Day 7: God Reveals Himself (50-58)

• So this is Chapter 2!!

• Pillar 1 is WHAT WE BELIEVE

• Section 1 of Pillar 1 is DIVINE REVELATION

• The last couple of days we talked about how God can be known through HIS CREATION, THROUGH OUR OWN HEARTS, MINDS, AND CONSCIENCE

• Today we will look at God REVEALING HIMSELF in a  PARTICULAR AND UNIQUE WAY

• IT’S SO GOOD!

• HOW GOD COMES TO MEET US!!

• Chapter 2 is called HOW GOD  COMES TO MEET MAN

• So today we will talk about how God has revealed His plan of LOVING GOODNESS

• We will also talk about the First Covenant with Noah

• So let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we thank you. We thank you for revealing yourself to us. We thank you for giving yourself to us. Because there is so much about you that we can never possibly know or imagine, if you had not revealed yourself to us. Lord, you reveal yourself obviously in your creatures, in this creation. But in a particular way, you have reached out to us and revealed your heart to us. You have revealed your identity to us. Keep revealing your heart to us. Keep revealing your identity to us, so that we can know you. So that we can love you as you are, since we know that you love us as we are. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So this is Pillar 1: What We Believe

• Section 1: Divine Revelation

• Chapter 2: The Revelation/God Comes to Meet Man

• So what are we looking at here?

• What did we just listen to?

• This is the beginning of God COMING TO MEET US

• This is the beginning of God REVEALING HIMSELF TO US

• Dr. Peter Kreeft teaches Philosophy at Boston College

• He pointed out that when it comes to the NATURAL WORLD, we can study a rock and basically know everything there is to know about this rock

• We can HANDLE IT

• We can INVESTIGATE IT

• We can CRACK IT OPEN

• We can do the same with PLANTS

• It may be an inanimate object, but it is ALIVE

• We can get to know the very HEART of a rock or a plant

• When it comes to ANIMALS, it is a little more complex

• We can OBSERVE them

• How is it that RATS live together?

• How do GEESE migrate?

• There is a certain degree that we can never know the INNER WORLD of animals

• What is my dog thinking? (Sausages!!!!🤣🤣 Bud Light Sausage Commercial)

• What is my cat thinking? (Other than the myriad ways that it can kill me? 😉)

• We can know a lot of what we need to know about animals just by OBSERVING THEM

• We can also observe HUMAN BEHAVIOR

• Sociologists and Psychologists do that

• BUT…

• There is a degree to which the INNER WORLD of a human being will NEVER be known to us UNLESS they REVEAL themselves to us

• We can OBSERVE another person

• We can STALK them (although it is not recommended to STALK PEOPLE, obviously 🤔😁)

• We can get to know something about them by simply watching them

• BUT…

• At some point, if we are going to get to know WHO THEY ARE TRULY, they are going to have to SPEAK

• They are going to have to REVEAL THEMSELVES

• Then we get to GOD

• We can look at His CREATION and get to know something about God

• If we are going to know ANYTHING OF SUBSTANCE about God, then He is going to have to REVEAL HIMSELF TO US

• Now, He doesn’t HAVE to reveal Himself to us

• BUT…

• If He wants us to know something about Him

• If He wants us to know His heart

• Then He is going to have to REVEAL HIMSELF

• That’s what these paragraphs are saying

• Paragraph 50 says, “By natural reason, man can know God with certainty on the basis of His works.”

• BUT…

• There is another order of knowledge that we CANNOT POSSIBLY ARRIVE AT by our own power

• THE ORDER OF DIVINE REVELATION

• God does this!!

• It is a FREE DECISION on His part where He REVEALS HIMSELF

• Paragraph 52 says, “By revealing Himself God wishes to make them capable of responding to Him, and of knowing Him, and of loving Him far beyond their own natural capacity.”

• THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!

• THIS IS AMAZING!!

• The Catechism is capturing what it has taken The Scriptures SO MUCH TIME TO REVEAL TO US

• God wants us not just to KNOW ABOUT HIM

• God wants us to KNOW HIM so that we can LOVE HIM

• In The Baltimore Catechism (which is a Question & Answer Catechism), which was published years and years ago, the first question is, “Who made you?” and the answer is “God made me”

• The second question is, “Why did God make you?” and the answer is “God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this life so as to be happy with him forever in the next.”

• And here we have, “Why did God reveal himself to you?”

• And The Catechism says, “God wishes to make them capable of responding to Him, and of knowing Him, and of loving Him far beyond their own natural capacity.”

• WHICH IS SO COOL!!

• Paragraph 53 says, “God communicates Himself to man gradually.”

• REMEMBER THIS

• Here is God who is revealing Himself to humanity THAT DOES NOT KNOW WHO GOD IS

• Here is humanity that is walking through this world of BROKENNESS

• People aren’t always JUST OR FAIR

• People don’t always LOVE

• So we have these stories of these gods and goddesses WHO ARE NOT JUST

• WHO ARE NOT FAIR

• WHO DO NOT LOVE

• So God has revealed Himself to His people by saying, “First of all, I AM.”

• “I am ONE.” 

• “I made you ON PURPOSE.”

• “I am JUST.”

• “I am calling YOU to be JUST AS WELL.”

• Pedagogy is that manner of teaching and revealing to human beings WHO GOD REALLY IS

• Paragraphs 54 and 55 talk about how in the very beginning when God created Adam and Eve, our first parents, HE MADE HIMSELF KNOWN 

• Paragraph 54 says, “He (God) manifested Himself to our first parents from the very beginning. He invited them into intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and justice.”

