You Can Hear God’s Voice Daily–But Only In One Place, His Holy Scriptures

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GOD PRIMARILY SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS SCRIPTURES

We can get a very clear overview of how God has communicated over human history. If you believe that God’s Word is true, as Jesus Christ affirmed it to be, then we have a tool to frame every single one of God’s recorded contacts with humanity. We know today that God has given us a record, written down, confirmed by Jesus Christ in person, and still in our hands today. God’s Word the Scriptures are given for us to know what God wants us to know. What God tells us is what He wants to shape our understanding, and frame our analysis of current events as we live through the last days.

To best understand our study of God’s record of His communications with humanity, turn to Hebrews 1:1-2. Here is a summary of God’s inspired Word, called the Scriptures or the Bible.

Think of what this passage says: God is making a very big statement about how He has and will communicate. Here is a simple guide to understanding whether we need to have angelic visits, visions, and voices to really be spiritual, and really know we are hearing from God.

Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus came and lived and spoke as God with us, as Emmanuel, and as God the Son Incarnate. What did Jesus say about the Bible? Jesus Christ authenticated our Bible.

PERIOD-1: EDEN THEN 500 SILENT YEARS

God spoke in person in the Garden of Eden and after to Adam, Eve, Cain & probably Abel (Genesis 3-4).

PERIOD-2: ENOCH THEN 700 SILENT YEARS

Then God walks and talks with Enoch (Genesis 5).

Then God is quiet again for almost 700 years from Enoch’s translation to Heaven to Noah’s 500th year.

PERIOD-3: NOAH THEN 200 SILENT YEARS

Then God talks now and then to Noah (Gen. 6-8).

Then God is quiet again for about 200 years.

PERIOD-4: JOB THEN 200 SILENT YEARS

God speaks to Job (Job 38-42), usually set in the period after the Flood and before or around Abraham.

Then God is quiet again for another 200 years.

PERIOD-5: PATRIARCHS THEN 300+ SILENT YEARS

God speaks to Abraham, then Isaac, and then Jacob in Genesis 12-50.

Then God is quiet again for about 300+ years.

PERIOD-6: MOSES & THE PROPHETS THEN 400+ SILENT YEARS

Then God speaks to Moses, Joshua & Israel through a series of prophets for about 1,000 years, ending with Malachi.

400 YEARS OF SILENCE

PERIOD-7: THE BIRTH OF CHRIST & HIS CHURCH

From the rapid succession of the ten special angelic visits, visions, dreams, and the voice of God at Christ’s birth, through Christ’s ministry, then through all the amazing Divine communication events in Acts, and ending at Patmos: God speaks more powerfully and widely than ever before.

Christ comes, lives, dies, rises, the Church is born, the Spirit is sent, the Gospel goes global, and John is told to “finish up” the written record of God to mankind.

Jesus chose the Apostles to record the New Testament and promised them that the Spirit of God would inspire them to write down the Scriptures (Jn. 14:26; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

As the book of Revelation ends, and the last Apostle speaks, God says: “Don’t touch My message by adding to my Word or subtracting from my Word”.

The Scriptures are finished.

God has spoken, and no more Divinely verified truth is needed to the very end of human history.

Did God do anything else, speak aloud to anyone since, send angelic messengers, dreams, or visions? We may confidently say: the answer is “not any that He wanted us to know about”.

Applying the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture to our lives today.

2,000 YEARS OF GOD SPEAKING THROUGH HIS SCRIPTURES

Everything needful for us to know about God is contained in His Word.

The Scriptures are not an exhaustive record of everything about God; but they are everything God wants to reveal as Truth about Himself for us.

God’s Word is sufficient and complete. It is not missing parts or waiting for completion. As Paul said the Scriptures are what we need so that we are lacking nothing (2Tim. 3:16-17); because God has given all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1); and so God’s Word is perfect as David says (Psalm 19).