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Romans 1:18-20 - The Revelation of God in Creation.

Romans 1:18-20 (NLT) But God shows his anger 
from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who 
suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know 
the truth about God because he has made it 
obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was 
created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through 
everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible 
qualities - his eternal power and divine nature. So 
they have no excuse for not knowing God.  

INTRODUCTION

Nature teaches us that God exists. What kind 
of God does nature reveal? Nature shows us a 
God of might, intelligence, and intricate 
detail; a God of order and beauty; a God who 
controls powerful forces. That is general revelation. 
Through special revelation (the Bible and the coming 
of Jesus), we learn about Gods love and 
forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life. God has 
graciously given us both sources that we might fully 
believe in him. [Life Application SB] 

Natures revelation is distorted. God 
reveals his divine nature and personal qualities 
through creation, even though creations testimony 
has been distorted by the fall. Adams sin 
resulted in a divine curse upon the whole natural 
order (Genesis 3:17-19); thorns and thistles were 
an immediate result, and natural disasters have 
been common from Adams day to ours. In Romans 
8:19-21, Paul says that nature itself is eagerly 
awaiting its own redemption from the effects of sin 
(see Rev. 22:3). [Life Application SB] 

God holds all men responsible for their 
refusal to acknowledge what He has shown them of 
Himself in His creation. Even those who have never 
had an opportunity to hear the gospel have 
received a clear witness about the existence and 
character of God and have suppressed it. If a person 
will respond to the revelation he has, even if it 
is solely natural revelation, God will provide 
some means for that person to hear the gospel 
(Acts 8:26-39; 10:1-48; 17:27). [MacArthur Daily 
Bible 2003] 

COMMENTARY PEARLS

Evidence Of God
   Everything in creation gives evidence of 
God's existence. The intricacy of snowflakes, the 
roar of a thunderstorm, the precision of a 
honeybee, the bubbling of a cool mountain stream. 
These miracles and a million more give testimony 
to the existence of a brilliant, wise, and 
tireless God (Psalm 19:1-4). The facts lead to a 
wonderful conclusion. God is ... and God is knowable. 
   He has not hidden himself, but rather the 
opposite: he promises success to all who search for 
him. We can know God; we can know his heart, his 
joy, his passion, his plan, and his sorrows. Of 
course, we will never know him entirely. God is 
knowable, but he is incomprehensible (Isaiah 55:8-9). 
Our pursuit of him must be marked by humility. 
We will never know everything about God. 
   But that isn't meant to discourage us. 
The mark of a saint is that he or she is growing 
in the knowledge of God. Our highest pursuit is 
the pursuit of our Maker. And he will make 
himself known to all who seek him. [You Can Count On 
God by Max Lucado] 

Mind under Matter
   When I was deep in the redwoods some time 
ago, I lay back and looked up. I mean really up. 
It was one of those clear summer nights when 
you could see forever. So starry it was scary. 
The vastness of the heavens eloquently told the 
glory of God. No words could adequately frame the 
awesomeness of that moment. One of my mentors used to 
say, "Wonder is involuntary praise." That night, 
it happened to me. 
   What boggled my mind as I curled up in my 
sleeping bag that night was this: Everything I have 
seen belongs to this one galaxy. Perhaps there 
are a hundred more beyond our own. Maybe a 
thousand. Or a hundred thousand  each one much 
larger than ours. Who knows? 
   But let's limit our thinking just to this 
one solar system  a tiny fraction of the 
universe above us. A scientist once suggested an 
interesting analogy. To grasp the scene, imagine a 
perfectly smooth glass pavement on which the finest 
speck can be seen. Then shrink our sun from 
865,000 miles in diameter to only two feet  and 
place the ball on the pavement to represent the 
sun. 
   Step off 82 paces (about two feet per 
pace), and to represent proportionately the first 
planet, Mercury, put down a tiny mustard seed. Take 
60 steps more and for Venus put down an 
ordinary BB. Mark 78 more steps  put down a green 
pea representing Earth. Step off 108 paces from 
there, and for Mars put down a pinhead. Then take 
788 steps more and place an orange on the glass 
for Jupiter. After 934 more steps, put down a 
golf ball for Saturn. 
   Now it gets really involved. Mark 2,086 
steps more, and for Uranus  a marble. Another 
2,322 steps from there you arrive at Neptune. Let 
a cherry represent Neptune. This will take 2 
1/2 miles, and we haven't even discussed Pluto! 
   We have a smooth glass surface 5 miles in 
diameter, yet just a tiny fraction of the heavens. 
Now, guess how far we'd have to go on the same 
scale before we could put down another two-foot 
ball to represent the nearest star. We'd have to 
go 6,720 miles! Miles, not feet! And that's 
just the first star among millions. In one galaxy 
among hundreds, maybe thousands. And all of it in 
perpetual motion  perfectly synchronized  the 
most accurate timepiece known to man. Phenomenal 
isn't the word for it. 
   No God? All by chance? Are you kidding? 
Listen carefully: "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 men are 
without excuse" (Rom. 1:20, NIV). [Chuck Swindoll 
www.insight.org.] 

