General and Special
I can recall as a young boy going outside on a dark night and looking up into the heavens, seeing the constellations of stars and the moon and the vastness of space, and knowing God exists. I’ve never been an atheist. I can’t personally fathom how one sees order and beauty and thinks, “There is no God.”
Theologians call what I experienced “general revelation.” General revelation is what David is describing in Psalm 19:1-6. “The heavens declare the glory of God…” is how that begins. There are things we can know about God just by observing the world around us. We can know He exists and something about His power, wisdom, and goodness through what He has made. Just as I can see a great work of art and know it was created by a skilled artist, I can see creation and know I was created by a great God.
General revelation has its limits though. There is another category of revelation. Theologians call this “special revelation.” That’s where David goes in the second half of Psalm 19. While I had a belief in God for as long as I can remember, and that belief was fostered by general revelation, I didn’t have a saving relationship with God until becoming a young adult.
You see, nothing in the general revelation of God answered the question, “What must I do to be saved?” That is answered only through special revelation. The answer to that question comes to us through Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. As David describes it, it is the law, testimony, precepts, commandment, and rules of the Lord that revive the soul.
It is through the special revelation of God that we come to know the Lord as “my rock and my redeemer.”
