God hath spoken

[complete]

'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;
Who being the brightness of His glory,
.. and the express image of His person,
.... and upholding all things by the word of His power,
...... when He had by Himself purged our sins,
........ sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; ... '
(Heb 1:1-3)

Hello there,

What a wonderful portion of Scripture this is, and how wonderful to know that GOD HAS SPOKEN TO MANKIND.
He has spoken at 'sundry times' and in 'divers manners', or by different methods:-

1) At first God spoke directly to individual men, without any human agency. from Adam onward to Abel and Cain, Enoch, Noah and Abraham, and the other patriarchs, to the call of Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:10).

2) From the call of Moses, which dates from the formation of the nation of Israel ( Exodus 1), God spoke by human agencies; and He spoke to 'the Fathers' of the Hebrew nation. Moses was the first of the line of prophets through whom God spoke, the last being John the Baptist, whom the Lord Jesus called the greatest of them all (Matthew 11:11). (Exodus to Malachi, with Matt. 1:1 -2:12).

3) Then God spoke 'by His Son' (Heb. 1:2). For the Lord Jesus Christ spoke not His own words but the Father's words, who sent Him (Deut. 18:18-19). His ministry began with the words, 'It is written' spoken three times (Matthew 4: 4, 7, 10), and it ended again with three references to the origin and truth of the Word of God (John 17:8, 14, 17). (The four Gospels).

4) From the Lord's ascension into heaven until the final rejection of Peter's repeated call to the nation to repent (Acts 2:38. 3:19-26) to Acts 28:25-28, God spoke 'by them that heard Him' (Christ) (Hebrews 2:3). These only 'confirmed' what the Son had spoken 'at the first', and did not go beyond what the Son Himself had said. No new revelation of truth was made, but the old was enforced; the Holy Ghost bearing them witness by His miracles and gifts (Hebrews 2:4), just as the Son had borne witness to His own testimony by the miracles which had been foretold by the prophets. To these 'times' belong the Acts of the Apostles, the general Epistles, and the Pauline Epistles written during these same 'times', ie., before Acts 18:25-28.

5) From the close of those 'times' God spake once again, directly, Himself, by 'the Spirit of truth,' as foretold and promised by Christ in John 16:12-15. He spake not of (or, 'from') Himself, but only what He was to hear from the Father (for the Father kept all these 'times and seasons' in His own authority) (Acts 1:7). The Spirit spake, as before, by recording His words in the Scriptures (or writings) of truth, by the pen of 'Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ' . Then He recorded the precious doctrines which had been kept secret since the world began, and could not be made known until the facts of Christ's suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension had taken place, on which these doctrines were to be based. These doctrines are found only in the Prison Epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians); and to these 'times' belong also Timothy, Titus, Philemon (written to individuals).

6) Finally, there is another human agency, through whom God spake, the person of John the Evangelist, His servant, who bare record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw (Revelation 1:1-2). To these 'times' belong the book of Revelation.

* Since then God has remained silent

* There is to be a 7th 'time', God will once again speak directly, independent of human agency, He is to speak from heaven (Psalm 50:1+).

Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris


Reference and some quotation from 'The Foundation of Dispensational Truth' by Dr E.W. Bullinger.

 

[B-A-C]

* Since then God has remained silent

Well of course the entire New testament was written after this time. After John the Baptist was beheaded, and after Jesus ascended back to heaven.

 

[Bethel]

'God,
...... when He had by Himself purged our sins,
.

See that?

That's the main thing.
And notice who did it.

 

[complete]

@B-A-C
@Bethel
@Andyindauk

Hello there,

Thank you for taking the time to read, acknowledge and comment as you have.
I love the order in which God operates, there is no confusion, all is clear and purposeful, isn't it? It is mankind who complicates matters.

 

[complete]

Hello again,

Since the end of those 'times' God has never spoken to man, either directly, Himself, or indirectly, by human agency. Man, now, has God's Word, written and complete. Nothing is to be taken from it or added to it. Every man stands on equality before it; and, any one, professing to have received any revelation purporting to come from God, is to be held 'anathema' (Galatians 1:6-9) or 'accursed'. Strong words, yes? For an important reason:-

'I marvel that ye are so soon removed
from Him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel: Which is not another;
but there be some that trouble you,
and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed.'
(Gal 1:6-8)

Thank you

 

[complete]

God spake by the Prophets, not the Priests. Why?
For the prophets are 'called' not made. Called by God, not made by man; or not, 'made with hands.'

* The prophet was God's spokesman; and no one can be a spokesman for another unless he is 'called' and 'appointed', qualified by the sender, and is instructed as to what he is to speak and say, for Him by Whom he is called and sent.

* It was no part of the priest's service to be God's spokesman. His duties were strictly defined. His work was not merely to offer sacrifices, but to teach the people what God had already spoken by the prophet. As we read of the duties of the priests, in Deut. 17:9-11:- 'according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do.' They were to, 'teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses' (Leviticus 10:11). Moses was the Prophet by whom God first spoke to 'the fathers' - to His people 'Israel', and it was the duty of the priests to teach what they had heard from Moses.

* Ezra is an example of a true priest, and it was said of him:-

'This Ezra ... ... was a ready scribe in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given' (Ezra 7:6).

'And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation
both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding ... ...
and he read therein ... ... from the morning until mid-day ... ...
and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law ,,, ,,,
and. EZRA OPENED THE BOOK ... ... in the sight of all the people ... ...
So they read in the book, in the law of God distinctly
and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.'
(Nehemiah 8:2,3,5,8)

* If all priests had done as Ezra did, apostasy would have been unknown. Israel and Judah would have known no Dispersion.

* Present day apostacy can be traced to the same source, for if all who profess to be ministers of God taught what was written within the pages of the Word of God, and preached the pure gospel of the grace of God, unsullied by human addition or subtraction then the assemblies would be full.

Thank you