The reason why God doesn’t make himself more obviously known than he has already is because people believing on the grounds he has given us already brings him more glory than if it was more obvious. Nonetheless, the Bible is clear that all those who would ever believe in Christ will believe in him (cf. John 6:37; 10:27). God has given enough evidence of his existence that everyone who would believe under any circumstances in him will believe in him under the circumstances he has given us.

It is a common objection to the existence of God: why doesn’t he make himself more obvious? And, of course, if God was inclined he could spell out ‘God exists’ using stars to make himself known if he wanted. So why doesn’t God make his existence more undeniably obvious? Here are some reasons.

Enough Already

One answer the Bible gives is that everybody has enough evidence of God’s existence through the natural world. Paul writes:

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

We might not be content with that, but it is one of the answers the Bible gives us. God’s existence is plain enough so that anyone with eyes to see can draw the evident conclusion that everything did not come from nothing and a creator is behind it.

Problem of Holiness

Some insist that if God himself appeared to them, then they would believe in him (a claim we will come onto later). But even were God willing to do that, he states to Moses:

“I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. . . . But . . . you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live”

Exodus 33:19f

As sinful people, we cannot see God as he really is. Not only can God not be in the presence of sin, but sinful people cannot be in the presence of God’s unadulterated holiness and live.

Person of Jesus

Of course, God has made himself manifest in the world. Not just generally in creation, but specifically in a person: Jesus Christ. John’s gospel states:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God,[d] who is at the Father’s side,[e] he has made him known.

John 1:1-3, 14, 18

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