Some Bible skeptics taunt at the idea of belief in God, asking "If God exists, where is He? Why doesn't He show Himself plainly, for all to see?" Such scoffers are just like those who challenged Jesus to "show a sign" if He were truly the Son of God. They said this after He had already given a plethora of signs and miracles.
The truth is that God has already revealed Himself adequately for any honest seeker to find Him. He has revealed Himself through nature. He has revealed Himself through the biblical prophets. He has revealed Himself through the testimony of the apostles. And He has revealed Himself especially through His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2, Romans 1:20, Psalm 19).
In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells the story of a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. Both men die, and Lazarus goes to be with Abraham in Heaven. The rich man who lived a life of selfish pleasure, unmindful of Lazarus and of God, went to Hell.
Afar off across a chasm, the rich man sees Lazarus with Abraham. He calls out and selfishly asks Abraham to send Lazarus over to give him a drop of water. Abraham tells him no. Then the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his brothers, so they wouldn't end up like him in that place of torment.
Abraham tells the rich man that his brothers have the writings of Moses and the Prophets to warn them. But the rich man pleads saying that if Lazarus would return from the dead, then his brothers would believe. Abraham replies in verse 31 "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead".
So Jesus makes it clear that He is not desperate to convince anyone of His truth. He has already done everything He needed to do to reveal Himself to us. Now it's on us to be receptive. "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear", as Jesus often says (Mark 4:9, 4:23, Luke 8:8, 14:35, Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22). And so we do not change the message to attract the masses. People must change their hearts and minds to receive the truth; not the other way around.
Interestingly, Jesus did raise a man named Lazarus from the dead. And afterwards, His enemies wanted to kill them both (John 11:43-53, 12:9-10). So He was right. And even to this day, there are those who continue to reject Jesus despite His clear revelation of Himself in the time and space of human history, recorded in the Scriptures, as well as His revelation of Himself through design in nature.
God is love (1 John 4:8). So why not love the One who is love? The reason that we as human beings even have a concept of love is because we were created by, and in the image of God who is love (Genesis 1:26-27). So to surrender to Him is to surrender to love. If anyone rejects Him, they demonstrate that they have a lack of love, because they do not love God who is love (Matthew 22:37-38). And whoever loves the Father will love the Son as well (1 John 5:1, 1 John 2:22-23, John 3:36).
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