God’s Revelation Series

God’s Revelation

Psalm 19

I attended an event called Symphony on the Prairie. It was held at historic Conner Prairie farms in Indiana. There are hundreds of acres with log cabins that are preserved as a museum of what the pioneer days were like in Indiana.

In this setting the Indianapolis Symphony came and played. We sat on lawn chairs and blankets during the sunset and then as night fell under the stars. There was something about that event that was invigorating to the soul.

According to Psalm 19 there were two symphonies playing that night. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra was playing strings, percussion, and brass instruments. But there was a soundless symphony in the heavens. The heavens were declaring the glory of God.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

3 They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. (Psalm 19:1-4)

As we listened to the symphony on the prairie the sun set with all the splendid colors. Then the stars broke through until they were beyond a countable number. All of this we say while listening to the strings play gave testimony to the glory of God.

In this Psalm David speaks of God’s revelation in creation. God reveals himself through the splendor of the universe. The theologians call this natural revelation. The rest of us just call it God’s creation or God is the creator of all nature.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

God so clearly reveals himself through creation that no one is left without excuse. Just from nature we know enough that we are held accountable for our sins. The heavens and the skies make proclamation of God’s creative power. There are billions of stars in the sky making this declaration.

The most powerful telescopes make visible another distant star it has the same message. It sparkles with a testimony of the mighty creative power of God. The Word used for God here is El, and that name for God denotes his power. God made himself known to all humankind at creator. He revealed his eternal power and his divine nature.

There is a different message in the day and the night, but both have the same theme, that God is all powerful. Two stringed instruments in the symphony may be different but they play the same son. It is a different way of communicating the song. So, what the day sky and night sky say about all powerful God, but differently. The skies of day and night have their own message of God’s power.

Those who study the sky know how God is glorified through them. Their study is like a magnet drawing them to God. Copernicus described the universe as “built for us by the most orderly workman of all”.

Listen to the epitaph to Galileo written by his student Viviani. “With philosophic and Christian firmness, he rendered up his soul to his Creator, sending it, as he liked to believe, to enjoy and watch from a closer vantage point those eternal and immutable marvels which he, by means of a fragile device, had brought closer to our mortal eyes with such eagerness and impatience.”

The message of God’s power in creation reached the remotest jungle and secluded societies. God’s work is witness to his creative power. The focus turns to the sun. How the sun speaks of the testimony of God’s creative power. As the most prominent object in the sky it well represents God’s glory. Our own lives depend on the sun.

In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.

5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,

like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

6 It rises at one end of the heavens

and makes its circuit to the other;

nothing is deprived of its warmth. (Psalm 19:4b-6)

The picture is of the bridegroom coming from a sleeping room just after the wedding. There is radiance and feeling of full vitality of life. The sun is like a champion runner. The sun rises and sets. This whole description is poetic. Yes, the earth turns. We say the sunrise will be at 6:15 am. To us it comes up. All the images are poetic, the pitched tent, the bridegroom and the runner and sun rising.

God’s word is perfect. That is the emphasis that David makes as he moves from general to specific revelation.