GOD IS REAL

As “natural proofs”—that is, as arguments based on man’s observation of and reasoning about nature—these “proofs” do not logically prove the existence of the true God. Louis Berkhof writes that “none of them can be said to carry absolute conviction.” Of course, this fact means not that the existence of God is contrary to logic but rather that these arguments fail to demonstrate the existence of God in a compelling way to those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). Instead, they must be considered in concert with biblical presuppositions—namely, that the God of the Bible exists, that he is one, and that he is sovereignly powerful over all creation. While God has given sufficient evidence of his own existence in creation and conscience, the unregenerate suppress the truth of general revelation in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18–21). Therefore, all people have within them the awareness that God exists, but in their depravity they suppress and corrupt the knowledge of God revealed in nature.

Because man’s depravity is total, the curse of sin reaches even to man’s mind, so that his thinking is futile, his understanding is darkened, and he walks in ignorance (Eph. 4:17–18). As a result, the natural man’s faculty of reasoning is corrupted by sin. For this reason, believers cannot and should not rely merely upon the “natural proofs” as evidence for the existence of the true God.

In fact, a significantly more radical change must take place for sinful man to come to a true knowledge of the triune God of Scripture. As those whose minds have been blinded to the glory of God revealed in Christ (2 Cor. 4:4), unbelievers do not need more evidence, whether logical or empirical; rather, they need new eyes to properly evaluate the sufficient evidence they already have. They need to experience the miracle of regeneration, in which God quickens the unbelieving heart by shining into it the light of the knowledge of his glory (2 Cor. 4:6). This happens only by the proclamation of the gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord (2 Cor. 4:5).

In the final analysis, then, only the gift of saving faith, imparted by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God (Rom. 10:17; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23–25), supplies the basis for the knowledge of God (Heb. 11:1, 6). As Berkhof observes concerning Christians, “Their conviction respecting the existence of God does not depend on them [the ‘natural proofs’], but on a believing acceptance of God’s self-revelation in Scripture.” Christians believe that God exists because God has shone the light of his self-authenticating glory into their hearts through the Word of God.⁸

Nevertheless, the “natural proofs” do serve valid ministry purposes—when they are seen not as humanly derived proofs but as God-given biblical summaries of natural revelation and testimonies to the existence of the God of the Bible. As Berkhof helpfully explains,

They are important as interpretations of God’s general revelation and as exhibiting the reasonableness of belief in a divine Being. Moreover, they can render some service in meeting the adversary. While they do not prove the existence of God beyond the possibility of doubt, so as to compel assent, they can be so construed as to establish a strong probability and thereby silence many unbelievers.

Bavinck adds, “But though they are weak as proofs, they are strong as testimonies. They do not force the mind of the unbeliever, but they are signs and testimonies which never fail to leave an impression on the soul of any person.” Therefore, the “natural proofs” can instruct and encourage the believer and silence the unbeliever but only when they are drawn from Scripture and so partake of the unity of Scripture. Only then will these arguments function as they are designed: a valid part of proclaiming the gospel as a testimony to the existence of God.

An important model of properly arguing for the existence of God is Paul’s sermon to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill (Acts 17). It is important to note, first, that Paul did not engage in dialogue but preached a sermon. He said, “For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). Paul preached to the philosophers. In so doing, he drew on the Old Testament theology of God and creation and applied it against the false beliefs of Epicureanism, Stoicism, and other philosophies about God, nature, purpose, death, and sin.

For example, Paul proclaimed that God is the transcendent, personal, sovereign Creator by his imperial power: God “made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth” (Acts 17:24). This statement reflected Old Testament theology (cf. Gen. 1:1; Ex. 20:11; Isa. 42:5) and directly contradicted the Epicurean view that everything came about by the chance concourse of eternal atoms. Paul’s assertion also stood against the Stoic concept that everything in the world originated from a fatalistic, impersonal, rational principle (the logos).