COMMENTARY

   Through the creation we are to become 
acquainted with the Creator. The book of nature is a 
great lesson book, which in connection with the 
Scriptures we are to use in teaching others of His 
character, and guiding lost sheep back to the fold of 
God. As the works of God are studied, the Holy 
Spirit flashes conviction into the mind. It is not 
the conviction that logical reasoning produces; 
but unless the mind has become too dark to know 
God, the eye too dim to see Him, the ear too dull 
to hear His voice, a deeper meaning is grasped, 
and the sublime, spiritual truths of the written 
word are impressed on the heart.  
   In these lessons direct from nature, 
there is a simplicity and purity that makes them 
of the highest value. All need the teaching to 
be derived from this source. In itself the 
beauty of nature leads the soul away from sin and 
worldly attractions, and toward purity, peace, and 
God. Too often the minds of students are occupied 
with men's theories and speculations, falsely 
called science and philosophy. They need to be 
brought into close contact with nature. Let them 
learn that creation and Christianity have one God. 
Let them be taught to see the harmony of the 
natural with the spiritual. Let everything which 
their eyes see or their hands handle be made a 
lesson in character building. Thus the mental 
powers will be strengthened, the character 
developed, the whole life ennobled. COL24-25  

Theres No Excuse
   When Helen Keller was a very young girl, 
a disease affected her in a dramatic way. She 
lost her sight, hearing, and speech. Essentially 
she was isolated from the world.  
   But Anne Sullivan made it her lifes 
purpose to reach Helen. She taught Helen how to 
communicate through touch. And when she tried to tell 
Helen about God, Helen said she already knew Him, 
but she just didnt know His name. Despite the 
fact that she couldnt hear or see, God still 
made Himself known to her. 
   All around us is the evidence of God. We 
find it not only in our lives, but all through 
creation as we see Gods hand at work. 
   As the apostle Paul pointed out, For 
ever since the world was created, people have 
seen the earth and sky. Through everything God 
made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities 
- his eternal power and divine nature. So they 
have no excuse for not knowing God (Romans 
1:20 NLT). 
   I read an interesting statement by Robert 
Jastrow, an astrophysicist and former director of 
NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He 
wrote, It seems as though science will never be 
able to raise the curtain on the mystery of 
creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith 
in the power of reason, the story ends like a 
bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of 
ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as 
he pulls himself over the final rock, he is 
greeted by a band of theologians who have been 
sitting there for centuries. 
   God will reveal himself to the true 
seeker. And the bottom line is this: There is no 
excuse for living in rebellion against the God who 
loves us. He will make Himself known to every 
person who truly wants to know Him. [Greg Laurie 
from Harvest Ministries; 
https://www.harvestdaily.com] 

ILLUSTRATIONS

Blackpoll Warblers
   The tiny blackpoll warbler landed 
exhausted on the bare spit of rocky sand after a 
stormy crossing of Lake Erie. For now it was safe 
on Point Pelee, the southernmost point of 
mainland Canada. Thousands of migrating birds funnel 
through this narrow point, taking advantage of an 
important resting and refueling stop on their long 
northward migration to summer nesting grounds. 
Blackpolls, named for the patch of black feathers on the 
top of their head, spend the winter in South 
America but migrate back to the spruce forests of 
northern Canada where they raise their young.  
   The crossing of Lake Erie seems to be a 
problem only when a storm gives the tiny birds a 
strong headwind. Though it is hard for them, these 
birds regularly fly across nearly 2,000 miles of 
the Atlantic Ocean from the northern coast of 
South America to Florida. We know it is hard 
because during the journey blackpolls can lose 
almost half their body weight. So every chance they 
get they take advantage of prevailing winds to 
help them on their way.  
   With one of the highest-pitched songs of 
any songbird, the blackpoll's quick tsit tsit 
tsit calls have such a high frequency that some 
people have a hard time even hearing them. 
Blackpolls communicate with each other as they feed on 
insects and spiders.  
   As you can guess, migrating birds face 
many hazards. Some predatory birds that catch and 
eat other birds time the raising of their young 
to take advantage of the increased food supply 
as migrants pass through their area. Bright 
lights, especially during foggy conditions, confuse 
and mesmerize migrants so that they crash into 
lighted buildings, towers, or monuments.  
   Getting enough food along the way can be 
a big problem, but birds do not worry - they 
simply depend on God to provide for all their 
needs. The Bible is clear - God cares for even the 
cheap little throwaway birds. But He cares for us 
ever so much more. He knows every detail of my 
life, and He wants only the best for me.  
   Creator God, have You really counted all 
the hairs of my head? I am confident then that 
You know all about me and that I can trust You 
to care for my needs this day. [God of Wonders 
by David Steen re Matt. 6:26] 