• Our first parents had this UNION with God that we can see in Genesis Ch 2

• Of  course we can only IMAGINE this

• We can only DREAM this

• Of course, this UNION was LOST IN THE FALL

• BUT…

• Paragraph 55 says, “This revelation was not broken off by our first parents’ sin.”

• WE DID NOT LOSE THIS COMPLETELY WITH THE FALL!!

• IN FACT…

• Dei Verbum (Paragraph 55) says, “After the fall, God buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption.”

• Remember from the very beginning in Genesis Ch 3:15

• Right after The Fall God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.” (Do you remember what this very first PROPHECY in The Bible is called? If you did The Bible in a Year, you BETTER remember!! https://www.thebibleinayearstudyguide.com/day-2 😁)

• From the very beginning, God had PLANNED and PROMISED SALVATION

• God had promised that AT SOME POINT, He will REDEEM THE HUMAN RACE

• The prayer from The Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV says, “And when through disobedience he had lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the domain of death.”

• SUCH A GOOD WORD FOR ALL OF US!!

• Even though God had made himself known

• Even though we had TURNED AWAY FROM THE LORD

• Even though we had BROKEN OUR BOND WITH THE LORD

• HE CONTINUES TO CALL US BACK!!

• Finally, we have these three paragraphs about the COVENANT WITH NOAH

• Paragraph 56 says, “After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin, God at once sought to save humanity part by part.”

• SO SO INCREDIBLE!!

• AT ONCE!!

• God AT ONCE sought to save humanity part by part

• Even though humanity was divided into many nations

• COSMIC divisions

• SOCIAL divisions

• RELIGIOUS divisions

• BUT…

• God ALLOWS this in order to BRING US BACK

• So God makes it POSSIBLE

• Paragraph 58 says, “The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel.”

• We are trying to get the Gospel to EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD

• EVERY CORNER OF THE HUMAN HEART

• Paragraph 58 continues, “Scripture thus expresses the heights of the sanctity that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to ‘gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.’”

• That’s one of the things we realize

• GOD DID NOT ABANDON US WHEN WE SINNED!!

• GOD CONTINUES TO REACH OUT!!

• TO ALL PEOPLE!!

• AT ALL TIMES!!

• IN ALL PLACES!!

• INCLUDING YOU!!

• INCLUDING ME!!

• RIGHT NOW!!

• We have the Fullness of Revelation in Jesus Christ

• BUT…

• THE WORLD DOES NOT

• So we keep PRAYING

• We keep GOING OUT

• We keep PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL

• We keep PROCLAIMING THIS TRUTH

• GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF

• Yes, God is MYSTERY

• BUT…

• God has also revealed Himself, His heart, in the midst of mystery

• So we have to GO OUT

• And we have to let the Lord COME IN

• So Fr. Mike is praying for that FOR THE WORLD

• That we all come to know the TRUTH and the GOODNESS OF GOD

• Fr. Mike is also praying for YOU

• That EVERY CORNER OF YOUR HEART knows the LOVE OF GOD but experiences and enters into the LOVE OF GOD

• Fr. Mike is praying for YOU

• Please pray for Fr. Mike

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!

Scripture References & Reflections

- compiled by Andrew Adamany

Bible Translation - RSVCE

CCC 50 "There is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation. Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit."

Ephesians 3:1–5

"I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit"

CCC 51 “It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature."

Ephesians 1:9–10

"For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."

Ephesians 2:17–19

"And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God"

2 Peter 1:3–4

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature."

IV. HOW CAN WE SPEAK ABOUT GOD?

CCC 52 “52 God, who "dwells in unapproachable light", wants to communicate his own divine life to the men he freely created, in order to adopt them as his sons in his only-begotten Son…"

1 Timothy 6:15–16 

"the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen."

Ephesians 1:4–6

"even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

"By revealing himself God wishes to make them capable of responding to him, and of knowing him and of loving him far beyond their own natural capacity.”

Romans 11:33–34

“O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

CCC 53 “God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ."

Mark 10:2–9

"And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away.” But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”

CCC 54 “God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities..."

John 1:1–5

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

 "And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation - he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning." He invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and justice."

Romans 1:19–20

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made."

CCC 55 “This revelation was not broken off by our first parents' sin. "After the fall, [God] buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption…"

Genesis 3:15

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

"and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing."

Romans 2:6–7

"For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life"

CCC 56 “The covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the principle of the divine economy toward the "nations", in other words, towards men grouped "in their lands, each with [its] own language, by their families, in their nations.”

Genesis 9:8–11

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Genesis 10:1,32

"These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; sons were born to them after the flood…These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations; and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood."

CCC 57 “This state of division into many nations is at once cosmic, social and religious. It is intended to limit the pride of fallen humanity united only in its perverse ambition to forge its own unity as at Babel. But, because of sin, both polytheism and the idolatry of the nation and of its rulers constantly threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism.”

Genesis 11:3–4

"And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

Acts 17:26–30

And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for 

‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent”

Romans 1:18, 21-23 

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth… they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles."

CCC 58 “The Bible venerates several great figures among the Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest Melchisedek - a figure of Christ - and the upright "Noah, Daniel, and Job". 

Hebrews 11:4

"By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking."

Hebrews 7:2–3 

"He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever."

Ezekiel 14:12–14 

"And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it, and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD."

Hebrews 11:7 

"By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.

James 5:11

"Behold, we call those happy who were steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful."

Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad".

John 11:49–52

"But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."