Also, Paul confronted the Epicureans with the Old Testament truth that the personal, sovereign God exists independently of man-made buildings: God “does not live in temples made by man” (Acts 17:24). Paul did not deny that God could manifest his presence in earthly buildings such as the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, but rather, Paul denied that God needed physical buildings to live in. This statement was also Old Testament truth. In reflecting on the temple that God told Solomon to build, Solomon said to God, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27). And later, Isaiah delivered a message from God: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?’ ” (Isa. 66:1). Paul’s use of Old Testament theology opposed the Epicurean belief that the gods lived in temples made with human hands.

Paul similarly focused Old Testament theology against the Stoic and Epicurean beliefs about man’s duty to serve the gods properly. The Stoics taught that man should live by impassively accepting and conforming to impersonal fate. They believed that one should live by the principle of apatheia (passionless indifference). The Epicureans taught that man should serve the gods by the principle of atarxia (mental pleasure), which, to them, was a lack of desire for any pleasure. The Stoics and the Epicureans had differing views about what service to the gods should look like, but both systems believed that the gods needed man’s service. Paul did not deny that man should serve God, but he did deny that the true God needed man’s service: “nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25). Paul could have also shown that the Old Testament concept of duty to God was a matter of love for God (Deut. 6:4–25). Regardless, Paul clearly preached Old Testament theology. The true, sovereign God needs nothing from man:

I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. (Ps. 50:9–12)

Yet another example of Paul using Old Testament theology to challenge the false beliefs of the Epicureans and Stoics is Paul’s preaching that God, as the personal, sovereign Creator, governs the life of man and the world by his providence. He provides to all people what they need to live: “He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). And God has given people their national life with its time and boundaries: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26). This message opposed the Epicurean belief that life arose from the blind-chance concourse of atoms and that everything in history has occurred because of man exercising his free will in cooperation with an impersonal nature. And Paul’s preaching was against the Stoic assertions that life was by the impersonal, fatalistic logos principle and that the nations and all things in history ultimately had no distinctions and resulted from impersonal fate. These teachings echoed Old Testament theology. God personally created all things and gave life to all living creatures (Isa. 42:5), and he foreordained the political existence and boundaries of the nations: “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God” (Deut. 32:8).

In proclaiming the gospel based on an Old Testament theology of God and creation, Paul expressed (1) that God is the personal First Cause and designer of all creation, (2) that he is independent of the world but sovereign over it in directing his determined course for it, (3) that all life is from him and depends on him, (4) that he is the source and final Judge of morals, and (5) that he has provided a way for sinners to be spared final judgment through repenting of sin and idolatry. So Paul used aspects of the various “natural proofs,” yet he derived these concepts not from human reason but from God’s self-revelation in the Old Testament. Thus Paul used a quotation from the pagan Greek poet Epimenides (ca. sixth century BC) not as a source of truth but to illustrate to the Aereopagites that their own cultural icons knew the truth even if they denied it (Acts 17:28; cf. Titus 1:12). He proclaimed God’s revelation to refute the false theism of the Greek philosophers, demonstrating that the “natural proofs” for God’s existence must not ultimately appeal to human perception or reason but to God’s own self-revelation in Scripture.

In summary, God exists. He exists as he is revealed by the Bible. The reason one must believe that he exists is because he said that he exists. His existence must not be accepted on the basis of human reason, because that is limited to time and space and has been corrupted by indwelling sin. God has sufficiently revealed himself in the Bible, but he has not revealed himself exhaustively. Man can know only what God has revealed in Scripture about his nature and works. But that is sufficient for people to know him in a personal, saving relationship. One way God has sufficiently and personally revealed himself to man is by describing himself in Scripture by several different names. It is to the names of God that we now turn.¹

1 MacArthur, J., & Mayhue, R. (Eds.). (2017). Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (pp. 150–154). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

