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It is the Christian understanding that “long ago, at many times and in many ways,” God spoke to His people through the prophets (Heb 1:1 ESV), and that He has in fact spoken to His people through two distinct mediums; through general revelation in nature, and through special revelation in the Bible. But it was from the book of nature found in general revelation that God defends Himself against Job’s questioning.
Nature is a most powerful teacher. Job writes; “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” (Job 12:7-10). Interesting to notice this is an all-inclusive declaration, no one is left out; the beast, the birds, the fish, even the plants and bushes are held accountable; everybody knows that the Lord has done this. As readers we get to eavesdrop on the conversation between Job and his friends. It is a repeating cycle of Job complaining, then one of his friends trying to defend God and at the same time convince Job to repent, then the cycle starts all over again. And the cycle goes on….. just like that for 34 chapters! Thirty-four chapters!
Finally, God puts a stop to it in a powerful way saying to Job beginning in the 38th chapter; “dress for action like a man: I will question you, and you will make it known to me.” Can you imagine? This is serious. Job has provoked God to respond because at the heart of his argument, Job is questioning the character and foundational attributes of God like justice and mercy. Understandably, God responds in a powerful way by building His own apologetic for Himself. In other words, God is playing the role of apologist by preparing, and then delivering an apologia to defend Himself against Job’s acquisitions. But notice what God uses as evidence to support His argument? Nature. Throughout chapter 3841 God calls upon Job to consider the evidence provided by creation. At its core this is what apologetics does. It looks at God’s general revelation from nature, then the evidence from nature is utilized to craft a defense for the existence of God, and ultimately the truthfulness of Christianity.
