God’s Revelation of Himself
By L. A. S.
THE second precept of the decalogue, which prohibits the worship of images or of any object through them, was given to guard against the worship of false gods or false worship of the true God. Idolatry began by perverting the worship of the true God. The perverted worship of the true God soon led to the worship of false gods. By making a likeness of the true God, and worshiping him through it, men at once perverted the worship of God because they had perverted his likeness. It is utterly impossible for the human mind to create a true likeness of the infinite God, and any attempt to do so lowers God in the mind from the plane of his divinity to the plane of things human; and as a result men are led to make of God a being like unto themselves. The way is then open for worship to become a means of the greatest degradation, instead of5an elevating and purifying influence; of this the history of heathenism gives ample testimony. Nothing is more fatal to man’s religious welfare than a false conception of God, and because of this, God never gave to man any likeness of himself, and prohibited any attempt on man’s part to create such a likeness. God did not purpose to reveal himself to mankind in that way. But he did reveal himself in such a way that men might not be without the true knowledge of him; that they might know him as a being of infinite power and wisdom, of mercy and love, and the giver of all blessings. He spoke to mankind through his works. The heavens declared his glory, and the firmament revealed his handiwork. He left not himself without witness, “in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” God also “spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets,” through whom he gave clear revelations of the truth, so that Jesus declared that if a man would not hear Moses and the prophets, he would not believe even though one should go to him from the dead. But in these last days God has “spoken unto us by his Son,” who gave to the world in his life a perfect revelation of his Father’s character. His Father dwelt in him, and the words that he spoke were the Father’s words, his acts the Father’s acts. “God was in Christ,” for the purpose of “reconciling the world unto himself,” by giving to the world a true revelation of himself. He could not reveal himself to the world any more perfectly than he did in Christ. “He that hath seen me,” said Jesus, “hath seen the Father.” To know God as he is, therefore, we must study the life of Jesus. “If ye had known me,” said Jesus to Philip, “ye should have known my Father also.” And he also said: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” God, who dwells in the high and lofty place, dwells also with him who is of a humble and contrite spirit. There is no difficulty in knowing one who dwells with us, and he with whom God dwells will know God, just as far as God sees fit to reveal himself to him, and no man can know or should know anything more of God than God reveals of himself for men to know. We are to know God not by having some likeness of him before our eyes, or some description of him in our minds, but by companionship with him, just as we know our fellow men by their companionship, which is the only way we can know them as they are. This companionship is a real thing, and we have it by faith. Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, and God with Christ. In this way we have that knowledge of God which is unto life eternal. That is the knowledge of God that we need and must have in this life. In the future life the saints will see God’s face; but in this present world God has carefully excluded from men any visible likeness of himself, yet has given us all that knowledge of himself that is essential to salvation,—that knowledge which will open the door to all fuller knowledge of God in the world to come. Man can not by searching find out God. He can know God by the revelation God gives of himself, when he receives Christ into his heart by faith; but when he tries to find out about God by his own researches, he makes a terrible failure. He obtains ideas and conceptions of God that are altogether wide of the truth. A god that the human mind can discover is no better than a god that human hands can make. The true God is above all human research, but he has chosen in this world to make himself known by revelation, and faith is the channel through which this revelation of God must be received. Through faith man receives true knowledge of God, and is enabled to worship God in spirit and in truth.