GODS NAME IS

YAHWEH

The most common name for God in the Old Testament is Yahweh, which appears more than 6,800 times and is derived from the tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew consonants transliterated into English as “YHWH”). God revealed this name as “his name” and “my name forever” at the burning bush (Ex. 3:13–15). It speaks of God’s eternal and unchanging nature. As can be seen in Exodus 3:15, the name Yahweh is what God intended by his response to Moses’s question about God’s name in 3:13. God responded by saying, “I AM WHO I AM” and “I AM” (Ex. 3:14), and then by identifying “LORD” (Yahweh) as “my name forever” (Ex. 3:15). Although this name of God was known before the time of the burning bush (e.g., Gen. 4:26; 5:29; 9:26; 14:22), according to Exodus 6:3, God told Moses concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “By my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.” There is no contradiction between these Genesis passages and Exodus 6:3, because the verb for “known” most likely here refers to relational knowledge. When the patriarchs addressed God as Yahweh, they did not relate to God with the understanding that Yahweh was “his name.” Another possible explanation of Exodus 6:3 is to understand “known” as referring to experiential knowledge, meaning that the patriarchs did not have “the full experience of that which lies in the name.”
After the Babylonian exile, the people of Israel came to refrain from saying the name of Yahweh, replacing it in pronunciation by the Hebrew name adonai, or by the Hebrew name elohim when Yahweh preceded or followed adonai in the written text as the name of God. This change in oral reading was likely due to reverence for it and to fear of blaspheming it. The translators of the Greek Septuagint and the writers of the New Testament (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) respected this Jewish tradition, writing the Greek word kyrios (“Lord”) when quoting an Old Testament passage with the name Yahweh. When the Masoretes invented the system of vowel pointing for the Hebrew Bible, they followed Jewish tradition in pronouncing the name of Yahweh, pointing “YHWH” with the vowels of the name adonai (a, o, a). Though the name was written as “YHWH,” it was to be pronounced as adonai (“Lord”).
The Masoretic pointing of “YHWH” led Latin-writing Christians to transliterate the Masoretic writing of “YHWH” with its vowel markings as “Iehovah.” Some have claimed that Petrus Galatinus (ca. 1460–ca. 1539) innovated this transliteration in 1518, but it appears in Latin Christian writings as early as the twelfth century AD. So the church of the Middle Ages came to combine the consonants of “YHWH” (transliterated as “IHVH”) and the vowels of adonai to produce the name Iehovah. The Reformers embraced this transliteration, and William Tyndale also used it in some passages in his Old Testament translation (1530). Then the Authorized Version (or King James Version) of 1611 (cf. Ex. 6:3) and the English Revised Version of 1885 used “Jehovah” in a few passages, accepting the J in place of the I, and this was the usual translation of Yahweh in the American Standard Version of 1901. But most modern English versions have respected the tradition of not pronouncing the tetragrammaton by translating “YHWH” as “LORD,” generally set in small caps to differentiate it from adonai.
The meaning of Yahweh is important for theology. Since it is derived from the Hebrew verb for being (khavah), especially against the backdrop of Exodus 3:14–15, the basic meaning of Yahweh is “he is” or “he will be.” So the name indicates that God “is” and “wills to be.” The name implies that he had no beginning, will have no ending, and is ever present. The name also implies that his being is derived from his own self-determination to be and to be what he is, so he is eternally who and what he is.
Since God revealed this name to Moses in a specific historical circumstance and because God acted as Yahweh in prior events and would act as Yahweh in future acts, his name would indicate the constancy of his being amid the changing conditions of his creation, especially those of his people. For example, as Yahweh, he had been and would be present as (1) the Revealer of himself and his will, (2) the Redeemer (Gen. 1:1–2:3 compared with Gen. 2:4–25; 9:26–27; Ex. 3:15–16; 6:26; Deut. 7:9; Ps. 19:1–6 compared with Ps. 19:7–14; Isa. 26:4), (3) the Eternal One (Isa. 41:4; 48:12), (4) the Life Giver (Gen. 2:4–25; Ezek. 37:13–14, 27), and (5) the supreme Judge of all creation (Ezek. 6:13–14; 7:27; 11:10; 12:16). Later, the perfections (attributes) of God will be specified, but one needs to know from the name Yahweh that God is eternal, simple, self-existent, and present at every event in time.


