People get stuck on this question.
How do you know God is real if the Bible says, “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18)?
The answer is, God is invisible in His essence, but He is not silent. He keeps revealing Himself. He did it in the Old Testament. He did it in Jesus. He does it in people. He does it in you.
Here are ten ways God makes Himself known, using what we just built.
1. God shows Himself in creation
Creation is God’s first sermon.
Romans 1:20 says His eternal power and Godhead are “clearly seen” in what He made.
Every sunrise, every galaxy, every cell says, “This did not make itself.”
Creation says, God is.
2. God shows Himself in His name (YHWH)
In Exodus 3:14 God tells Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”
This is the self-existent God. He does not start. He does not end.
When He reveals His name, He is saying, “You cannot define Me. I define everything else.”
That is YHWH.
3. God shows Himself to Abraham (Genesis 18)
In Genesis 18:1 it says, “Then the LORD appeared to him…”
Abraham talked to YHWH like a friend.
This is God coming down in a form a man can handle.
This is why Jesus later says, “Moses wrote about Me.” (John 5:46)
4. God shows Himself to Moses (Exodus 3)
Moses sees a bush that burns but is not consumed.
God calls him by name.
Exodus 3:4 “God called to him from the midst of the bush…”
Same YHWH Abraham met.
This is God saying, “I am real, I am holy, and I have a plan.”
5. God shows Himself in friendship (Exodus 33)
This one is wild.
Exodus 33:11 “So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”
How can an unapproachable God speak like that?
Because God can lower the brightness so you can know Him.
In the New Testament He lowered it all the way into flesh.
6. God shows Himself in Jesus (the visible image)
John clears it up.
John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son… He has declared Him.”
Jesus is God explained.
Hebrews 1:3 calls Him “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.”
So when Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58), He is connecting Himself to Exodus 3. Same I AM. Now in flesh.
7. God shows Himself in the cross (God’s love)
You want to know what God is like?
Look at the cross.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God loved you before you were loveable.
That is revelation.
8. God shows Himself by living in us
The mystery Paul preached was not just “Christ for you.” It was “Christ in you.”
Colossians 1:27 “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Ephesians 3:3 “by revelation He made known to me the mystery…”
So the God who met Moses on a mountain now lives in believers.
That is why you can sense God, hear God, and be led by God.
9. God shows Himself in love between believers
John says it twice.
• 1 John 4:12 “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us…”
• John 13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So even though God is invisible, love makes Him visible.
When the church forgives, restores, and refuses to gossip, people see God.
10. God shows Himself in people made in His image
This is the part the enemy hates.
Every time you see a person, you are looking at someone stamped with God’s image.
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image…”
So what does the devil do?
He trains you to only see their past, their sin, their failure.
If you only see dirt, you will never see design.
But God loved us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8).
So we love others while they are still becoming.
Ephesians 4:32 “forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
Do not let the enemy stop you from seeing God in people.
If God could look at us in sin and still send Jesus, we can look at others in process and still see God’s handiwork.
Close it out
So, how do you know God is real?
1. Creation says so.
2. His name says so.
3. Abraham met Him.
4. Moses heard Him.
5. Moses talked with Him.
6. Jesus revealed Him.
7. The cross proved Him.
8. The Spirit lives Him.
9. Love displays Him.
10. People reflect Him.
Same God.
Old Testament and New.
Unapproachable light, now approachable in Christ.
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