On hearing God

"I am thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me,
But I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to Thee."

"I need Thee every hour,
Most gracious Lord,
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford."

These are two of the hymns that I have sung, growing up. Both sing of the Lord's voice, implying that we are hearing His voice. Lately I am hearing many Christians talk of their experiences of hearing the Lord's voice. They say that they are instructed to do this or not to do that, etc. Sometimes it seems to be implied that hearing His voice is a barometer of how close a relationship one maintains with the Lord. In some ways this may be right. In the relatively desolate days of Eli the priest, it is said that "the word of the Lord was rare" (I Samuel 3:1). And Jesus said that His sheep know His voice (John 10:4).

I think what is needed is discernment to recognize when the Lord speaks to me, so that I know how to distinguish what He is telling me from some other impression or deception that I may be persuading myself to believe as the legitimate voice of the Lord. To do that, I would like to consider (1) how the Lord spoke to men in the past, (2) whether He still speaks to men in the same manner or, if not, how He does now, and (3) how to have the discernment to know when He speaks to me.

First, let's examine how the Lord spoke to men in the past. In Hebrews 1:1-2, it says, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." It appears that the ways God spoke to men have changed over time.

In the days of Adam and Even on down to the patriarchs, God spoke to individual men and women directly. He spoke to Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:8-19), Cain (Genesis 4:6-15), Noah (Genesis 6:13-7:5, 9:1-17), Abram/Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3, 13:14-17, 15:1-21, 17:1-22, 18:1-33, 21:12-13, 22:1-18), Abimelech (Genesis 20:3-7), Isaac (Genesis 26:2-4, 24), Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15, 35:1, 9-13, 46:2-4), Laban (Genesis 31:29), and, of course, Moses (Exodus 33:11). Some of these people are our forefathers in faith, but some of them are not exemplars -- such as Cain, Abimelech, or Laban. In speaking to these people, God spoke of both blessings and judgment and rebuke. Sometimes He spoke in dreams or visions; other times, He appeared in person and spoke face to face; and, other times, He was heard in voices only. He always spoke in sentences and clauses rather than single words or phrases and often carried on a conversation. That is, it was unmistakable to the person hearing the Lord, that it was the Lord speaking to him or her, rather than his or her own imagination or some other source.

Later on, God spoke to the nation of Israel through prophets, who thus served as the Lord's spokesmen. There are so many examples of this throughout the Bible. "Thus saith the Lord" is a very often-repeated phrase in the Bible. Not everyone in Israel was a prophet, as can be surmised from Moses' comment (Numbers 11:29); not everyone in Israel was permitted to hear the voice of the Lord. Moses explained that at Mount Horeb, the Israelites were afraid of hearing the Lord directly and asked to be told via an intermediary, a prophet, and thus the Lord promised to provide "a prophet from among their brothers" (Deuteronomy 18:14-22). The prophet was then to speak in the name of the Lord, everything that the Lord put in his mouth and nothing else. God used many prophets and finally raised the Greatest Prophet, Jesus Son of God (Acts 3;18-22). If an ordinary man wanted to hear the Lord, he would have to go to the prophet and hear what the Lord said through the prophet. For example, King Hezekiah sent his officials to Isaiah to hear what the Lord said (Ii Kings 19:1-6).

When Jesus came to the earth in flesh, He made a "dwelling among us" (John 1:14). As God Incarnate, Jesus lived among men and spoke directly with men. He called His disciples His "friends" and told them everything He learned from His Father (John 15:15). With Christ, the mystery that had been hidden for ages in the past was revealed to His saints, us believers (Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:26,27). The mystery, which is Christ in us, was unveiled and revealed to us (Colossians 1:26,27). I believe that the prophetic words that God wanted to speak to us are now complete and there is nothing more to be added to what has already been revealed in the Bible (Revelations 22:18).

If there is no more mystery to be unveiled and if all the revelations have been made known, does God still speak to us? The answer is a resounding YES. Jesus promised another "Counselor", the Spirit of Truth, who lives with us and is in us the believers (John 14:16,17). This Counselor, "when He comes, will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8). The Spirit of Truth will guide us into all truth, will not speak on His own, but speak only what He hears, and will tell us what is yet to come (John 16:13). So in these last days, God still speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, and as Paul did (Ephesians 1:17-19), we should pray to receive the Spirit of truth and revelation -- pray to hear Him speak to us about all truth.

If God now speaks to us by the Spirit of Truth who resides in us, how are we to discern Him from another spirit or even our own auditory hallucination or imagination or fascination? There are those around us, who John Calvin described as "fanatics" and "giddy men, who, with great haughtiness exalting the teaching office of the Spirit, despise" the Word (Institutes of Christian Religion. i.IX.1). They contend as if the Spirit would reveal something to them, that has not already been revealed or is not confirmed in the written Word of God, the Bible. That is not so and that cannot be so. As Calvin points out, even Paul, who had much to boast about visions and revelations and was taken to the third heaven (II Corinthians 12:1-2), admonishes Timothy to devote himself to the "public reading of the Scripture" (I Timothy 4:13), since the Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (II Timothy 3:16,17). "The Holy Spirit is the Author of the Scripture and He cannot vary or differ from Himself. He must ever remain just as He once revealed Himself" in the Bible (Institutes of Christian Religion. i.IX.2). Any man or spirit who teaches something other than what is the revealed truth in the Bible is to be condemned (Galatians 1:8). The Holy Spirit is certainly not going to contradict Himself. Rather the Spirit efficaciously confirms the written Word of God.

In the same way, the inner teachings of the Spirit are confirmed by the written Word of God. Confirmation of what we think is spoken by the Spirit should be by comparison with the Word. The covenant that the Lord makes with us has been put in our minds and written in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33) and the Spirit of Truth lets us discern it. The Spirit and the Word are inseparably together and speak to us in unison.

Yes, even now, God speaks to us. He speaks to us through the Bible and the Holy Spirit reveals to us what He speaks to us in the Word. The Spirit of Truth is the Counselor who gives us understanding and discernment of what is written in the Bible.

I can sing:

"Sing them over again to me,
Wonderful words of Life,
Let me more of their beauty see,
Wonderful words of Life.
Words of Life and beauty,
Teach me faith and duty,
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of Life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of Life."