# Word pictures from nature to prove theological truth



## Pergamum (Mar 13, 2011)

I am trying to gather as many illustrations from nature and from the natural wold or even history to illustrate theological truths. 

Thomas Watson does this a lot and I find Watson very effective in teaching, except that many of his illustrations are from Roman history instead of the natural world.

How would one illustrate concepts such as the sovereignty of God from the natural world? The covenants? Faith, repentance, grace, mercy, from simple illustrations that even small children can understand? Affliction.

Also, pre-industrial illustrations might work better for my own context. For instance, one Word Picture I often use for the human heart is a factory that makes poison gas, that god renovates to make perfume...but some Melanesian folks know nothing about poison gas, etc. So, illustrations concerning the nature of a pig or a dog work better (a dog returns to its vomit, etc).


Other illustrations would be that the same sun hardens clay and melts wax, an illustration of God's Word on two classes of people. or, that if you step on and crush a sweet flower it emits a different smell than if you step on a turd, illustrating the different responses of people under trials. etc.

So send me your favorite illustrations....


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## TimV (Mar 13, 2011)

A baby on the mother's back that doesn't cry isn't fed for vigorous prayer etc...


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## Frosty (Mar 13, 2011)

_The temporary nature of our time here on earth:_
This life is but a vapor; here one moment, and gone the next.

_Also from Ecclesiastes, chapter 1:5-8:_

5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And hastens to the place where it arose.
6 The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north;
The wind whirls about continually,
And comes again on its circuit.
7 All the rivers run into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full;
To the place from which the rivers come,
There they return again.
8 All things are full of labor;
Man cannot express it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor the ear filled with hearing.


Speaks of the endless cycle that the sun, wind, and waters are subject to, and how man is on a similar cycle when trying to find true, lasting satisfaction in this life. None of man's striving after, laboring towards, the things of this world will bring him rest. Only true rest is in Christ.

_From Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 1:5-8:_
"That though all things are still in motion, yet they are still where they were; The sun parts (as it is in the margin), but it is to the same place; the wind turns till it comes to the same place, and so the waters return to the place whence they came. Thus man, after all the pains he takes to find satisfaction and happiness in the creature, is but where he was, still as far to seek as ever. Man’s mind is as restless in its pursuits as the sun, and wind, and rivers, but never satisfied, never contented; the more it has of the world the more it would have; and it would be no sooner filled with the streams of outward prosperity, the brooks of honey and butter (Job 20:17), than the sea is with all the rivers that run into it; it is still as it was, a troubled sea that cannot rest."

Hope this is helpful in some way. Seems that it would be easy to put these concepts into simple lessons for children. Blessings.


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## Marrow Man (Mar 13, 2011)

I think Watson uses enough illustrations that you can use them to draw from the natural world (perhaps with some minor tweaking). Just this morning, I used this illustration to explain the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit:



> What is the mission of the Spirit, but to make the heart holy? When the air is unwholesome by reason of fog and mist, the wind is a fan to winnow and purify the air. So the blowing of God’s Spirit upon the heart is to purify it, and make it holy.



The book _Expository Preaching with Word Pictures_ makes use of Watson's sermons in order to instruct pastors how to do the same. Might be what you're looking for. Here's a link.


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## Pilgrim (Mar 13, 2011)

Spurgeon also used a lot of these kinds of illustrations. I think one or more of his books is devoted to illustrations or stories from farm/rural life that illustrate spiritual truth. Since so many of us in the West (and elsewhere) today are a few generations removed from rural life, especially farm life, these kinds of illustrations are less prevalent in our teaching. 

There may be illustrations that could be drawn from the area in question that would be foreign to us. And vice versa.


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## Scott1 (Mar 13, 2011)

We want to be careful in doing this. 

But we also don't want to confuse general revelation (through nature), as in Romans 1 and special revelation, Scripture alone, which reveals the person and work of Christ.

It's quite wise, as some have pointed out above, to use Scripture that uses illustrations of nature, rather than the reverse.


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