Does God Speak Directly To Man Today?
If
you listen regularly to radio or to television evangelists, you are likely to
hear the following: “God spoke to me this morning and gave me this message for
you.” Several years ago Oral Roberts told
his listeners that God had instructed him to build the “City of
Many
of the television evangelists preach different and contradictory
doctrines. Some of their teachings have
to be false. Contradictory doctrines
cannot all be true. Their teachings not
only contradict each other; they also contradict the word of God. If we search the scriptures to determine
whether these things are so, are we not being noble as were the Bereans (Acts
My question to you today is: “Does God Speak Directly to Man Today?” I am not asking whether or not God spoke directly to men in ages past. We know from what the Bible teaches that God directly revealed himself to his prophets, his priests and others in times past. Several examples--both from the Old Testament and from the New--will show conclusively that God spoke directly to certain people in ages past. When God had made Adam and placed him directly in the garden of Eden to dress and keep it, he said to Adam, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:15-17). Since there was no one to serve as an intermediary between God and man, God spoke directly to Adam.
After Adam and Eve had sinned against their Creator, they tried to hide themselves in the garden. “And the Lord God called Adam, and said unto him, Where are you” (Gen. 3:9)? Later, in pronouncing curses on those who had violated his law, God spoke directly to the serpent (Gen. 3:14-15), to the woman (Gen. 3:16), and to Adam (Gen. 3:17-19). If you believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God, you will not question the fact that God spoke directly to human beings at the beginning of the human family.
One
of God’s most remarkable
The great prophets of the Old Testament kept repeating phrases such as, “The Lord said unto me” or “thus says the Lord” or “the word of the Lord came unto me saying.” There are modernistic theologians who discount these sayings by arguing they were mere forms the prophets used to give their words greater authority. But God either spoke through the prophets or they were lying. There is no valid reason for questioning that God spoke directly to Abraham, to Noah, to David and to Isaiah.
One of the crucial aspects of this whole area relates to what Jesus said about the prophets and other Old Testament spokesmen. Jesus often quoted the Old Testament and totally endorsed what those great men of God wrote. During the period of our Lord’s temptation, Jesus repelled the devil by quoting three times from the book of Deuteronomy. Each time the devil would seek to lead Christ into sin, our Lord would simply say, “It is written.” A better translation of the Greek would read: “It stands written.” Jesus was affirming that what Moses had written almost fifteen hundred years before was still binding on God’s people.
The
apostles believed very strongly that God spoke directly to men in ages
past. The apostle Peter used two
examples in his sermon the day of Pentecost--the birthday of the church. Peter quoted these words from the prophet
The question I am asking today is not, “Does God speak to man today? But does he speak directly to man today? Could God speak--does he speak--in some way other than directly, miraculously, supernaturally? I know of no teacher, who claims to be a Christian, who denies that God has in some way revealed himself through the scriptures. There are differences and disagreements regarding how much of the Bible is the word of God, but most religious teachers--whether conservative, evangelical, fundamentalist or liberal--believe God has, in some way, used the scriptures to reveal himself to man.
During his walk among men, Jesus Christ sought to make God’s word applicable to the men and women of every generation. At least, if he did not, we are not able to discern any time limit to what he said. “And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19-20). My friends, were you listening to the all-inclusive language Jesus used: “all nations,” “all things, “ and “to the end of the age?” Through the great commission Jesus Christ still speaks to the men and women of our day.
The
apostles and other New Testament writers believed they were speaking for all
future generations. The apostle Paul
discussed at some length three different aspects of divine revelation. There is a universal need for
revelation. “For what man knows the
things of a man, save the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the things of God no man knows, but
the Spirit of God” (1 Cor.
According
to Paul, God has actually spoken to man.
“But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit...that we might know
the things which are freely given unto us of God” (1 Cor.
Perhaps no passage speaks more directly to the idea that God spoke to us in our generation than these words from the Hebrew letter. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Heb. 1:1-2). Hebrews stresses exactly what I have discussed with you today, and that is, God has spoken in other ages and in other countries through men like Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, but today he speaks through his Son. God the Son actually came to earth and brought God’s message to man. In addition, Christ speaks to us through his chosen messengers: Peter, Paul, James, Jude, John and others. Christ speaks to us today through his inspired world and only through his word.
But has God actually ceased speaking directly to men today? Two very important passages must be carefully examined: 2 Peter 1:3 and Jude 3. Peter’s second letter tells us how very important knowledge of God and of his will really is. “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power has given unto us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue” (2 Pet. 1:2-3). If God has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness, what is left for modern prophets to reveal? What could Mary Baker Eddy or Joseph Smith or Pat Boone or Robert Tilton have to say to this generation which is not already found in God’s book? If what they have to say is not in God’s word, how can we be sure it comes from God?
Jude pled with Christians in his day and in every century “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). Bible scholars of whatever philosophical orientation or whatever denominational affiliation are almost universally agreed that the expression, “the faith,” refers to the system of faith, which we call the gospel, or Christianity. Jude was urging Christians to contend earnestly for the gospel--the faith. He affirmed that “the faith” was once delivered to the saints. The word “once” is from the Greek hapax and means once for all-once never to be repeated. The Hebrew writer used the Greek hapax eight times, but I shall give you two examples. “And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them who look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:27-28).
My friends, the canon of scripture was closed with the book of Revelation. There have been no new revelations since then. We have not had additional revelation because we do not need any. So how does one account for men’s and women’s claim to have received direct revelation from God in our day? Are those who make the claims sincere? I am not in the business of judging sincerity. I do know if they are sincere. And sincerity has absolutely nothing to do with the question we are studying. I do have serious questions when the so-called “revelations” relate primarily to money which a given television or radio ministry so desperately needs.
Are the men and women who claim that God speaks directly to them today trying to deceive others for the benefit of their own ministries? Again, I do not know. I am not attempting to judge the motives of men like Robert Tilton, Kenneth Copeland or Kenneth Hagin. That deceivers have arisen in every generation cannot be disputed, but I do not know if these men are deliberately trying to deceive. Even though I am not judging their motives and have no right to, we must judge what they say. We must compare their teaching to what the scriptures reveal. When Jude declares that the faith has once been delivered to the saints, you can know for sure that modern revelations are not from God--whatever the motivations of the ones who claim to receive them.
Are the men and women who claim to speak directly to and for God today deceived? Have they been mislead by other teachers or preachers into believing God has spoken to them and will continue to speak to them directly--that is, separate and apart from the word? My friends, there is always a grave danger that we have been deceived and can be. That was Paul’s reason for warning against being deceived. But whatever the case, God does not speak directly to man--any man--today.
Let us close our study today with one final question: What does God want us to know that he has not revealed in his word? Pat Boone says God wants to write more chapters in our lives. What does he want to write that he has not already written? Does he want to give us a new gospel or a new way of obeying the old gospel? Has he not told us in his word how to obey his commands so that we may be saved eternally? Has he changed his mind since the canon of scripture was closed with John the apostle on the Isle of Patmos?
Does God want to reveal more about Christian living? What has he failed to tell us in his word about holiness, righteousness, godliness and sanctification? If he did not tell us all men need to know, how have people through the centuries been able to get along without that information? Does he want to reveal new information about the end of the age and the world to come? My friends, we have in the Bible all the information we must have to become Christians and to remain faithful Christians. Is that not what Paul meant when he wrote: “All scripture is inspired of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished (or completely furnished) unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). May I encourage you to believe the truths of God’s holy book, to obey them and teach them to others? “Thy word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against thee...Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psa. 119:11, 105).
Winford Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour
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