Look anywhere around you and you’ll see the declaration of the glory of God. That’s because the God who created the heavens and the earth also created human beings to cover the earth with His image as the waters cover the sea (Gen 1.26-28; Isa 11.9; Hab 2.14). God’s image bearers image Him by shaping the world He created for the express purpose of displaying His own many-splendored glory.
Communication from this Almighty God is obviously important—regardless of how many of His image bearers suppress this truth (Rom 1.18ff). Fortunately, not only does our Creator God bear witness to his own reality in creation, but He has also spoken clearly to that creation by Word—both in Son (Heb 1.1-2) and in Holy Scripture, which testifies about that Son (John 5.39). The Bible is God’s gracious and voluntary self-disclosure; He didn’t have to reveal Himself . . . to anyone. As the apostle John aptly put it, Holy Scripture is “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1.1).
No more important message to mankind can be known than the message communicated by God in the pages of Holy Scripture: “I AM the LORD.” Knowing this message—this Word—is the authoritative means God has provided for knowing Him (Rom 10.8-17). Further, knowing Him is the only means by which any human being can escape death and receive eternal life as its Author designed it to be possessed (John 20.31; 1 John 5.13). This invaluable message from our Creator God applies to every human being—whether or not one chooses to acknowledge it as true.
As God’s image bearers, we bear His image best when we tell the truth about Him—the truth as He has revealed it about Himself; not someone’s private interpretation (2 Pet 1.20-21). After all, who knows God better than Himself? The Bible presents God truthfully because it is God’s own testimony concerning Himself (John 3.31-35; 1 Cor 2.10-16). It does not attempt to communicate a message intended to “tickle the ears” of rebellious creatures (2 Tim 4.3). Rather, God’s Word is truth—sanctifying truth (John 17.17), and even sometimes hard to hear truth (Isa 55.8). We “dusty” image bearers will do well to pay attention to and love God’s self-disclosure—His Word—“as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts” (2 Pet 1.19). We will do well to let His message dwell in us richly.