"God is the Revealer" (Acts 17:27-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/22/2018 10:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  God is the Revealer

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 17:27-29

            Message of the verses:  “27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ’For we also are His children.’ 29 "Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.”

            We have been looking at several sub-points under the main point of “Recognizing who God Is,” and have seen that God’s providential activity as creator, ruler, giver, and controller should move men to see Him.  God has revealed Himself in His creation as written about in Psalm 19, and this should cause men to look to the stars in the sky and realize that they were all created by God, and He did this to bring glory to Himself, but He also did it so that men when they look up at the stars in the sky that they would think of God.  Another way men should recognize God is through their conscience, as the human conscience is very powerful if you follow it in the right way.  Paul writes in Romans 2:14-15 “14  For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,.”  Now going back for a moment to look at the physical world again it leaves all men without excuse according to Romans 1:18 and following.  In the beginnings of the book of Romans, Paul was building a case showing that all men are born sinners and it takes him a while to write “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” which is Romans 3:23.  Paul proves his case against those who do not believe they are sinners, which is the first step for a person to come to know Christ as their Savior.  One has to know that they are a sinner that they are lost without hope in order to come to Christ for salvation.  Paul actually expressed this to those Greeks that he was talking to when he said of God that “He is not far from each one of us.”  MacArthur adds “Even those who never heard the gospel are still accountable to God for failing to live up to natural revelation.  Had they done so, God would have brought them the special revelation they needed to be saved.”  This goes along with the story that I have told in earlier SD’s when a woman who lived in a small village in Cambodia was under attack from the Communists as they were about to kill the entire village, having them dig their own graves before they were about to shoot all of them.  She had heard of Jesus, though not knowing His name, and so she cried out to the God who died on the cross just before she an all of here village people were to be killed.  What happened was a miracle in that all who were to do them harm left without shooting those around the hole that the dug.  A few years latter some missionaries came to that village and the first thing that this woman asked them was “What took you so long to get here.”  She only had a little knowledge, and yet she used that little knowledge to cry out to God and then God gave her more knowledge and many people in that village were saved and not killed.

            As we continue in our verses we can say that the Greeks certainly could not plead ignorance as Paul speaks of some of their poets who acknowledged the revelation of God in nature, even though they wrongly saw it as a revelation of their false gods.  MacArthur adds “The Cretan poet Epimenides noted that ‘in Him we live and move and exist,’ while Artus from Paul’s home region of Cilicia, added, ‘For we also are His offspring.’  Those quotes illustrate the universal revelation of God as creator, ruler, and sustainer.  While Paul could easily have documented those truths from the Old Testament, he chose instead illustrations familiar to his pagan audience, who were unfamiliar with Scriptures.” 

            Paul used these poets to show his audience that man is “the offspring of God,” and so it would be foolish of them “to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.”  Since God created man he surely must be more than a mere man-made idol. 

            MacArthur concludes “The best starting point for evangelizing pagans with no knowledge of the Scripture is to explain the power and Person behind the creation.  Satan’s intention of evolution cuts off that path of reason that leads to God.”  To that I totally agree with, as evolution has caused much trouble for those in the world, those smart enough to realize that evolution is impossible.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What weather conditions caused a famine in Samaria during the time of Ahab?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/22/2018 11:09 AM