referred.

The problem, of course, is that most people are blind and deaf to the vast, full, rich, clear, and transforming revelation of God. In part because they can’t see or hear it, but mostly because they won’t.

And this is yet another reason why God has saved us.

Witnesses

We who have been saved are appointed to be witnesses for Jesus Christ (Acts 1.8). This is not an optional vocation. Every believer is called to it because God has saved us to make known the joy of knowing Him. In fulfilling this calling, we should make wide and thoughtful use of all the light of divine revelation, so that we can help others see through the fog of wrong-belief to the light of divine revelation in Jesus.

The world is not what wrong-believing people think. And the Scriptures are an impenetrable mystery to them because, like the Ethiopian in Acts 8.26-40, they haven’t a clue as to its meaning, even if they were reading it. Lost people need someone to interpret the revelation of God in Scripture and creation, to show how it all points to Jesus.

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