GLEANINGS FROM THE SCRIPTURESPEOPLE WHO HEAR THE VOICE OF GODBy Keith L. EstesPeople who hear voices are called paranoid. People who hear the voice of God are called Christians. The question arises as to how we hear the voice of God. Does God really speak to people? Let’s examine that question. In the Old Testament we read how God spoke to Moses. “And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, [God] then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.” (Num 7:89) Again, God confirms how he spoke through the prophets of Israel. In Num. 12:6-8 He says, “Hear now my words; If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold…” We might ask, “Why doesn’t God just announce a time when He would speak to all of us and we could hear His voice at one time.” Well, He did precisely that at Mount Sinai at the time the Israelite people received the Big Ten. They begged Moses to not have God speak audibly with them because it was so fearful. Read what the Scripture states: “And God spake all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or any thing that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not…And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel. Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven (Exodus Chapter 20).” So we see that God spoke audibly with Moses and the Israelites, He spoke to the prophets in visions and dreams. And now in these last days He is speaking to all that will listen through His Son Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews Chapter 1, verses 1-3, it states: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds...when he had by himself purged our sins…” Also, when we realize that God spoke through the writers of the Bible, we are given another witness, the written word of God, The Bible. Jesus’ words are often written in red. A man I know made the statement, “Read the red and pray for the power.” When you read it from Jesus own words, you are getting it as the colloquial says, straight from the horse’s mouth. If that seems irreligious, remember that God did speak to the mad prophet Balaam by the mouth of a donkey. To recapitulate, God has spoken audibly to individuals and a people. He has spoken through the prophets through visions and dreams. He speaks to us through His written word, The Bible, and He now speaks to us through His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Reference: The Holy Bible, King James Version. |