God Is The Great Communicator

I wrote this rather long article many years ago when I was thinking about writing a book on this topic. I recently expanded and edited it.

And God Said…Genesis 1:3

God is the first and greatest communicator. From the beginning of creation, he has been revealing himself and speaking to his creation, although sadly, most of his created ones do not really listen to him. This article will explore the many ways in which the creator speaks to the created, how we can understand what he is saying, and how we can respond to him, entering into the joy of his presence as we do so. As God spoke creation into existence by the mighty power of his word, so he can speak into our lives and situations with that same creative, transforming power, causing new life to spring forth.

God reveals himself and communicates to us in a variety of ways, which we will explore later in this article. I’m basing this article on the assumption that God has spoken and left a written record of all that he wanted to communicate to us, and that that written record, known as the Bible, is the truth. If you haven’t already read this collection of writings, I encourage you to do so and see if the power of the written word of God will impose itself on you, as it has to so many over the centuries.

Gradual Revelation

Revelation. The word means something revealed, or made known. God has chosen to reveal himself to his created people in a variety of ways.

Nature

Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth.

From the beginning, people have seen God revealed in the world around them. The first form of the revelation of God then, is his very creation, spoken into existence. The sky filled with galaxies, stars, the sun, the moon, comets, meteors, all proclaiming his glory. The sounds of creation, the singing of birds, the roar of the ocean surf, the crack of thunder, the power of volcanoes, all bear the imprint of the creator of the universe.

Long ago I was a young man who didn’t yet know the fullness of God’s revelation. Walking in a pine forest on a sunny day after a fresh snowfall, I was awed by the beauty revealed to me, The brilliant blue sky, the pristine snow, the shadows cast by the pine trees. God was speaking to me that day, revealing his glory through the beauty of his creation. I was deeply touched, but not enough to change my life or pursue more knowledge of the creator. However on that day, I was convinced that there was a power higher than myself, and it was a good first step in my journey, but it wouldn’t be the last.

Conscience,

Romans 2:15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

Another form of God’s revelation to us is the existence of a sense of right and wrong, called conscience. A common characteristic of early civilizations was their laws, their codes of conduct. The laws of Hammurabi in the ancient middle east, the laws of the Pharaohs in Egypt, the laws of the Medes and Persians: not all laws were just, but there were many standards common to all early societies.

These expressions of conscience in nearly all human communities throughout history was the key piece of evidence that convinced English writer C.S. Lewis, as he wrote in Mere Christianity, that God exists. In our own lives, we encounter conscience continually, as we interact with people in selfish and wrong ways, and our hearts are pricked with a feeling that we have fallen short of what is good.

Scriptures, the Written Word

God chose to reveal special messages to certain people, accompanied by the command to write these messages down. What we know as the Old Testament Scriptures was written over a 1600 year period, and completed around 400 B.C. As Paul writes about the entire scriptures “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4).

This is God’s primary source of revelation for us, containing all of the written instructions we need and most important, revealing Jesus the Messiah to us. Most of the remainder of this book will focus on this special revelation of God, Jesus, as revealed in the old and new testament scriptures.

Jesus, the Living Word

Hebrews 1:1-3 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. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

John 1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And God Said…

Jesus is the reason the scriptures were written, to reveal for all generations that he is God’s final word to us. As John writes, he was called the Logos (Greek for word), is equated with God, and given credit for creating all things. Even in Genesis 1:3, we see Jesus revealed as the Word, the creator, as “God said”. “God said” represents the Word of God, Jesus, acting from the father to create everything. As Jesus said in the Revelation to John, “behold, I make all things new!”

The Word on our Hearts

Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Jeremiah predicted that with the new covenant (Jesus) the word of God revealed would be written in our minds and on our hearts. While Jeremiah didn’t say it, the indwelling Holy Spirit who as Jesus said would “bring to remembrance all I have told you” is part of the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

Christians, Living Letters

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

A last form of the revelation of God is us! It has been said that the only Gospel some people will read is us. Jesus, who lives in us by the indwelling Holy Spirit, wants to show himself to others through our lives. “Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works, and glorify your father in heaven”. What a responsibility and a privilege to reflect the glory of God through our lives.

For Seekers Only

All of this revelation has been given by God for one purpose; he wants his created people to seek him out and find him. Many early civilizations were awed by the created world, experiencing wonder at the beauty, and fear of the power revealed in storms, floods, earthquakes, and famines. Unfortunately, in our fallen and sinful state, we humans often invented and worshipped gods who were thought to throw lightning bolts, send or withhold the rain, bring fertility, or a good harvest.

These gods needed to be appeased, sacrificed to, and worshipped. They also recognized the reality of right and wrong, the need for laws and order, but as Paul so clearly portrays in Romans 1:18 through Romans 2, by their choices they fell from the knowledge of God into bondage to sin and many kinds of evil.

People have continued to invent substitute gods down to our day, calling them different names like auras, crystals, sports, entertainment, self-esteem. There are many good things in God’s creation that if used properly, make our lives better. But we can misuse any of them and make them idols. We also have an enemy, the devil, who counterfeits the things of God through occult practices. We have seen the glory of God in his natural revelation, we have worshiped the creation itself, and have invented other gods on our own terms instead of seeking after the true God.

