One of the most inflammatory questions asked today among Christians of all denominations is this: Does God still speak today? That, I believe, is the wrong question to ask. It should be obvious to anyone who has a relationship with Christ Jesus that He still speaks to His children on a daily basis. The more specific and correct question to ask is: How does God speak today?

There are a few things I would like to lay out from the beginning in this discussion. God is the same throughout the Old and New testaments, His Word is immutable, and that He displays all aspects of His Character perfectly at all times. The way He communicates is up to Him and Him alone, His ways and thoughts are not apprehended by our limitation of understanding due to our fallible minds, and that the Revelation He has given of Himself in His Word is as He intended to display His Great Love, Mercy, and Righteousness. We must allow His Word to be the standard for our learning and allow Him to teach us about Himself through it. Experience must not ever trump the biblical standard in anyway, or we risk errant belief and practice.

One of the biggest issues I see in discussions today is the perhaps unrecognized belief that God’s word is open to individual interpretation, that each person must discover what the Bible says for Him/Herself. This is a grave error. God’s Word is an absolute objective truth, it’s words are not to simply be considered, they are the truth in and of themselves. If we make the error of taking individual scriptures out of context, we run the risk of developing lines of thought and practice that can take us far away from the original intended application.

Lets start here with what Christ says of Himself.. He says in John 14:6, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life..” He is also “The Word” (John 1:1) The truth of Christ is communicated throughout the pages of scripture from Genesis 1:1 to the end of the book of Revelation. We are called to pray without ceasing (1 thess 5:17) to be diligent workman accurately handling the Word of Truth (2 tim 2:15) and to test the spirits (1 john 4:1-6)

We are given the ability to pray directly to the Father because of the atoning work of Christ on the cross for us, we are given the indwelling, sealing, and truth teaching work of the Holy Spirit to teach us the infinite truths in God’s Word as well as unfettered access to resources to study God’s Precious Word from all directions, resources that generations before us could only dream of.

Let’s consider how the book of Hebrews begins.. (1:1-2) “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” Here the author points out very specifically the difference in communication between how God spoke in the Old Testament against how He does so in the New. Let’s recall what Christ taught the disciples on the road to emmaus, (Luke 24:27) “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He expliained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” the Scriptures being referenced here were what the world had access to at the time, the greek translation of Hebrew scriptures commonly referred to as the septuagint. The primary means of communication throughout the Old Testament is a direct Word given to one of his ordained Prophets, in which they were able to truly say “Thus sayeth The Lord.” The distinction that must be made here is this: once the New Testament was completed and God’s Word made complete, the function of a prophet in the Old Testament sense, ceased to exist. Prophecy in the New Testament needs to be viewed for what it is, the declaration of the Gospel that has been illuminated to us by God. The Great Commission of the Church (matthew 28:18-20) teaches that we now have the Truth of the Gospel and our sole purpose is to spread that Gospel to the whole world. Christ came first as Kinsmen Redeemer, He will return as the Avenger of Blood to destroy His enemies, the world needs to know that the King has come and is coming again, we are to go and plead the Gospel to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

Christ is the fulfillment of all prophecy, therefore in knowing him personally and seeking Him through prayer and diligent study of His Word, we are able to commune with Him in the most intimate of ways, learning all truths He would have us know, to bring glory to His Name. To think that we would get to such a place as to grow tired of seeking Him through prayer and His word and have need of “something more/more power/more anything” is to say continued learning of His scripture and time with HIm in prayer isn’t enough… We must come to a place where hiding His Word in our hearts is what keeps us from sin and keeps our minds focused on him (Psalms 119:11)

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:5-6)

The communication God has given us through his Word (Christ Jesus throughout the Old and New Testament) is how God communicates with us today, it is His direct revelation to His Church that is without the constraints of time and is relevant in all situations at all times. Our relationship with Jesus Christ is our direct path of communication with God the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit who teaches all truth, and growing in grace and knowledge of Christ(2 peter 3:17-18) through our conformation to His image (romans 8:29) There is an infinite expanse of intimacy, wisdom, and truth within the pages of God’s word, and there is no end to the growth we can experience in our walk with the Lord if we seek Him with our whole heart (jeremiah 29:13)

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, this is by no means meant to be an exhaustive exploration of this topic, it is the first of many blog posts with the intent of exploring the more indepth topics of scripture in a relaxed, hopefully conversationally stimulating format.

By God’s Grace,

Joshua