God has Spoken
In his farewell address to the nation Israel, Moses said:
32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God[a] speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? (Deuteronomy 4:32-33)
Moses referred, of course, to the giving of the Law, when God spoke to Israel by word of mouth amid the lightnings and thunders of Sinai. In Israel’s case alone “God spake all these words” audibly. Never before had He undertaken to address a nation personally.
This was indeed a great honor for Israel, but God has since spoken to all mankind in an even more striking manner, for in Heb. 1:1,2 we read:
“God… hath in these last days spoken unto us by [in] His Son… who… when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
At Sinai God spoke the words of the Law, but now, in Christ, He speaks of mercy and grace. There He spoke of the righteousness which He demands, but here He tells of the righteousness which He provides in Christ.
Some suppose that the absence of miraculous demonstrations, the want of divine intervention in the affairs of men, etc., indicate indifference on God’s part, but actually this apparent indifference speaks to us of His love and grace.
Remember, the Psalms and all prophecy had predicted God’s judgment upon men for their rejection of Christ, yet today the Son still remains a voluntary Exile from His own world, while neither He nor the Father do anything to avenge His cruel crucifixion. Meanwhile, still lingering in mercy, He sends His ambassadors to offer reconciliation to His enemies by grace through faith. Thus, His silence actually cries: “The door of grace is still open. Be reconciled while you may. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
Two Minutes in the Bible
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