Gecko's Feet
   A side from the little bright-eyed, 
green, smart-talking model on Geico Insurance 
advertisements, have you ever seen a real live gecko? If you 
have spent much time in the tropics, you probably 
have. Geckos are small lizards known for their 
ability to scamper up a glass surface and run at top 
speed across a smooth ceiling. Until recently it 
was a mystery how they could do that.  
   Many of the couple thousand species of 
geckos live in houses, and their occupants often 
welcome them because the lizards are experts at 
catching and eating insects, even mosquitoes. If you 
watch a Geico Insurance ad, besides talking with 
an Australian accent, one of the really cute 
things the model does is blink its eyes. Most real 
geckos don't have movable eyelids - just a clear 
membrane coving their eyes. So you will occasionally 
see a real gecko licking its own eyes to get 
them clean. But then that wouldn't look good on 
TV, would it?  
   Several scientific experiments have 
focused on the interesting ridged design of the 
gecko's foot pads in an attempt to learn how they 
get such sure footing on smooth surfaces. The 
feet are not sticky. They don't have hooks on 
them. Experimental results show that each gecko 
foot has nearly 500,000 tiny hairlike structures 
called setae, a Latin word for bristle or fine 
hair. Each gecko setae is only one tenth the 
diameter of a human hair. But here is where it really 
gets interesting, for each seta terminates in 100 
to 1,000 even smaller flattened hairs called 
spatulae, which are only .2 to .5 micrometers wide. 
When ultrasmall structures such as this come 
close to any other structure, weak attractive 
forces called van der Waals interactions draw them 
together. Scientists have now isolated a single seta 
and have determined that it holds 10 times the 
weight that they had previously estimated based on 
whole animal studies, and that van der Waals 
forces are indeed the secret to the gecko's 
excellent footing. With five toes on each of its four 
feet, geckos have 20 toes. Calculations show that, 
with just one toe in contact with a surface, a 
gecko can support eight times its own body weight. 
 
   Material scientists have now devised 
nanofibers that mimic the ultrafine hairs on the 
gecko's foot. Using such nanofibers, robots are 
climbing glass walls, and high-tech Band-Aids coated 
with such fibers now hold wounds together for 
healing. They are not sticky, so they don't hurt when 
they come off.  
   Masterful Designer, because You created 
systems such as gecko toes, surely You have ways to 
hold me and never let me go. Enfold Your arms 
around me so that I cannot fall. [God of Wonders by 
David Steen re Ps. 119:117] 

Flamboyant Cuttlefish
   The first time I saw a movie clip of a 
flamboyant cuttlefish I could not believe my eyes. 
First, a cuttlefish isn't really a fish at all - 
it's more like an octopus with really short 
tentacles. Octopi, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish are 
all a type of mollusk in the class Cephalopods 
(meaning head foot, because they have feet on their 
head). It gets better. Cephalopods have a powerful 
water jet that they power up when they need to 
escape quickly. When they blast off, they leave 
behind a cloud of black ink to make it appear as if 
their body just went poof and disappeared. But 
wait, it gets even more weird. The flamboyant 
cuttlefish is only three inches (eight centimeters) 
long, and its name is what it is: flamboyant.  
   This little guy looks like a neon sign 
competition in Las Vegas. You-Tube archives several good 
video clips. The best as of this writing are 
"Underwater Studios" and "Cuttlefish Catching Dinner." 
What you will see are clips of this small critter 
looking - at times - very dull and camouflaged and 
"walking" along the sandy seafloor using two of its 
eight tentacles and two underbelly skin flaps. Two 
tentacles extend straight ahead, two feel the sand for 
food, and two wave above the body. When the 
flamboyant catches dinner, it looks almost as if a 
slow-motion frog tongue comes out (actually a modified 
tentacle with suckers on the end) and suddenly grabs 
shrimp, small fish, worms, and other crustaceans. 
Because this small cuttlefish is extremely 
poisonous, it advertises that fact so that it will not 
be mistaken for some tasty morsel by a hungry 
fish or other cephalopod. And what an 
advertisement. Here is where the "flamboyant" part of the 
cuttlefish name comes in. Within seconds the 
dull-brown, mottled, sandy color turns to a pale white 
with a bright-yellow fringe or skirt pulsating 
and waving around the edge of the underbelly. 
The upper tentacles turn white, with a brilliant 
pink on the ends. The lower tentacles can go to 
black and yellow. The most amazing part is a 
rhythmic flow of dark diagonal chevron stripes that 
seem to sweep the cuttlefish body from front to 
back. Pink, yellow, and red stripes show up 
frequently too. The best analogy that I can come up 
with would be a gaudy Las Vegas sign with moving 
lights and changing colors.  
   Creator of the flamboyant cuttlefish, 
yes, I know that it is just one of Your many 
wonders. You are a truly amazing God. There is none 
like You. [God of Wonders by David Steen re Ex. 
15:11] 

