Why Does God Not Reveal Himself?
(Subtitle: Why Does God Use Human Instruments?)
Where is God? Why does He not reveal Himself? If He exists, why does He not just come to Earth and prove it and prove all the naysayers wrong? Why does He remain in heaven and allow fallible and imperfect humans to do the work of preaching the Gospel and feeding the flock?
God the Father Works through Christ
Ephesians 3:9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Colossians 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Man Hid Himself from God
Adam/Eve
When we sin our natural tendency is to: hide, blame and justify
This is exactly what Adam and Eve did when they took of the wrong tree
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
Genesis 4:11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth
Genesis 4:16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.
Because of our sins, God and His ways are hidden
Colossians 2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
Colossians 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [and His will and plan]
This is why the world does not know God and is asking the questions that we started off with:
See Bible Mysteries
Jesus Christ Had to Reveal
God the Father has stayed away from the world and no one has seen or heard from Him (Exodus 33:19 – 20, John 1:17-18, 5:37, 6:46, 1 John 4:12, 1 Timothy 6:15–16)
Who was the God in Genesis that we just read about?
John 1
God and the Word
He was the one working with Adam and Eve
See The Two Gods of the Old Testament
He was like Him, not in make-up (one being physical and the other spirit), but in character and core values
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.“
John 14:8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
Christ revealed Him to some but not all
Matthew 11:27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Even the Israelites/Jews did not “know” Him – though they had the Old Testament – though it was the pre-incarnate Christ working with them – as exemplified by the Pharisee et al of Christ’s time.
Works through Man by the Power of the Holy Spirit
God works through Christ by the power of the HS to use man
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
John 14:24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
John 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.
John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
2 Peter 1:19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
2 Peter 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
2 Peter 1:21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
If God dwells in US then it is Him doing the work through us and it is not us in and of ourselves or by ourselves
We are a Part of the Body of Christ
So what does this mean?
We are to be functioning together in unity and harmony
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
1 Corinthians 12:28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
1 Corinthians 12:30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
1 Corinthians 12:31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
1 Corinthians 12:18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. [each one is necessary]
Even though God is not here on Earth, He is building and constructing the Body together for a purpose. He is staying away for a reason and He has us doing His work here for a reason.
Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
Ephesians 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, [we are to be preaching the Gospel as well]
Ephesians 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Ephesians 4:14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
Ephesians 4:15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
What is a Head Without a Body
Christ is the head of the church he is the head of the body we must keep this in mind and in perspective when looking at all the other parts and what it takes to accomplish the work of God in this world and in US.
1 Corinthians 12:15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
1 Corinthians 12:16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
1 Corinthians 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
God needs all the other parts functioning to make the body whole and useful and able to function
Ephesians 2:18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Ephesians 2:20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
Ephesians 2:21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
Ephesians 2:22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
We are a body that is fitly framed for the accomplishing of His plan and the tasks within it.
God the Father and the Son are the organizers of the spiritual organism they have set aside us and the offices or positions that we will hold. They are the ones who are orchestrating this all.
It Reveals God’s Greatness
If He can do it through us
1 Corinthians 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1 Corinthians 1:26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
1 Corinthians 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
1 Corinthians 1:28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
1 Corinthians 1:29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
1 Corinthians 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
1 Corinthians 1:31 that, as it is written, “HE WHO GLORIES, LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD.”
When using fallible and weak humans, we show the message and its author – not the messenger (us)
We are to be Revealing God the Father
By being like Christ, who reveals the Father, we too reveal the Father
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! [we saw this in Job as well]
God is not only doing a work through us and in us
Two birds with one stone! Preaching gospel and changing us!
So at the same time that we are to be revealing God we are growing in character and fulfilling the plan of God.
As He uses us as human instruments to a do a work that reveals Him, He is doing a work in us that reveals Him.
Our actions witness and show to the world the God we believe in
Example
God calls us to be an example by how we act. He has called us to reveal Him by our transformation
Romans 12:1-21
We show and glorify God by doing this work and setting the example
Philippians 3:15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
Philippians 3:16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
Philippians 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
It is STILL God doing the work (through us)
New life
Ephesians 4:17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
Ephesians 4:18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
Ephesians 4:19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Ephesians 4:20 But you have not so learned Christ,
Ephesians 4:21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Ephesians 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
Ephesians 4:23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
Ephesians 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, putting away lying, “LET EACH ONE OF YOU SPEAK TRUTH WITH HIS NEIGHBOR,” for we are members of one another.
Ephesians 4:26 “BE ANGRY, AND DO NOT SIN”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
Ephesians 4:27 nor give place to the devil.
Ephesians 4:28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
God calls us to Serve
Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
Matthew 20:26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
Matthew 20:27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
All the way to the end
Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
In the End
We are working with God and for God and a symbiotic relationship to bring about the plan of God that is our own salvation and the salvation of others.
Ezekiel 39:21 “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.
Ezekiel 39:22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward.
Ezekiel 39:23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.
Ezekiel 39:24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.” ‘
Ezekiel 39:25 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name—
Ezekiel 39:26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.
Ezekiel 39:27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,
Ezekiel 39:28 then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.
Ezekiel 39:29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”
In the 1000 years after Christ’s return:
Isaiah 30:19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.
Isaiah 30:20 And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers.
Isaiah 30:21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
God and His family will remain hidden no more
Conclusion
It shows God our heart
Matthew 15:8 ‘THESE PEOPLE DRAW NEAR TO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOR ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME.
Matthew 15:9 AND IN VAIN THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.’ ”
Matthew 12:33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
Matthew 12:34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matthew 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
We can see God now and we have a responsibility to reveal Him to those around us.
As a good servant, let’s be about our Father’s business and be found so doing when His Son returns!
Matthew 24:46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.