God has provided solid evidence—in the form of His handiwork, human testimony and fulfilled prophecy—that He is the living, intelligent Creator of the universe. Eyewitness accounts of human interaction with God have been recorded and preserved for us in the Bible. He even offered ancient Israel a direct relationship with Him, but they refused, pleading for more distance between themselves and God at Mount Sinai.

It was not God's idea to remove Himself. It was mankind's choice. He walked and talked with Adam and Eve and gave them specific instructions (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:2-3). Yet they chose to disobey and attempted to hide themselves (Genesis 3:8-10). God didn't force Adam and Eve to follow His instructions. They freely chose not to, and humanity has felt the repercussions of that fateful decision ever since.

Later God reasoned with their son Cain about his unreasonable anger (Genesis 4:5-7), but he rejected God's advice, murdered his brother and "...went out from the presence of the LORD" (Genesis 4:8-16). Noah was different and when God appeared to him (Genesis 6:13) he followed God's instructions (Genesis 7:5). The same was true of Abraham.

God's willingness to reveal Himself to Moses and the people of ancient Israel is especially important to understand. "So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11). The Israelites didn't even want to hear God's voice (Exodus 20:18-19), and requested He reveal Himself to them through His prophet. From that time God honored that request, and revealed Himself to ancient Israel through His prophets, sending them to warn His people and encourage them to be faithful. But their messages went unheeded and the people cruelly martyred many of those prophets.

Beginning with Adam and Eve, God allowed humanity to choose whether or not to obey Him. He offered ancient Israel a choice: "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses," He told them. "Now choose life, so that you and your children may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

The Israelites had witnessed miracle after miracle in their trek out of Egypt, but quickly forgot this and chose to disregard the way of life and blessings God offered. "They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image . . . They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things . . ." (Psalms 106:19-22).

Nothing has changed today. We are faced with the same two choices: Believe God and obey His laws, or disbelieve and disobey. The natural human way of thinking is fundamentally hostile to-ward God (Romans 8:7, Jeremiah 17:9). This usually takes the form of reasoning around clear evidence for His existence.

Bible prophecy is one proof of God that can be easily verified. Fulfilled prophecy powerfully demonstrates the reality of the Creator of the universe. Only God can accurately foretell the future and bring it to pass. He proclaimed, "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done" (Isaiah 46:9-10).

God promises that the time is coming when the whole world will once again witness the same type of miraculous evidence of His existence He displayed in ancient Egypt, which will occur just before His return to this earth and intervention in world affairs.