The History of God Speaking

And What God Is Saying Today

Les Martin

• Editorial: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Año: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781098090999
• Categoría: Teología y religión
• Categoría: Teología

Surely most evangelicals would affirm the Bible is the Word of God. It is the record of what God has spoken, what He wanted us to know; it is the revelation of Himself and His will. He has declared that what He has given to us is sufficient for us. If all we can know about God can only be found in the pages of Scripture, is that enough? Does He still speak, and if so, how? If He speaks personal revelation to individual believers, what is to be done with such revelation? Is that assumed revelation as authoritative and accurate as the biblical text? Can we know for sure that it came from God? The answers to these questions carry serious consequences. We need to carefully examine what God has recorded in order to accurately understand how God has spoken and how He continues to speak.

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Is God Still Speaking Today?

We have worked our way through the Old and New Testaments noting when and how God spoke throughout recorded biblical history. We have been able to affirm what the author of Hebrews recorded in 1:1–3.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

The phrase, “In these last days,” seems to describe the first century from the time of Jesus’s incarnation through the completion of the NT canon, about AD 100. The question remains, “Is God continuing to speak, and if so, how?”

Based on what has been discovered in the Scripture, it appears to me that God’s revelation is complete, but He continues to speak through the written text. Generally, that is not disputed among evangelicals. What I am arguing, based on the Old and New Testament record, is that God speaks exclusively through the Scriptures. He has revealed all He is going to reveal. There is no new revelation from God being given today. The Bible is not just the recorded history of His revelation. It is the living and active Word of God (Heb. 4:12). When we open to any page in the Bible and read, what we read is God speaking to us. But is this the only way He has chosen to speak?

The question we desire to answer involves additional revelation. If God is speaking to us today apart from and in addition to what is recorded in the Bible, is that to be considered new revelation? If we believe He is speaking in this way, how do we know for certain, and if He is, what do we make of such revelation? Is the quality of this revelation equal to the Bible? Is this revelation inerrant? Is what He is saying to us always true and always to be acted upon? Does this revelation contain the same level of authority as Scripture? Should this revelation be heard by a wider audience than just the individual or individuals who received it? If the revelation proves less than accurate, is it still possible that at least parts of it came from God, requiring us to accept the task to discern the wheat from the chaff, the true from the false? When people say, “God spoke to me,” if that claim of divine revelation is equal in authority and value to the sacred text, what are we to do with it? If it is not equal in authority and value, the same question applies, but we must further ask, if it is not equal in authority and value as the sacred text, how is that coming from God?

The Scripture speaks of being led by the Spirit. When God leads in whatever way, is that also God “speaking” in the sense of imparting revelatory information? When we have a dream, could that be God speaking? How do we know? Can we be sure? Is God continuing to reveal Himself to certain segments of the world through revelatory dreams such as to the Muslim world, in order to convince them of the deity of Jesus? Many missionaries claim such to be the case. Is there any support for this found in the canonical Scriptures? What are we to make of the gift of prophecy that we find in 1 Corinthians 12–14? Are the “prophets” among the “gifted men” still being given to the church as described in Ephesians 4? If so, are these prophets receiving new revelation from God? We hear of people being called into ministry. How does that call come? Does God speak to certain individuals giving personal revelation to be directed to other individuals or groups? In other words, is God telling you to tell me something? And if you tell me, is it possible for me to be sure this message is from God? These and other questions are before us. Up front, I will explain my understanding and then make the effort to support the position with God’s written revelation. In the process, hopefully most, if not all of the questions above, will be addressed with a credible answer.

Let’s begin with my conclusion that was reached on the basis of the survey of the Bible that God has indeed completed His revelatory work with the completion of the Old and New Testaments. The Bible reveals something about eternity past when only God existed and makes known to us God’s creative work in Genesis 1 and 2 and continues that revelation through the end of the age when God will reconcile all things to Himself. Genesis through Revelation covers every time period to be experienced from eternity past into eternity future. Everything that has ever happened or will happen is contained within these perimeters. For us, the Scriptures are declared to be sufficient for life and godliness:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. (2 Pet. 1:3)

God has revealed Himself and His plan for the ages. There is nothing more that we need in order to live and please God than what has been revealed by God and recorded in the Scriptures. In other words, if God reveals nothing more than what we have in the Scriptures, according to the revelation given to the apostle Peter, we will not lack vital information that we need in order to obey and please Him.

God is certainly able to do anything He desires to do that is consistent with His will and purpose. He is therefore able to speak to any or all of us at any time and in whatever way He chooses. The issue is not His ability but His plan and purpose. Does He choose to do so? He did speak in various ways in the OT, and those words were recorded. But even in the OT, He chose mostly to speak to and through the prophets. Most individuals never heard the voice of God. Most never received a personal message directly from God. Most never received a divine revelatory vision. There were extended periods of time when God did not speak at all to anyone apart from what was recorded. When He did speak, His words were directed mostly to a few specific people, the prophets. When we open the pages of the NT, we are introduced to God Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God in flesh spoke to many, to thousands, but most did not know that Jesus was God, and many denied any possibility that He was God, and in the end, most rejected Him as God. After Jesus’s death and resurrection and ascension, God chose to speak to men, not so much to the prophets as in the OT but mostly to and through His chosen and appointed apostles. His words, given through them, were recorded in the pages of the NT for all to read. There is no clear evidence in the Scripture, OT or NT, that random individual believers were being given messages from God. He chose rather to speak through the words that were already recorded in the OT and through the words that were given to the apostles by the Spirit and recorded by them as God’s Word in the NT.

Once the canon of Scripture was recognized and accepted by those who believed, it was recognized as the authoritative Word of God. There were debates as to the interpretation of various passages in the Bible, but the Bible was generally, universally accepted as the Word of God. It was authentic and thus authoritative. As a written document, everyone who had access to the Bible had access to a speaking God. His words were not for a select few. The question surrounding the Bible was not, “Is this the word of God?” Rather, the question was, “What does it mean?” Extra-biblical “revelation” carries a significant amount of uncertainty in regard to its authenticity even by those who believe that what they received was from God. They think it was from God, but they are just not certain.

It is important to affirm that God is not silent even though His revelatory work has been completed. The Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles often quoted what God had already revealed, and that was presented as God speaking. We saw that as we worked our way through the Bible. When we quote from the Bible to support an argument or prove a point, we are making the case that this is what God is saying on the matter, not just what He said but what He continues to say. What God has said is what God says. The Bible is more than a history text. We are not just reading the stories of the past. As we read, God is speaking the stories to us, as it were. The Bible is His word to us even if the context of what we are hearing or reading is not directly for us. To charge those who hold the position that God speaks alone through His Word to mean that God is silent and no longer speaks is a false charge. The view is not that God is silent but that God has spoken by His Son through His Word and that written Word still speaks. What we have in the Word is complete. It is not new; it is timeless.

The issue at hand is revelation. Many would argue that God continues to reveal Himself and His directives to individuals today. These may include visions and/or dreams of what should be said or done by the one receiving them. These may be inner promptings to pray for someone or to go visit someone or to give something to someone, etc. These may include being awakened in the middle of the night with a strong urge to warn someone or help someone. Some people claim to hear voices or see angels or even s...

Índice

• The Wonder of God’s Revelation in Various Ways in the Past
• In the Beginning, God Speaks
• God Speaks to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph
• God Speaks to Moses
• God Speaks throughout the Historical Record of Israel
• God Speaks to the Kings
• God Speaks through the Canonical Prophets
• God Speaks through His Son—the Gospels
• The Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Revelation
• Is God Still Speaking Today?