Now that we have the
complete revelation of God we do not expect God to speak to us audibly nor do
we accept that He has spoken voice-to-ear to some great religious leader.
Whenever some religious celebrity declares that God appeared to him in his
living room or some such nonsense we often laugh or shake our heads. But, we
have a more sure word of prophecy in the Bible that is more certain even than a
voice we think is from heaven.
2Peter
1:17 For he received from God the Father
honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we
heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 ¶
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn,
and the day star arise in your hearts: 20
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost.
Finally,
the people did not want God to speak to them in verse 19. They wanted Moses to
speak to them. Human nature is to follow a man; whether it be the toughest,
luckiest, altogether pagan Viking or a charismatic pastor in a Fundamentalist
church. They don’t want to hear from God directly. They aren’t willing to let
God speak to them through His words in His book. They want everything spoon-fed
to them. This allows for better control, certainly. The Puritans in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony of our Colonial Era would say that God only speaks to
His people through the sermon on Sundays. They denied Martin Luther’s
insistence that the Holy Spirit would speak to each sincere believer through
God’s own words in His book. Bible studies in people’s homes were typically
outlawed. Thus, Ann Hutchinson’s famous Bible study was condemned and lies were
spread about what she was teaching.
People
are not comfortable with God speaking to them through His word. Just tell me
what to think they would say, what to believe, for it is too terrible and
disturbing to simply believe what God has preserved for me. They wanted Moses
to be their mediator and their instructor and did not want to hear directly
from God. So, it is today with most Christians, whether Protestant
Fundamentalists or Roman Catholic.
Each
of us, though, have this privilege, immense and grand in its proper
application. That not only should we hear a man of God expound and exhort on
what God has laid on his heart for us to hear but to let God speak to us
through His own words in His own book, not just on Sunday but every day and
many times a day if we are drawn to it or have memorized passages to
contemplate and meditate on.
Psalm
119:15 I will meditate in thy precepts,
and have respect unto thy ways.
Joshua
1:8 This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that
thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then
thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
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