God Revealed

“Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. For as I was walking around and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’” Acts 17:22b-23a 

We call it the natural knowledge of God. It refers to the things that all human beings know about God which do not have to be revealed to them by God in His word. To provide natural knowledge of Himself, God has left His fingerprints in the beauty of the natural world around us. The intricate workings of our Earth and even our human bodies give evidence to a Creator who has immense power. We live in a world where all of the pieces are organized, interlocked, and interdependent. Only a fool could look upon creation and say there is no God. Yet sadly some do. 

To assure safety for His people and accountability to Him, God has given each human being a conscience. The conscience provides each one of us with an inborn sense of right and wrong. We know that murder and lying, stealing and adultery are wrong. As we commit sin, guilt and shame flow from our consciences. We know we are not right with God, But sadly, even our conscience can be deadened to exclude God. 

But what if we believed there was some god out there and we realized we had sinned and were accountable to that god, and yet the True God had not revealed Himself to us? What would we do to know Him? We would do exactly what heathen people in the Old Testament had done… 

what the Greeks and Romans had done. We would invent a god or gods of our own making. We would assume that we have to do something to appease these gods so we would sacrifice to any and all gods. We would build temples and statues and idols to honor them. We would live in constant fear of them because they cannot reveal their love for us. We would go so far as to build an altar to an unknown god so that we would not dishonor him by neglecting him. We would live in ignorance. 

How thankful we are that this is not the way in which we live! God has revealed Himself to us. In the pages of Scripture, we see who God truly is. He is patient and long-suffering, delaying judgment of His creation until the day when all of His sons and daughters have come to faith. He is loving and merciful, realizing that we cannot save ourselves so He has made a way for us. He is providing and protecting, redeeming us through the truths He has revealed to us that His Son is the Way and the Truth and the Life. 

The Apostle Paul knew well that the men who sat in judgment over matters of religion on Mars Hill did not know the one true God. He knew he had to reveal the truth of Christ crucified for them to them, the only truth that can save. And so he did. We know that the world around us does not know of the Cornerstone of our faith. Let us be about the business of making the unknown God known to the people we contact as we, each and everyone of us, carry out the Great Commission of Christ. Blessings in the mission field this week, 

Frank Van Brocklin 

Principal/Staff Minister

Coming up in the near future at Immanuel Lutheran School: 

❖ Confirmation Sunday for our two ILS confirmands, Kylie Niehausen and Savanna Bucki, will take place on May 14, 2023. A student art fair will take place in conjunction with the confirmation celebration. 

❖ Our 5th-8th grade students will be participating in the NLHS track meet on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. Events include running events, jumping events, shot put, and softball throw. ❖ There will be an early release on May 17, 2023, followed by our May faculty meeting. Bus service is provided for that day as it is also an early release day for the public schools. 

❖ May 25, 2023, will be our fourth quarter Accelerated Reading program field trip. ❖ Immanuel Lutheran School will host its annual 3K, 4K, Kindergarten Celebration beginning at 5:00 PM on May 25, 2023. 

❖ Our last day of school picnic will be on May 26, 2023. Our school day will end after lunch with parents taking their children home on that day. Final registration for the 2023-2024 school year will also take place on that day. 

❖ Immanuel Lutheran School graduation will be May 28, 2023, at the 10:30 AM service. Kindergarten through 7th grade students are singing Go Now in Peace for graduation worship service.