General Revelation, Special Revelation, the Gospel, and Science

Although a standard Bible has only print, in some ways it still uses pictures to help people understand its words. Jesus frequently employed parables from daily life. Writers of Scripture often pointed out the marvel and beauty of creation with awe for the One who made and sustains it. They also passed on factual accounts of God demonstrating his sovereignty over the course of history. Those who were taught God’s Word as little ones likely still remember children’s Bible illustrations of David and Goliath, Daniel in the lions’ den, and other great instances of God’s work in people’s lives.

God’s activity in the natural world and over the course of the recorded history in the Bible helps us to understand who he is and the significance of being under his care and authority.

Ways God Communicates to People About Himself

The Bible explains that what we observe daily in creation offers a glimpse of the divine qualities of the One who formed it in intricate detail (Romans 1:19–20). The physical world on its own, without God’s Word to guide our thinking, should spark curiosity over how it came about and why it operates as it does. This is one part of what is called general revelation (table 1), which describes how God communicates to every person on the planet through everyday observations and experiences.

Besides the natural world, general revelation is also conveyed through a basic standard of right and wrong intrinsic to all people via their conscience. It influences personal behavior and the collective rules of society. Whenever people appeal to what one should or should not do, such preferences affirm the sway of conscience.

General revelation, however, leaves important questions unanswered. Why does creation have such marvelous form and function but also possess disease, violence, suffering, and death? What is life’s purpose? Is there existence after death? These kinds of questions can only be answered by the Bible, God’s direct communication to us through Jesus’ life and the words of Scripture. This is called special revelation (table 1), and it is essential for properly interpreting the pictures offered by general revelation.

Marring the Picture for Both Types of General Revelation

Creation

In modern times, another illustration has been made for both children and adults, called the geologic time scale. This picture shows layers of the earth’s crust, claimed to have formed over millions of years, with each layer’s age supposedly determining when various plants and animals first evolved based on the lowest layers in which their fossils are found. For those who believe this is an accurate depiction of history, it becomes the lens through which they view the creation aspect of general revelation. And through this lens, they believe that starvation, disease, predation, and death were all in operation before humans appeared on earth.

Those who have not studied the Bible have only general revelation to form their understanding of God. Lacking this, people miss the opportunity to begin to grasp the power and goodness of God on the one hand and the consequential seriousness of sin on the other.

If unfamiliar with or untrusting of God’s Word, people misunderstand the divine attributes of God, not realizing he can simply speak things into existence, giving them perfect form and function. Original creation had no starvation, disease, predation, or death. This realization is important because God has also promised to again make a flawless creation, containing only goodness, absent of harm and suffering.

The Bible is explicit about this (table 1, first column). Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “his work is perfect,” and Psalm 33:8-9 explains, “he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” In Isaiah 44:24, God takes sole credit for creation, claiming “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.” All of these true assertions contradict the claims of the geologic time scale.

In fact, the old earth views advocated via the geologic time scale contradict over 60 Bible passages (Genesis 1:1–19, 20–26, 30, 31, 2:1–2, 7, 19, 22, 3:14, 17–18, 19, 6:13, 17, 19–21, 7:19–23, 8:21, 9:8–17; Exodus 20:11, 31:17; Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Samuel 22:31; Job 10:9, 33:6; Psalm 18:30, 19:1–4, 33:6–9, 72:18–19, 103:14, 104:5–9, 136:1–9, 145:17, 148:3–5; Proverbs 3:19; Isaiah 11:6–9, 44:24, 45:18, 46:9–11, 54:9, 65:17, 25; Jeremiah 10:12, 51:15; Daniel 4:37; Hosea 14:9; Matthew 4:3–4, 19:4, 24:37–39; Mark 10:6; Luke 4:3, 11:50–51, 17:26–27, 18:19; Romans 1:20, 5:12; 1 Corinthians 11:8, 12, 15:21, 26, 45–49; 1 Timothy 2:13; Hebrews 4:3–4, 9:26, 11:3, 7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5, 3:5, 6). The viewpoint expressed in the geologic timescale denies that creation took place as God describes, ignores the impact of sin on God’s originally perfect creation, and fails to consider that most of earth’s layers were likely formed during the global flood of Noah’s day.

(Sciacca, 1983, Unit Three, 2 as a general framework for this table)

By perfect knowledge and power, God made things by speaking them into existence in unflawed form and operation. God’s past accomplishments identify his uniqueness as set apart from and sovereign over all he has made. He did not choose a naturalistic method like evolution that makes him unnecessary; he chose a method that undeniably makes him worthy of awe and worship and praise!

Conscience

Our conscience offers only a hint of a correct code of behavior. Without the Bible, people fail to realize that God’s standard of right and wrong is one of absolute moral perfection rather than a relative comparison among ourselves. His standard is set according to his ways, not ours. This lack of knowledge results in an unawareness of the danger of clinging to sin rather than coming to God for mercy.