YAHWEH COMPOUNDS

In his Word, God reveals the relevance of his name Yahweh to humans, especially to his people, through the compounds of his name. They are revealed in connection with God’s actions.

Yahweh-tsabaoth. God is “the LORD of hosts” or “armies.” Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, God created, governs, and leads the angels as the “armies” of heaven (Ps. 24:10; Isa. 6:1–5; 9:7; Hag. 2:6–9; Zech. 4:6) and his people as his “armies” (Ex. 7:4; 12:41; 1 Sam. 17:45) to accomplish his purposes in his creation.

Yahweh-yireh. God is “the LORD” who “will provide” or “will see” (Gen. 22:14). Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, God will see and provide what is needed to fulfill his promise. In Genesis 22:14, Abraham remembered God by this name because God had provided a ram to sacrifice in place of Isaac.

Yahweh-rophe. God is “the LORD, your healer” (Ex. 15:26). Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, God will deliver his people to fulfill his will. In Exodus 15:22–26, Moses remembered that God sweetened the water at Marah so the people could drink and live. God’s mercy, compassion, and loving-kindness are on display.

Yahweh-nissi. God is “The LORD Is My Banner” (Ex. 17:15). Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, God will be the “banner” or “standard” that will lead his people to victory over their enemies. In Exodus 17:15, Moses worshiped God as the One who gave his people victory over Amalek and would destroy Amalek utterly from the earth.

Yahweh-meqaddishkem. God is “the LORD” who sanctifies his people. Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, God will sanctify or set apart his people from sin and the surrounding nations to obey him. Keeping the Sabbaths holy or set apart would be a sign to the people that God makes them holy, set apart from the other nations, to belong to and serve him only (Ex. 31:13).

Yahweh-shalom. God is “The LORD Is Peace” (Judg. 6:24). Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, God, through the angel of the Lord, sent Gideon to “save Israel” from the Midianites (Judg. 6:14). The angel of the Lord gave Gideon a sign—that the angel’s staff consumed Gideon’s sacrifice with fire—to assure him that he was sending Gideon and would go with him to give him victory. The Hebrew word for “peace,” shalom, means wholeness and well-being. Through Gideon, God would grant his people wholeness in freedom from enemies and well-being in the Promised Land.

Yahweh-roiy. God is “the LORD is my shepherd” (Ps. 23:1). Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, according to Psalm 23, God will provide everything his people need in this life, in death, and forever. He will guide and protect his people.

Yahweh-tsidkenu. God is “the LORD is our righteousness” (Jer. 23:6). Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, in the future God will establish the Messiah as the Davidic King, and “he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (Jer. 23:5). When this Davidic King will reign in righteousness “in the land,” then “Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely” (Jer. 23:5–6).

Yahweh-shammah. God is “The LORD Is There” (Ezek. 48:35). Because he “is” and “will be” who he is, God will restore Israel as a saved nation in the Promised Land and will establish a new temple in a renewed Jerusalem, which will be called by the name “The LORD Is There.”


MacArthur, J., & Mayhue, R. (Eds.). (2017). Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (pp. 155–157). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Jesus rose from the dead so...

