God’s Revelation in Nature
The Presbyterian theologian Stephen Williams lists a variety of phenomena classified as revelation, “There is divine speech and there are many acts of God in history; there is theophany, dream, prophecy, revelation in nature, revelation in Christ, the revelation of the gospel, and eschatological manifestation.” (Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible) None of these stands alone. Many associate God’s revelation with words, but there is more to revelation than words. Revelation can be communication, it can be communion, and it can simple be presence. Just three points on the revelation in nature.
1. Pointing towards the Creator
Human curiosity has cut deeply into the fabric of creation dissecting it to unravel its mysteries. There are approximately 400 chemicals that combine to create the fragrance of a rose. There is estimated to be over eight million known animal species living on earth. The educated guesses are 100 to 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. Speculation of the number of galaxies in the universe rise from 176 billion to two trillion. This should bring to mind God’s words to Abraham, “‘Look up at the sky and count the stars–if indeed you can count them.’” (Genesis 15)
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8) An investigation into nature can easily lead to despair. We can simply get lost in the immensity. But many see these discoveries as evidences of God’s work, works of apologetics abound, such as Alister McGrath’s A Fine-Tuned Universe, in which he points out that if the universe was not so “fine-tuned” it would support neither life nor the existence of the universe itself. I am reminded of Basil of Caesarea (330-379) who argued in a similar manner when he pointed out to his congregation that the heat of the sun “is so regulated that it neither consumes the earth by excess, nor lets it grow cold and sterile by defect.” (Hexameron) Basil’s Hexameron is an ancient dissertation on the fine-tuning of the universe.
“The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voicegoes out into all the earth…” (Psalm 19)
2. Life’s Lessons
“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard?” (Proverbs 6) This is leaving the realm of science and moving into the realm of object lessons.
Jesus himself pointed to flowers and birds to remind his disciples of God’s care. (Matthew 6) In like manner Basil continues the tradition, pointing out to his congregation the creatures around him as examples of God’s care. Even the sea urchin, he says, serves as an example, for God gave it spines, “If God has not left the sea urchin outside His providence, is He without care for you?” (Hexameron)
Besides God’s providence, there are moral lessons to be had as he points to creatures as examples, illustrations for how to live as well as for how not to live. Big fish devour little fish, are we no better than fish when the wealthy and powerful oppress workers and laborers? “Such is the malice of these animals”, Basil protests. Then there is the lesson of storks and crows as an example of virtue, for the crows warn the storks of coming danger. Animals do not dictate how we should live, but they can be used as examples of both good and bad behavior.
Besides God’s care and lessons in ethics, the creatures of nature serve also as illustrations of theology. Basil points to the silkworm that comes from China, remarking that the finest clothing is made from its thread, but more amazingly is the transformation from egg to caterpillar to pupa and finally into a flying moth, from a creature of the earth, a worm, to a creature of the air. Basil instructs, “…remember the metamorphoses of this creature, conceive a clear idea of the resurrection, and do not refuse to believe in the change that Paul announces for all men.” You see the miracle in nature before your eyes, why doubt the promise?
3. Participation, The Mystic Trail
Basil’s little brother Gregory of Nyssa wrote, “Hope always draws the soul from the beauty which is seen to what is beyond, always kindles the desire for the hidden through what is constantly perceived. Therefore, the ardent lover of beauty, although receiving what is always visible as an image of what he desires, yet longs to be filled with the very stamp of the archetype.” (Life of Moses)
The rose might have brightly colored petals and approximately 400 chemicals combined with the hope of attracting a pollinator, such as a honey bee, humming bird, or butterfly, but why would we assume that this is the entire purpose? Beauty leads to Beauty. The ancient Christian often saw the beauty of the earth as a foreshadowing of heavenly beauty, the fullness of creation, when God will be “all in all”. The fulness of the presence of God in creation meant God would never be far, would always be near, with, and in the believer. Union with Christ meant union with God, and “participation in the Divine Nature.” (2 Peter 1) The mystical quest has been to see “face to face” what has been seen dimly, as in a mirror. (1 Corinthians 13)
“For the power which encompasses the universe, in which lives the fulness of divinity, the common protector of all, who encompasses everything within himself, is rightly called ‘Tabernacle.’” (Gregory, The Life of Moses) There are those who go out into the forests and mountains claiming to go worship in the Cathedral of Trees, and so they go, but the Cathedral of Trees, the Mountain Alters, are but articles within the greater temple of God.
For the mystic, each flower, every tree, even the stars above all declare the imminence of the transcendent Source of all, each flower can be a mirror reflecting that Divinity.
The Early Church for Today 