How does God reveal Himself to us?
God reveals Himself to us in many ways.His Word
God's Word is arguably the best way for us to learn about Him and from Him, because within His Word, we see examples of every other way He reveals Himself to us. His Word is what we need to live (Matthew 4:4) because it helps us to learn His voice, character, and heart. His character never changes, so the wisdom and revelation we gain from the Word is never going to diminish in value or importance: "The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11). God's Word is always relevant. It is "firmly fixed in the heavens" (Psalm 119:89).
Jesus Christ — the Son of God
Jesus is God incarnate: "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" (John 1:14). No one has seen God the Father, but Jesus makes God the Father known to us (John 1:18). Hebrews 1:3 says of Jesus: "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature." When we look at the life of Jesus, we see God being revealed through every action.
The Holy Spirit
"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 that I have said to you" (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit teaches us and helps us to understand the Word and put its principles into practice, and thereby He reveals to us the nature and character of God to a much deeper degree than we could understand on our own. The Holy Spirit indwells all who have put their faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:13–14). His presence in our lives helps us better see God and know Him.
Our Conscience
God places understanding of Him within our hearts. We see evidence of this in the fact that we have a human conscience, even before we are saved (Romans 2:14–15). Even so, God desires that we seek Him: "His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us" (Acts 17:27, NLT). God promises that those who seek Him will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13; Matthew 7:7–11).
His Creation
The beauty of the nature God has created and the order by which He created the universe is a way by which He reveals Himself to us: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). Romans 1:19–20 says that God's creation alone is evidence of Him: "They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God" (NLT).
One thing that God reveals to us in His creation is a sense of our own smallness and His greatness. If you have ever gone on a hike in the mountains, surrounded by giant trees and met with expansive views; if you have stared up at a starry night sky; if you have looked out at a sea of blue water and watched the waves come crashing into shore; you have likely become aware of your own smallness and the miracle that it is that God cares about you.
Psalm 8:3–5 expresses this sense of awe:
"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor."
Other People
When other people show us care and treat us with the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit, we see God's character being reveled to us through them (Galatians 5:22–23). We are better able to recognize this as God being revealed when we already have a foundation of Him being revealed through His Word and through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When someone shows us genuine kindness, or has peace in the face of crisis, we see facets of God's character being revealed to us through them.
God is always revealing Himself to us, and as we seek Him and read His Word, we will be better able to recognize Him in all the ways that He shows up in our lives.
The attributes of God, what are they?
How is the Bible inspired? What does it mean for the Bible to be inspired?
What is the role of the Holy Spirit? How is the Holy Spirit active in our lives today?
Why does God require faith?
Can the existence of God be proven?
Truth about God