Christ’s resurrection achieved the following vast and glorious results:

1. The fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies (see “Old Testament Revelation about Christ’s Resurrection” [p. 315])

2. The fulfillment of Jesus’s own predictions (see “New Testament History of Christ’s Resurrection” [p. 318])

3. Confirmation of the Son’s deity (Rom. 1:4)

4. The exaltation of the Father, manifesting his perfections (Acts 2:23–24; Rom. 6:4)

5. The perfection of Jesus’s obedience to his Father’s will (John 10:17–18)

6. Proof that the Father accepted the atoning work of Christ in his sacrificial death on the cross (Rom. 4:25)

7. Provision of regeneration for the elect (1 Pet. 1:3)

8. Assurance that believers will not perish due to their sins (1 Cor. 15:17–18)

9. Securing the justification of believers and assurance that they will never be condemned by God (Rom. 8:1–11, 31–34)

10. Opening the way for Christ to send the Holy Spirit to indwell believers and form them into the church, the body of Christ (John 16:7)

11. Declaration of Christ as the Head of the church and ruler of creation (Eph. 1:19–23; Col. 1:15–19)

12. Establishment of God’s pattern of power in spiritually raising believers from spiritual death in their trespasses (Eph. 1:19–20; 2:1–6)

13. Motivation for spiritual living, since believers are already seated with Christ in heaven and assured of being with him in glory (Eph. 2:5–6; Col. 3:1–4)

14. Rendering of mandatory, valid, and fruitful service for Christ (Rom. 7:4; 1 Cor. 15:14, 58)

15. Encouragement to establish the first day of the week for worshiping Christ and serving him in local assemblies (Matt. 28:1; John 20:19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2)

16. Establishment of an unshakable foundation for hope (confident expectation) for God to fulfill all his promises (Rom. 8:23–25; 1 Cor. 15:19–20; 1 Pet. 1:3)

17. The guarantee of a future resurrection life for all believers (John 5:26–29; 14:19; Rom. 4:25; 6:5–10; 1 Cor. 15:20, 23)

18. Confirmation of the future fulfillment of the Davidic covenant (Acts 2:29–36; 13:34–37)

19. The guarantee that Christ will judge the world (John 5:24–30; Acts 17:31)

20. The glorification and exaltation of the Son with the glory he once shared with the Father (John 17:5; Phil. 2:8–9; 1 Pet. 1:10–11, 20–21)¹

1 MacArthur, J., & Mayhue, R. (Eds.). (2017). Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (p. 320). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Gianna Jessen is a survivor.
She wasn't supposed to live. She wasn't supposed to walk.
Jessen survived an abortion attempt when her 17-year-old biological mother was seven-and-a-half months pregnant. She was 2½ pounds, which is about the size of a large cabbage.
But she lived. And despite disabilities she traces back to the abortion, she's run two marathons. Now she plans to climb a mountain.
"I've had the most unusual life," she said.
Today, she travels the world telling the unusual story of her birth. She visits St. Cloud State University on Tuesday. Her circumstances and the evangelical Christian beliefs she accepted at age 4 have made her a passionate anti-abortion advocate.
Her visit is sponsored by SCSU for Life, but president Brody Hagemeier hopes that people look beyond the politics.
"This goes beyond the rhetoric of the pro-life, pro-choice arguments. ... This gives a human face to an issue that ... lacks that kind of compassionate, human touch," he said.
Jessen is rare: Significant medical advances and changes in abortion restrictions mean Jessen's story is very unlikely to be repeated today. (More on this at the end of the story.)
"This is a survivor telling a survivor's story — told with strength, clarity and courage," Hagemeier said. "I understand that not everyone who attends this event is pro-life. ... I think it's important because this adds one more aspect to the conversation. Gianna's story is unlike any other story."
She's been telling her life story to audiences since she was 14 years old. ("I wouldn't recommend it. I was way too young and I had terrible hair," she said, laughing.) She just turned 40 in early April.
"At 14, you don't really know who you are," she said. "I was just telling the truth as best as I could. Since then, I've traveled all over the world and met all kinds of different people."
Jessen has cerebral palsy, which she traces directly to the lack of oxygen to her brain during the failed abortion, she said. Besides mobility and balance issues, she attributes some cognitive problems to her disability.
"It's not easy," she said. "But I'll tell you, it's a lot more fun. ... I signed up for an extraordinary life. A lot of times we forget that so much wisdom can be gained through a struggle, not by eliminating them."
Despite difficulties with balance, she's set a new goal for herself: Train to climb a mountain.
"If I keep these astonishing goals in my head, I'm not preparing for defeat. I'm not preparing for wheelchairs. I'm not preparing to go downhill. That's so crucial in life," she said.

