Let’s consider in more detail God’s work in building His kingdom. The better we understand His working, the better we can cooperate with Him.
When people believe in Jesus, it is something they do with their hearts (see Rom. 10:9-10). They believe in the Lord Jesus and thus they repent. They dethrone their own will and put Jesus on the throne of their will. Believing involves a change of heart.
Similarly, when people don’t believe in Jesus, it is something they do with their hearts. They resist God, so they don’t repent. By a conscious decision, they keep Jesus off the throne of their heart. Unbelief involves a continual decision not to change one’s heart.
Jesus indicated that all people’s hearts are so hard that no one would come to Him unless they were drawn by the Father (see John 6:44). God is mercifully and continually drawing everyone to Jesus by various means, all of which touch their hearts, and through which they must continually decide either to soften or harden their hearts.
What means does God use to touch people’s hearts in hopes of drawing them to Jesus?
First, He uses His creation. Paul wrote,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Rom. 1:18-20, emphasis added).
Notice Paul said that people “suppress the truth” that is “evident within them.” That is, the truth rises up within them and confronts them, yet they push it back down and resist that inward conviction.
What exactly is the truth that is inwardly evident to every person? Paul said they are the truths of God’s “invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature,” revealed through “what has been made.” People inwardly know from looking at God’s creation that He obviously exists,[1] that He is extremely powerful, amazingly creative and incredibly intelligent and wise, to name a few.
Paul’s conclusion is that such people “are without excuse,” and he is right. God is continually shouting at everyone, revealing Himself and trying to get them to soften their hearts, but most close their ears. God, however, never stops shouting throughout all of their lives, with a constant display of miracles—through flowers, birds, babies, snowflakes, bananas, apples, and a million other things.
If God exists and He is as great as His creation reveals, then obviously He should be obeyed. That inward revelation shouts one overriding message: Repent! For this reason, Paul maintains that everyone has already heard God’s call to repent:
But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Rom. 10:18).
Paul was actually quoting a well-known verse from Psalm 19, of which the fuller text says,
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line [voice] has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world (Psalm 19:1-4a, emphasis added).
This again indicates that God is speaking to everyone, day and night, through His creation. If people reacted rightly to God’s creation message, they would fall on their faces and cry out something like, “Great Creator, you have created me, and obviously you have created me to do Your will. So I submit to You!”
[1] That is why Scripture declares, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1, emphasis added). Only fools suppress such obvious truth.