CLOSING THOUGHT

"Look For Signs Of Me In Your World."
   Do you ever long for a sign from God? The 
direct approach - like a neon light, a highway 
billboard, or even a "We interrupt this broadcast"? 
Anything that helps us to know what he's telling us. 
Anything to quell our anxious search for guidance. 
   Believe it or not, God sends us signs all 
the time. He makes himself obvious through his 
Spirit's nudges when we pray and read the Bible, with 
peace that assures us, in the wonders of creation, 
through godly leaders, and in countless other ways. 
   Whether we notice him depends on how 
attuned to him we remain. It's one thing to think 
about him vaguely now and then; it's a whole other 
habit to actively look for him to communicate. He 
has a personal language with each of his 
children, unique between him and that person. We can 
hear and be encouraged by his work in others' 
lives, but eventually that excitement won't be 
enough. We need to experience him for ourselves. 
   Keeping in touch with him requires our 
sensitive effort - a discipline we often forgo in the 
rush of our days. He'd probably love to shake us 
to get our attention because he knows we'd 
function better if we'd listen for him more closely. 
   Noah not only listened to God, but he 
listened for God. He proactively pursued God. We saw 
evidence of that in Genesis 8 when he repeatedly sent 
a dove to see whether God had dried the land. 
It was his way of saying, "God, let me know 
when and where to land this ship." 
   And in Genesis 9, we see God giving him - 
and us - another sign. Rainbows aren't a 
haphazard reaction to rain. Every time we see one, God 
is communicating. He's reminding himself and us 
that he'll never again destroy the earth with a 
flood. But rainbows also remind us that God is as 
present and mightily involved with us as he was with 
Noah. And he wants us to search earnestly for him 
as Noah did. 
   Never doubt; he will guide you. But maybe 
he's waiting for a sign from you that you're 
looking for him. [The Daily God Book By Erin Keeley 
Marshall re Genesis 9:13] 

ONE LINERS

I love to think of nature as an unlimited 
broadcasting system, through which God speaks to us every 
hour, if we will only tune in.  [George Washington 
Carver] 

People see God every day, they just don't 
recognize him. Pearl Bailey 

Men have no excuse for not knowing about God 
because He has revealed Himself in man's conscience 
and in the physical world (Rom. 1:19, 20; 2:15). 
[MacArthur Daily Bible 2003 re Acts 17] 

LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE

Romans 1:18-20 - The Revelation of God in 
Creation. 

http://www.abible.com/devotions/2015/20150719-1023.html 

Romans 1:18-20 - God Has Revealed Himself 
Plainly! 

http://www.abible.com/devotions/2007/20070830-2315.html 

Romans 1:18-20 - THE MAJOR REVELATIONS OF 
GOD! 

http://www.abible.com/devotions/2008/20080714-1534.html 

YOUR COMMENTS

If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or 
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either 
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in 
hearing from you.  Thanks in advance and let's keep 
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred 
Gibbs  

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT

Most Important Decision in Life: 
http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0 

A Man without Equal by Bill Bright: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVa7UoruIo 

Steps to Peace by Billy Graham: 
https://stepstopeace.org/ 

Seeking God Made Real: 
http://vimeo.com/31489782 

Prayer Made Real: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8VdMV26VE 

LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDIES 

Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies: 
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/ 

Amazing Facts Bible Studies: 
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx  

Voice of Prophecy Discover Bible Study 
Guides: 
https://www.voiceofprophecy.com/study/discover 

Glow Tract Video Bible Studies: 
http://www.bibleresearch.info/ 

LINKS FOR BIBLE PROPHECY SEMINARS

Unlocking Bible Prophecies by Cami Oetman of 
Adventist World Radio: https://www.awr.org/bible 

Panorama of Prophecy with Pastor Doug 
Batchelor: https://www.panoramaofprophecy.com/  

Hope Awakens by John Bradshaw of IIW: 
https://itiswritten.tv/programs/hope-awakens 

Prophecies Decoded by Pastor Ron Clouzet: 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657  

Islam and Christianity in Prophecy, The 
Third and Final Conflict by Tim Roosenberg: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHSJB-fuHLU&list=PLWhQIHGTHlkaGg5Cwe3NDzWtFX8vNSpsE