Gianna Jessen's birth certificate is shown. She survived an abortion attempt when her 17-year-old biological mother was 7 1/2 months pregnant. She speaks at St. Cloud State University on Tuesday, April 18. (Photo: Courtesy of Gianna Jessen)

Her disabilities give her a lot of perspective, and she uses them to illustrate that to audiences.
"I always tell people, when I'm speaking to audiences. 'Can you get up and walk from there to there without thinking about it?' I wait for them to say yes," she said. "When they do, I say, 'Can you do me a favor? Can you stop complaining?' "
Recently, she's been going Italy frequently, participating in anti-abortion marches in Rome.
"I'm limping down the street in marches. And I'm limping because I survived an abortion and I wouldn't be disabled otherwise," she said. "I don't even have to say a lot. ... It gives people a lot to think about."
Despite spending the first years of her life mostly immobile, Jessen learned to walk with the help of a loving foster mother, Penny, who later became her adoptive grandmother and a very important influence in her life.
"She is largely responsible for who I am today," Jessen said. "I would have died had I lost Penny."
Forgiveness has played a major role in her life, including with her adoptive father, who had alcoholism. At one point, a woman came up to her after a speaking engagement and said, with no warning, "Hi, I'm your mother."
"I absolutely knew she wasn't lying," Jessen said. "I just said, I'm a Christian and I forgive you."
Her birth mother didn't like this answer, and eventually Jessen had to end the conversation. But it didn't really matter if her birth mother said she was sorry or accepted Jessen's forgiveness.
"The point was me offering it," she said.
For that reason, Hagemeier said, Jessen's story is meaningful to a larger audience.
"She has embraced all those struggles," Hagemeier said. "And she is incredibly thankful for the gift of her life."
Could this happen today?
Jessen was born a few years after the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalized abortion in the first trimester across the United States. The circumstances of her birth are very unlikely to be repeated. Today, abortions in the second and third trimesters are very rare. Nine in 10 of all abortions happen within the first eight weeks of pregnancy. Only about 1.3 percent of abortions are performed at 21 weeks or later, or about five months and later, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Abortions after the second trimester don't happen in Minnesota, said Dr. Carol Ball, medical director for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. In very rare cases, it could occur if a fetus has an anomaly incompatible with life.
"Fortunately, medicine has advanced so much that we often know about maternal health risks and anomalies much earlier in pregnancy than we did decades ago," Ball said.
States have also limited late-term abortions, to varying degrees. Many, including Minnesota, ban abortion after a fetus reaches viability, the stage where a baby can survive outside the womb, which is increasingly earlier in a pregnancy thanks to medical developments. A 2015 study reported a significant increase in survival for even extremely premature infants, born at 23-27 weeks, as published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. After 32 weeks, or eight months, most babies survive with medical help, and a baby born at 30 weeks has a fairly good chance of survival.
Follow Stephanie Dickrell on Twitter @SctimesSteph, like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sctimessteph, call her at 255-8749 or find more stories at www.sctimes.com/sdickrell.

More preterm babies can stay with mom and dad

Ripped from the womb? Late-term abortion explained

If you go ... 

What: Gianna Jessen, tells her story of surviving an abortion attempt by her teen birth mother and dealing with the disabilities that resulted. Event is sponsored by SCSU for Life.
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday.
Where: Ritsche Auditorium, St. Cloud State University.