The geologic time scale colors how people view the conscience aspect of general revelation as well. In essence it moves evils like starvation, disease, predation, and death from the curse-of-sin category to the cause-of-creation category. This implies a false I’m-a-good-person mindset that fails to realize all of Adam’s descendents fall short of God’s perfect standard. God by his very nature could only create things perfect in form and function, and by that same nature, a perfect moral standard is required as well.

The Bible candidly explains we all fall short (table 1, second column). Psalm 143:2 says, “no one living is righteous before you,” and Ecclesiastes 7:20 states, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins,” while 1 John 1:8 claims, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.”

Our conscience offers only a hint of a correct code of behavior.

An unbeliever has been taught from grade school that muddling through by trial and error and chance is how a god (if permitted in a naturalistic model) made all living things. Should a god with flaws expect us to be flawless? Could an imperfect god hold us to a higher standard? By this reasoning, it is enough to have good intentions and do your best.

The God of the Bible, however, is perfect in word and deed and standard, and not one of us can achieve that level of goodness. Scripture lists examples of thoughts and behaviors where we fail to live rightly, helping us recognize our shortcomings. God promises he will not tolerate sin forever but, at some point, will deal with it, and although he offers to forgive sin, not everyone will receive forgiveness.

Scripture shows the peril of persisting in evil rather than seeking God’s forgiveness (table 1, second column). Psalm 5:4–5 says of God, “evil may not dwell with you . . . you hate all evildoers,” and Proverbs 16:5 states, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” In Matthew 13:41–42, Jesus explains that “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Any view of earth history that fails to differentiate between what came from God’s creative power and what resulted tragically from human sin is obscuring the gospel message. The One who made each of us and the world that sustains our day-to-day existence must at some point remove all the damage caused by our sin.

The only reason we have from Scripture that God has not dealt with it yet is that he desires all people, in the brief time frame of their earthly lives, to become aware of the danger of persisting in sin and turn to their Maker to be saved from their deserved punishment and brought into his loving care instead (table 1, fourth column). Ezekiel 18:23 says, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” while in 1 Timothy 2:4 it states that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and 2 Peter 3:9 says he “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Remarkably, if the geologic column with its fossil layers is primarily a remnant of the global flood of Noah’s time, we have a highly visible illustration of the choice God gives us. Both Jesus (Matthew 24:37–39; Luke 17:26–27) and Peter (2 Peter 2:5, 9, 3:5–7) compare the flood judgment to a future judgment at the end of time. This means that any time we look at an intricate fossil, a majestic mountain range, or a breathtaking canyon, we have a picture of God’s judgment on sin in the past as a warning for the future.

Ignoring the Clarity Given to the Picture by Special Revelation

The person and work of Jesus

Some claim that seeming contradictions between popular views in science and the words of Scripture can be resolved by interpretation that supposedly harmonizes the two views. Is the geologic timescale’s portrayal of earth history compatible with what special revelation describes through Jesus’ life and teaching and the words of Scripture?

Taking Jesus’ life as part of special revelation, the Bible explains that Jesus is God who took on human flesh. Seeing what Christ was like and what he said and did on earth gives people a glimpse of what God is like (table 1, column 3). Hebrews 1:3 says “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” and John1:1, 14 states, “The Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” while Colossians 1:15, 19 explains “He is the image of the invisible God. . . . For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

God alone does wondrous things (Psalm 72:18, 136:4–9), and creation is one of the great wonders that he alone accomplished (Isaiah 44:24). He is the One who gives life (Job 34:14–15; Isaiah 42:5), and he holds authority over what he has made (Psalm 135:6). As God in human form, Jesus would be expected to display the same power when he walked the earth. And that is exactly what the Bible describes.

Scripture says that Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of the world (John 1:10; Colossians 1:16–17; Hebrews 1:2). He displayed his authority over what he had made when he commanded the wind and waves to be still, and they obeyed (Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 4:35–41; Luke 8:22–25). When Jesus healed people and even raised some from the dead (Matthew 9:18–26; Mark 5:35–42; Luke 7:11–17; John 11:32–44), he identified himself as the Author of life (Acts 3:15). When he fed a multitude or turned water into wine (Matthew 14:13–21, 15:32–39; Mark 6:33–44, 8:1–10; Luke 9:12–17; John 2:1–11, 6:1–14), he displayed his divine power to create. Even the devil understood that Jesus could show himself to be the Son of God by his ability to create because Satan tempted him to turn stones into bread by merely commanding it (Matthew 4:3–4; Luke 4:3–4). This could not tempt anyone else because no ordinary human would be able to do so (Grigg 2008).

For this reason, old-earth models of creation that assume deep time and the workings of chance are completely incompatible with God’s divine nature displayed in the miracles of both the Old and New Testaments, including the miracles that Jesus did in front of many witnesses who remembered and recorded them. In John 20:30–31, John gives the purpose for documenting what he and others had seen: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” In Acts 2:22, Peter also preached that Jesus was “a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.”

