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 (Heb 1:1-2).
Having the written Word of God is a wonderful blessing that too many take for granted. We should all desire the Word of God like a newborn baby desires milk (1 Peter 2:2). The value of the Word of God rests in the fact that it is only through this medium that God communicates His will to us today. Some people claim that God speaks to them directly through dreams, visions, and even by an audible voice. The truth, however, is that God does not communicate to man today in same kind of ways as He once did. Today God speaks to us by His Son, Jesus Christ. The question is how does Jesus speak to us? Let’s see.
In John the seventeenth chapter we read what is truly the Lord’s prayer. The entire chapter, all twenty-six verses, with the exception of the first few words of verse one, contains a prayer from the Son to the Father. Listen to what Jesus says in ver. 8:
“For I have given unto them the words which thou gavst me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.”
Jesus affirms that God gave Him words. This is in accordance with Hebrews 1:2 which tells us that God speaks by the Son. But Jesus tells us more than that. He continues to reveal the fact that He took the words that the Father gave to Him and gave them to His apostles. So, does Jesus speak to us directly today? No, no more than does the Father. Jesus speaks to us by His apostles. This sequence of communications is seen in the words Jesus spoke in Luke 10:16.
“He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.”
Why is it that those who hear the apostles hear Jesus? It is because Jesus gave them the words that they would speak. But remember, those words originated with the Father; thus, those who would despise the apostles and their message despise both the Father and the Son.
This is further demonstrated by the words that Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul was instructing the saints how to use their spiritual gifts in the assembly. In verse 37 Paul writes,
“If any man think himself to be a prophet,or spiritual, let him acknow-ledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”
How did Jesus give His words to the apostles? Did He simply give them to the apostles verbally and expect them to remember all that He told them? No. Such would have been humanly impossible for the apostles to do. Jesus gave the apostles the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not spake of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).
The apostles spoke the words of Christ by divine inspiration. Paul affirms this in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13:
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
Did the apostles only speak the inspired words of God? No, they also wrote them down. Let’s hear Paul on this again.
“If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-word: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ). Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:1-5).
What Paul and the other apostles wrote has been preserved for us today. We find their words in the New Testament scriptures, that is, in the book we call the Bible.
So, then, God has indeed spoken. The question is how does God speak today? How does God communicate His will to man? The answer is through the inspired written Word, the Bible. God speaks to us in no other way. When many come along and claim something as religious truth that cannot be found in the Bible and tries to pass it over as truth by simply saying that God communicated it to him privately, he is either lying or has become greatly disillusioned. Whatever God wants us to know today about His will can be found on the pages of the New Testament.