bEEKE AND sMALLEY ON cREATION as Revelation

Beeke and Smalley write,

If creation is like a preacher, then God must have designed it to have a "voice" that mankind can understand. If the world revealed God only in an obscure facet of subatomic physics or cell biology, mankind might gain no understanding of him. However, God designed creation to reveal his nature to us all. In the blazing colors of the sun we see the happiness of God like a "bridegroom," the power of God like "a strong man," and the presence of God, for "there is nothing hid from the heat" of the sun (vv. 5-6).

Irenaeus (fl. 180) said, "Creation reveals Him who formed it, and the very work made suggests Him who made it, and the world manifests Him who ordered it." As we look around us, we see that God has made this world a theater for his glory, as Calvin said, "this magnificent theater of heaven and earth, crammed with innumerable miracles." Such revelation consists not merely of the historic act of creation, which we cannot directly observe, but in creation preserved and controlled by God's providence through history. Bavinck said, "Creating, sustaining, and governing together form one single mighty ongoing revelation of God."

And further down, Beeke and Smalley quote Douglas Kelly, who reminds us that all revelation, whether natural or supernation, has its origin in God:

Douglas Kelly clarifies, "The term 'natural' points to the realm where that knowledge is found (creation and conscience), but the source of that obligatory knowledge is definitely 'supernatural' (from the God who chooses thus to 'unveil' Himself."

Beeke, Joel and Paul Smalley. Reformed Systematic Theology. vol. 1. Revelation and God. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2019, pg. 186. (see this page's footnotes for references for quoted material)