Christ Leads The Way

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, thorough whom also He made the worlds.” – Hebrews 1:1-2

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Have you ever heard someone say, “The Lord told me to tell you…sometimes what we want is not what’s best for us” or “…this or that,” or whatever the case may be? Maybe you’ve said it before to someone. I’ve always been a bit leery of those kinds of conversations. I mean, anybody could say that, and they could say anything. How is a person to know? Let’s examine how God really speaks to His people today.

Remember that God spoke directly to Adam and Eve when they were in the Garden of Eden. He told them not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). He spoke to Noah and told him to build an ark (Gen. 6:14). And He spoke to Moses as the leader of the children of Israel (Ex. 20:22). God spoke in time past, and He still speaks today.

He also spoke in various ways. God spoke to Solomon in a dream (1 Kings 3:5). He spoke to Moses at the burning bush (Exo. 3:2). He spoke to Balaam through his donkey (Num. 22:28). And He spoke by the prophets (Hos. 12:10).

“I have also spoken by the prophets, and have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.” – Hosea 12:10 

It’s clear that God has always spoken to his people and in a number of different ways. But, how does God speak to us today?

As mentioned, some people think that God speaks through other people or spiritual leaders today. Someone told me that they had a man from their church services stand up and speak over her, saying that God told him to tell her about her future. She held on to that and made choices around what he said because she believed that God spoke through church leaders in that way. Unfortunately, decades later, what he told her has not come to pass.

Some people say that God speaks to them in their dreams. That’s not very reliable as hallucinations are commonplace among dreams. And there are, yet still, some people who like to play God and talk to people in their sleep. A person could never really know what’s truly going on inside a person’s head when they are asleep – what’s real or imaginary, that is.

And even still, some people believe that God speaks through feelings. Emotions are fickle and are subject to change at a whim. “There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12). We can’t allow our feelings to be the guide for what the Lord wants us to do and how He wants us to live our lives.

The Hebrews writer tells us, explicitly, that in these last days, God has spoken to us by His Son (Heb. 1:1-2). And one way that Jesus the Son speaks to us is through the Apostles – the 12 which He selected from His disciples (Luke 6:13). Jesus taught and trained His apostles (John 17:8; 14:26). There were some things that Jesus had not yet taught the apostles while on earth. The Holy Spirit was to lead and guide them into all truth (John 16:13).

Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles wrote the New Testament. Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 3:5). “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). So, the apostles speak to us through the Bible.

God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of His Son (2 Pet. 1:3). And we know what His Son desires through the words of the Apostles, whom He taught. It’s the Lord’s words that will judge us in the last day (John 12:48).

It’s not dreams, spiritual or church leaders, or our own feelings that will judge us. The words of Jesus will be the judge of us all. That’s how God speaks to us today – through His Son, through the Bible.

And His Son has commanded that we believe in Him and be baptized (Mark 16:16), that we confess Him before men (Matt. 10:32-33), and that we repent of our sins (Luke 13:3). Then we can have the gift of eternal life.

God is speaking to us today. Will you listen?

Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com

-Adapted from Jerry A. Jenkins’ God Speaks Today Lessons