Q33 Why does God hide? Where's the Evidence?

Everytime a father walks a bride down the aisle they provide evidence of God by recreating the first wedding when God walked Eve to Adam

I shortened the follow up question for the sake of making it fit in a title. The full question is:

Why does God hide? If God wants us to believe, why doesn't he give us more evidence?

Is God Hiding?

First off, regarding why does God hide? God is not hiding. When you read your Bible, the following facts are made clear.

1. In this age of the gospel, God is not hiding. He is spirit; (John 4.24) and being spirit he is invisible (Col 1.15, 1 Tim 1.17) to our physical eyes.

2. It is a good thing that God has separated himself from us so that we cannot see him, because sinful man cannot come into the presence of the holy God and live. Before man sinned, he could see God and be in his presence. We learn this from the first marriage. After God created Adam the first man, God saw that it was not good for the man to be alone. (Gen 2.18) So God created a "suitable helper" for the man and brought her (Eve) to the man. (Gen 2.22) By the way, this bringing of Eve to Adam by God is why during a wedding, fathers walk their daughters down the aisle to present their daughter to the groom. It is a re-enactment of the first marriage.

Now speaking of the first wedding, a question: How did God escort Eve to Adam? Did she appear that she was walking alone, with only an invisible ghost (spirit) by her side? How could God do a presentation, a giving of Eve to Adam if God, the one giving, could not be seen? It is apparent from context that God could be seen for the first wedding. Just as the Bible explicitly says Adam and Eve could hear God walking in the garden (after they sinned - Gen 3.8), but noticeably could no longer see him after they sinned. So it is clear that for the wedding before they sinned, they were able to see God. And humans who believe will be able to see God again at the renewal of all things. (Matt 5.8)

But during the time after they sinned, when sin stained the hearts of humans, God separated himself for their benefit because sinful man cannot come uncovered into the presence of the holy God. As God told Moses who also wanted to see him:

But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."
(Ex 33:20)

This is also why God struck down Uzzah when David, King of Israel, tried to bring the ark of the Covenant from Abinadab's house to Jerusalem. (2 Sam 6.7) The ark of God was on a cart pulled by oxen when they stumbled. It was understood that the God of the Universe, creator of all created things that exist, dwelled with his people enthroned between the Cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant (1 Sam 4.4; 2 Sam 6.2).

During the journey, Uzzah "reached out took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled." (2 Sam 6.6) In so doing, he, a sinful man, came into the presence of the holy God of the universe who was enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. And since sinful man cannot come into the presence of a holy God, God struck him down.

3. So it is actually to your benefit that God separates himself and "hides" himself, otherwise he would have to immediately strike you down for bringing sin into the presence of the holy God.

More Evidence Needed?
As to evidence for the question, "why doesn't he give us more evidence?" Ken Ham's response to an college student agnostic is appropriate. What evidence are you willing to accept? [1] This question alludes to the fact that for many, there is no evidence that they will accept. By asking it Ham brings to light the fact that for many, asking for more evidence is merely a distraction, a ruse to hide the fact that their issue is not one of lack of evidence, but one of unwillingness to believe a holy God before whom they would have to admit their sinfulness and repent.

Because the Bible says God has already given sufficient evidence for everyone to know that God exists.

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Rom 1.18-20

God is bringing judgment. Why? Because men are suppressing the truth. What truth? That God exists and his qualities can be known. How do we know that? Because God's invisible qualities can clearly be seen in the creation. Take note of that scripture: God's invisible qualities can be clearly seen in his creation! His invisible qualities are so clear in fact that men are without excuse. They cannot believably say they had no evidence of God because the evidence of God is all around in his creation.

In this age of science we have even less less excuse. Are you looking for evidence? As I point out in the previous article on the Creation Information Barrier, it can now be demonstrated through irrefutable science that life cannot exist without the intervention of a supernatural, all powerful God. That is what the science indicates. So once again the question arises: What evidence are you willing to accept?

Perhaps evidence from reason and logic would be more to your liking. Consider again the bride being escorted down the aisle by her father. Why does she exist? She exists because her father along with her mother brought her into existence. So the bride is a contingent being. Her existence is contingent on her parent's act of procreation. The same can be said for her parents, their parents and so on. They are all contingent beings. But the regression cannot be infinite. There cannot be an infinite number of created beings before us or else we, who represent the end of the line of created beings, would not be here to represent the end, since infinite quantities have no end. You cannot reach the end of an infinity. Yet here we ("we" including our heirs who currently exist) are at the end of the line of contingent beings. Since we are at the end, the regression is not infinite and there must have been a start, or a beginning.

The beginning came with Adam and Eve who were the first contingent beings, and the first bride and groom. And since they were the first contingent beings, they cannot have come from other contingent beings, otherwise they would not be first. Therefore Adam and Eve, the first contingent beings, must have been created by a non-contingent being. A being who always exists, who is eternal. With the power to create life (and everything) from nothing. That being is God, whose name is "I AM" (Ex 3.14) a name that means he who exists. This is one form of the ontological argument for the existence of God. And it is another type of evidence that can be perceived by your God given mind and intellect.

Or perhaps, you are looking for more historically verifiable type of evidence. Consider then, the evidence of what God is doing today, made visible by the evidence of fulfilled prophecy. What nation was ever been resurrected and re-constituted after it was conquered and scattered? God sent Israel into exile because of their disobedience and rebellion (2 Kings 17.22-23). But God promised through his prophets he would restore them and bring them back. (Ezekiel 11.17, 28.25, Jer 31.10, Is 11.12 among others.) When did that happen? It was formally recognized in 1948 when Israel was reconstituted as a nation.[2] And it continues today with many Jews making aliya[3] - returning to the land of Israel - just as God said he would draw his people home to Israel. This in spite of (and in some cases perhaps because of) attacks by Israel's enemies (particularly Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran) on the Jewish nation.

So is God hidden? No. Is there a lack of evidence? No. I've provided scientific, logical, and historic/prophetic evidence. He is active in the world today and the creation reveals his glory. Your very existence as a contingent being proclaims his existence and glory. And he has revealed himself with the ultimate, definitive revelation, clothing himself in flesh so he could be seen, and coming to earth in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago as Yeshua, Jesus, the Son of God (Matt 26.63-64) and Son of Man (Dan 7.13, Matt 16.13-17).

Jesus ended many of his teachings with "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Mark 4:9). If you cannot see the work of God even now, and cannot hear his message, could it be that you do not have eyes to see and ears to hear?[4]

Duane Caldwell | September 30, 2024
Follow @rational_faith_

Notes
1. Ken Ham, Lecture "The Relevance of Creation", c. 1992
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2. 1948 - State of Israel Proclamed, History.com - This Day in History (May 14), accessed 9/28/2024, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/state-of-israel-proclaimed
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3. "The Safest Place to be Jewish: 2600 people have moved to Israel since Hamas Invaded." Deborah Danan, The Times of Israel, 23 Dec 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-safest-place-to-be-jewish-2600-people-have-moved-to-israel-since-hamas-invaded/
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4. In the Bible, the people of God often make a point by pointing out something that is not the case in order to highlight a truth that the person being questioned does not want to face and answer. Example:

But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?'
(2 Ki 1:3)

Clearly there is a God in Israel. Why then are they going to the false gods of Ekdron?

In this case of eyes and ears, clearly most people have eyes to see and ears to see. Why then do they not see what God is doing, and not hear what he is saying? In other words, it's not that they cannot see or hear, but that they are unwilling to listen to the message.
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Elizabeth Taylor and Spencer Tracy from "Father of the Bride" 1950