Many Questions; One Answer
By Tom Gilbreath
Does God exist? Is it possible for a mere human to know Him? How can we verify such knowledge? If we can answer those three questions in affirmative ways, then we will find a roadmap to the other great questions of life — things like, “Why am I here?’ and “How can I find purpose and meaning?”
So, does God exist? Most people think so. We deduce from creation the fact of a Creator. The universe and especially our world — the one we see best — exists with stunning levels of complexity. Yet the universe works. Everywhere we look, we see order rather than chaos. Our mightiest telescopes and most penetrating microscopes tell the same story — purpose, strategy, patterns, design.
The evidence for God’s existence also serves as evidence of His omnipotence. That brings us to question two — “Is it possible for a mere human to know Him?”
How can finite beings grasp the Infinite Being? How can we, with our limited intellects, knowledge, and understandings reach out and grasp God? Humans are limited in space and time to here and now. How can we possibly reach out and grasp the Creator of space and time? Isaiah 57:15 describes Him as “the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity.” How does a human identify with that?
Our society has made a joke of the idea of actually knowing God. And it should be a joke if someone claims to know Him comprehensively. But if instead, we mean knowing limited yet true and important things about Him, that changes the equation. It turns the question around. Instead of asking if finite beings can reach out into the infinite and know God, the question becomes, “Can the Infinite God reveal Himself to finite people?”
Part of what makes Him seem unknowable is the idea of omnipotence. But this thing that makes a relationship impossible from our side makes it completely reasonable on His. We can’t figure Him out, but with Him all things are possible. He’s all powerful! That means He has the ability to communicate to us true and important things about Himself.
As a Christian, I believe He has done this often through human history. He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. He instructed Noah to build an ark. He spoke to a man named Abraham, and that communication changed everything from that time forward. It’s obvious that He can speak to us if He chooses. It would be ridiculous to claim that our limitations deny Almighty God the ability to speak — to say He is dumb because we are stupid.
That brings us to the last of our three questions. How do we know His authentic voice? Millions claim to have heard Him speak, but they often say contradictory things. The Bible’s claim to authenticity is profound in its simplicity. It says things only God could know. It tells about future events — sometimes weeks, decades, or even millennia in advance.
We might then ask a fourth question. What about Jesus? Is He really God in human flesh, God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity? The answer confirms His identity as well as the reliability of the Bible. His first coming fit biblical prophecy of the Messiah with astounding perfection. The odds are beyond astronomical that anyone could fulfill even basic messianic prophecies such as His lineage, the place of His birth, etc. Details of His crucifixion were written hundreds of years before crucifixion had been invented as a method of execution.
Libraries of books have been written on these matters, and I’m limited here to a few paragraphs. If you are a believer in Jesus and the Bible, I hope these paragraphs will remind you of God’s mercy in giving us evidence of His existence and His care. If you are not yet a believer, I hope this short article will encourage you to look more deeply into the Bible and to its revelation of God in Christ.
