It saddens me that people label me as “theologically liberal” when I make statements such as “God is in nature”, or “general revelation (nature and constitution of man) embodies special revelation (the Bible)”. People assume immediately that I am a New Age Transcendentalist or some sort of Unitarian. I think it is sad that The observance of God within general revelation is forced to be at such cross purposes with conservative, Christian orthodoxy. Most conservative evangelicals would agree that general revelation is necessary to reveal the need of salvation, but it itself is not salvific. I couldn’t agree more; special revelation is necessary because of the extent that the Fall had on the natural realm, and the abyss of human depravity. However, I feel once you have received special revelation, general revelation can be understood.

Think of it as such, Nature is a reflection of God. God is majestic, and beautiful, and loving, and complex, and transcendent and imminent. Nature reveals all these things, but without special revelation our analysis stops there. It is only through special revelation that we understand why, and deepen our knowledge of God and how to relate to Him. For instance, autumn is one of the most poetically inspiring times of the year. The colors are stunning and vibrant, the cool air is refreshing, and the world smells earthen and sweet. But when enraptured by these glories, you must also consider the fact that this is Nature dying. How can death be sweet? How can death be vibrant and exuberant? It is a conundrum that tore my mind and heart apart, until I recalled Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints”. 

Through Nature, I concluded that death could be beautiful. Why should that be the case, as death is the very contradiction of Nature? The answer to the conundrum within general revelation was answered through special revelation. The Lord counts the death of His saints as precious; He cares for them, his image bearers cared for them, they are his special creation, and therefore God weeps with us at someone’s passing. Therefore, God comforts us with peace in the time of loss by the beauty of that person’s memory and the love of those around us. It often takes a funeral for us to feel alive, as we begin to take note of the little things around us. This is why I make the statement, “God is in Nature”, not that our theology is drawn from Nature, but, Nature being God’s very signature in this realm, it must reflect his personality. A study of God’s word reveals our Creator, but the Creation also reflects the Creator. Special Revelation will explain General revelation; in turn, General Revelation will illustrate and deepen our understanding of Special Revelation.

This truth is also evident in the man aspect of General Revelation. As image bearers of God (Genesis says we are made in his image), our personalities are naturally a reflection of God’s personality. Grant it, we are depraved and fallen; therefore, our personalities are a diminished or even twisted reflection of God. But, if we study people’s personalities in light of the Scriptures, we begin to see a beautiful picture of God’s personality–which is the perfect embodiment of all positive human persona. The reason why David was poetic was because God is poetic. John was a loving individual because God loves. We relate to people in different ways because God does as well. Since we are all descendants of Adam, bearing God’s image, and having the breath of life, all constitution of our existence is an extension of God’s essence and persona, albeit a flawed extension. 

With these things in mind, when we begin to understand the workings of human constitution and persona, and when we understand Nature, and we understand the relation between Nature and man. we learn deep truths about the Maker whom ties them all together. When Special Revelation gives insight to that which Nature naturally reveals, we gain a deeper and clearer understanding of both. This allows us to be closer in tune with ourselves, with others, with the created order, and with God.

I say, let Scriptures inspire us to learn from Creation, and Creation in turn to study the Scriptures because the two together will service well our knowledge of God.