The harmony of message between the testaments is addressed by Jesus in Luke 16:19–31, where he gave a terrifying account about a man who, after dying, found himself in continuous torment. When he realized he could have no relief from his suffering, he asked if someone could be sent back from the dead to warn his brothers who were still living. The reply he received was that “if they do not hear Moses and the Prophets [a common title for the Jewish Scriptures, or Old Testament], neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

Jesus’ teaching is also part of special revelation. The words he spoke are God’s words. In John 12:49, he says, “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.” Jesus’ prayer in John 17:8 confirms the same, “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.”

Jesus demonstrated the proper handling of Scripture as he taught. In Matthew 22:23–33, he fielded a question about the afterlife from Jewish ruling class leaders as a crowd listened to the exchange. Jesus responded to them saying, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” After a bit of explanation, Jesus added, “Have you not read what was said to you by God?” That short question has two noteworthy points (Lisle 2023). First, Jesus indicated that whatever is written in Scripture is God’s words: what God Himself has said, not what an ancient writer invented for cultural promotion or religious support, emphasizing the words “what was said . . . by God.” Second, Jesus mentioned that this was spoken to them, in that current time and place and culture, with the expectation that the wording was clear and comprehensible on its own even though it had been written down more than 1,400 years earlier in a different language (originally recorded in Hebrew, probably spoken in Aramaic by Jesus in public teaching, and written in Greek in the gospel accounts). The emphasis here is on the words “said to you.” In the parallel accounts in Mark 12:24–27 and Luke 20:37, Jesus also affirmed Moses’ authorship under God’s inspiration, confirming that the Bible correctly records who wrote the books attributed to them.

Jesus’ teaching presupposed the clarity of Scripture. Nowhere did he indicate that present-day readers would need to filter it through ancient Near Eastern (ANE) beliefs and literary conventions. The Bible instead says God’s Spirit will help his children understand his Word (Romans 8:14; 1 Corinthians 2:12–13). Rather than draw comparisons with ancient ANE writings, Jesus went solely to Scripture.

Jesus also took the Old Testament accounts of supernatural events in human history as literal and real, happening exactly as described. He gave no hint that these accounts were mere literary frameworks or symbolic poetry. Rather, every statement he made held to specifics described in Scripture. For example, when discussing God’s establishment of marriage (Matthew 19:4–5; Mark 10:6–8), he said God made humans male and female from the beginning of creation, consistent with a miraculous six-day creation, but not hundreds of millions of years for modern humans with two sexes to evolve from a single-celled life-form. Jesus spoke of Abel as the first of the prophets to be murdered, a pattern of violence that had been in place from the foundation of the world (Luke 11:50–51), indicating that the world was corrupted by sin very quickly after its six-day creation since one of the sons of Adam and Eve was killed within the general time frame of earth’s establishment.

Jesus also took the Old Testament accounts of supernatural events in human history as literal and real, happening exactly as described.

As mentioned earlier, Jesus treated the flood that took place during Noah’s lifetime as a literal event (Matthew 24:37–39; Luke 17:26–27). Such a flood would have completely rearranged the entire surface of the earth, destroying the site of the garden of Eden from which humans had been banished and leaving evidence of worldwide extinction and burial events, such as that found in the fossil record.

Conclusion

God has reached out to every person who has ever lived by giving them two pictures to look at in order to encourage them to read his book and learn more. The first picture is all that is seen in creation: the beauty and marvel of nature with its amazing form and operation. The second picture is the common characteristic of all people to have an innate sense of right and wrong, with a feeling of obligation toward what they think is right whether or not they choose to do it.

Humans have misrepresented these images by their own artistic interpretations, and one well-known example is the geologic timescale. Without the guidance of Scripture, the illustrators of this picture have placed things we recoil from, like violence and suffering and death, into the creation account. In so doing, they removed attention from another important image suggested by conscience, the fallen image inherited from Adam that God judged during a global catastrophic flood in Noah’s lifetime.

The tragic result is that many do not realize they face a similar future judgment; the God who made them is perfect, and they will be held accountable for ignoring his standards and going their own way, without consideration for the One who made them and all that sustains their life on earth. In a manner of speaking, they live in a magnificent house he built and owns while refusing to follow his rules.

The Bible is essential reading! Not only does it help us perceive where details are out of place in a human illustration, but it also shines light on the true picture of what we observe in the world in which we live. By examining what Jesus said and did and through studying the words of Scripture, we learn to discern between what is attributable to God, like an originally good and perfect creation, and what is attributable to sin, such as suffering and death.

But if that were all we gained from Scripture, it would leave us in a state of hopelessness—but God’s Word goes further. It adds that God will one day remove all that is broken and corrupted and make things new and “very good” like creation originally was. We too are offered the opportunity to be made whole and brought into God’s family as adopted children, with a future dwelling that no longer has anything cursed by pain or death.

References

Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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