Question: I have a genuine question. why doesn’t God show His face? how good would the world be if God ruled making all people know that He is God? why doesn’t God’s name appear in CNN Or BBC or Fox news or Tensports or ESPN Channel? why does God’s name appear only in Religious channel? to make my question more clear, why does not God show His identity? why doesn’t God say to every man, woman and child: I am God. why doesn’t , when it thunders , people don’t recognise God’s presence? hope I was clear. I can’t explain better. thanks.
Profile: Male, Asia, Christian, 26–35
Answered by: Wendyl Leslie, who has been a volunteer with us since August, 2008.
Answer: Hello and thank you for writing us. Yours is a great question: Why doesn’t God show Himself to us today? Why doesn’t He prove that He exist?
Despite the vast number of people who believe in God, who are staunchly grounded in their faith, there are always those who say they’d believe “if only….” They claim that if God really wanted everyone to be saved, He would give us that “extra” level of proof by revealing Himself physically and perform some miraculous events.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that God has already done that. He’s already revealed Himself in bodily form to the world through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ; and the world still didn’t believe Him. In fact, they killed Him. Jesus said that if even if men were to see someone risen from the dead they would not be convinced that God existed (Luke 16:30-31).
Jesus, God in bodily form, not only walked on the earth (John 1:1-3; Colossians 2:9, 1 Timothy 3:16), He performed over 40 miracles from healing the blind and the deaf, feeding over 5,000 with a couple of fish and fives loaves of bread, calming a raging sea, to raising the dead. Yes, such miracles led many to faith and belief in Him, but it’s clear from the biblical history that even such miracles were not always enough to overcome one’s hardened unbelief and skepticism.
Just as they do today, the skeptics of Jesus’ day explained Him away as being either a good man or a deceiver of the people (John 7:12) or even demon-possessed (John 7:20)—they would believe anything rather than confess Jesus as the Lord God. Miracles have been an important part of God’s revelation to mankind, but even after witnessing supernatural phenomenon, many unbelievers persisted in their unbelief. At times skeptics may have admitted the miraculous event and that they could not deny it (Acts 4:16), but they still refused to repent and trust Christ as Savior (Acts 4:17–18).
Even the famous atheist Richard Dawkins admitted that he “used to think that if somehow, you know, a great big giant 900-foot high Jesus with a voice like Paul Robeson suddenly strode in and said ‘I exist. Here I am,’ but even then I actually sometimes wonder whether that would.” The point is that no matter whether one actually sees God, no matter how many miracles are done, those with a hardened heart of unbelief will always find a way to explain God away. Here are just a couple of examples. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, many Jews believed on Jesus (John 11:45), but the chief priests and Pharisees tried to kill Lazarus to cover up the evidence (John 12:10–11).
Even after seeing the dumb speak, the blind see, the lame walk, the sick healed, devils cast out, and the dead raised, the Pharisees attributed Christ’s miracles to the devil (Matthew 12:24) and plotted to have Him killed (Matthew 26:4). In light of those miracles and Pilate finding no fault in Him, it’s astonishing that so many people cried out for Him to be crucified (Matthew 27:23).
It’s not enough to prove that God exists. James 2:19 tells us that even the demons believe in God. The Bible tells us that even though God has revealed Himself in bodily form, that we have the Word of God in our hands to prove not only His existence, but the way to eternal life is narrow and many will not believe (Matthew 7:13-14). The reason for this is that the “gospel is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NASB).
The bottom-line is this: believing in God’s existence does nothing for you if you do not trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, believing that He died on the Cross for your sins and rose from the dead to give you eternal life (Romans 10:9–10). That lack of admission of sins, repentance, and confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is at the heart of why even an appearance from God would probably be explained away by unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:3–6).
There is plenty of evidence for God’s existence and that every person already knows that God exists. Skeptics suppress that knowledge, their understanding of the evidence, and their own consciences in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-32; 2:14-16). As Christians we should use the abundance of evidence and arguments for God’s existence in our witness for Christ. However, God (Jesus Christ) has already knocked on the world’s door (Revelation 3:20), and many will not open their hearts and minds. They will explain Him away as either a good teacher (John 3:2; 7:12), a crazy man (John 7:20), or a deceiver (John 7:12). Even after 2,000 years, times have not changed much (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10) and neither has the heart of man (Jeremiah 17:9).
Again, thank you so much for writing us. We pray that we’ve been helpful and encourage you to write us again whenever you have additional questions or concerns. We would be delighted to hear back from you.
Take care and may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
In His Service and Yours,
Wendyl,
www.GotQuestions.org
PS. Here are some related articles on our website you may also find helpful:
— Why was God so evident in the Bible, and seems so hidden today? at https://www.gotquestions.org/God-hidden.html
— Has anyone ever seen God? at https://www.gotquestions.org/seen-God.html
— Is there an argument for the existence of God? at https://www.gotquestions.org/argument-existence-God.html
— What does the Bible mean when it says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God'”? at https://www.gotquestions.org/fool-heart-no-God.html