A Remnant

But there has always been a remnant of seekers, like the unknown Greek who built an altar in Athens “to the unknown God” that Paul referred to in Acts 17:23. And Cornelius, a Roman centurion who grew up with all of the capricious Roman gods but who became “devout and God-fearing”, and heard God speak in a vision (Acts 10:3). He responded to the vision and was rewarded with a visit from the apostle Peter, salvation, and the infilling with the very Spirit of God.

God does not force himself on anyone, nor does he make it too easy. Rather, his modus operandi is to reveal himself partially in ways that can be seen by anyone, and invite all people to search for him. He delights when we become aware of his revelation and begin the journey to seek him out. Jeremiah puts it best in the 29th chapter of his book, verse 13, “you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

The Bible, a Unique Book

2 Timothy 3:16 “all scripture is God-breathed (inspired by God)…”
2 Peter 1:20-21 “no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”.

The Bible is a unique book, or to be more precise, a unique collection of 66 books. These books were written in a variety of styles, by many different authors, over a period of about 1600 years. The writers are bold in some of their assertions about this collection. Paul writes that the scriptures are God’s written communication to the world-everything He wants to tell us. Written by men, and inspired by God in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek.

Old Testament (Covenant or Agreement) – 39 books – Law, Prophets, Writings

These books were written over a period of 1100 years, in Hebrew, by many different authors. Keep in mind that all of these writings are looking ahead to Jesus.
Luke 24:25-27 on the road to Emmaus, He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. John 5:39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.

O.T. Shadows and types: Hebrews 10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves.

From the Jewish perspective, the Old Testament was divided into 3 parts:
Law – Torah, the first five books, Genesis through Deuteronomy.
Prophets – Former: Joshua thru Kings. Latter: Isaiah thru Ezekiel, and Hosea thru Malachi.
Writings – Psalms, Lamentations, Song of Songs, Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles

We often find Jesus and others referring to “the Law and the Prophets”, or sometimes, just “the Law” which refer to all of the Old Testament writings.

Our Bible uses groupings from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the old testament. Note some of the prophetic focus about Jesus throughout these books.
Pentatuech (five scrolls) also called “the Torah” or “the Law”.
Genesis – Deuteronomy, written by Moses. The events described that happened before Moses were part of an oral tradition that was handed down from generations. Ancient people depended on oral tradition for their histories before it became easier to produce written documents that would last.

A Sampling of References to Jesus in the Torah

Genesis (beginnings) 1:1 God (the father) created. 1:2, the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. 1:3, Jesus, “and God said…” John 1:1-3 tells us that in the beginning Jesus is the Word of God, was with God and was God, and “through him, all things were made”.
Genesis 3:15 …he will crush your head, you will strike his heel. God pronounces this first messianic prophecy to the serpent after the fall of Adam and Eve.

Flood: Noah and his family were saved through water, like baptism (1 Peter 3:20,21)
Genesis 22:15 Abraham’s covenant, where God promised that “through your offspring all nations will be blessed”, a reference to Jesus as a seed of Abraham who died and rose again for all nations.
Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah. Refers to the fact that Messiah would be from the tribe of Judah.

Exodus – the first Passover, where the Israelites were saved through the blood of a sacrificed lamb, were delivered from bondage to freedom. The tabernacle was symbolic of the presence of God with his people, just as Jesus would “tabernacle” or physically come to earth and live with us.

Leviticus – about the sacrifices and festivals. The perfect lamb without defect was offered, just as in the first Passover. Lev. 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. A foreshadowing of the blood of Jesus which makes atonement for our sins.

History – Joshua through Esther

The authors are mostly unknown, possibly Samuel for Judges, and Ezra/Nehemiah for their books. These books are full of types and shadows of Jesus, and themes of our redemption.

Joshua is a type of Jesus or Yeshua, with the same basic name which means God saves. Joshua led his people into the promised land, a shadow of Jesus bringing us into the kingdom of God.

Judges describes the 400 years of chaos where “there was no king in Israel, everyone did what he saw fit.”
Ruth is a short story set in the time of the Judges where a Moabite woman marries a descendant of Jacob. Rahab the prostitute from Joshua, and their descendants include David and ultimately Jesus. This episode demonstrates that Jesus came for all!

The Kingdom of Israel

Samuel deals with the establishment of the first kings in Israel, Saul and David. David’s son Solomon would follow him. These first three kings have been described in this way: Saul – no heart, David – heart after God, Solomon – half a heart. David was the ancestor of Jesus and in many ways, a shadow of him.
Kings/Chronicles continue the history of Israel from David and Solomon through the captivity in Babylon. All kings were graded on whether they did evil or followed the Lord. The kingdom was divided between Judah and the rest of the tribes, known as Israel, or the northern kingdom. Israel had no good kings, Judah had several.

Elijah and Elisha were significant prophets during this period. Elijah was a type of John the Baptist. The prophet Malachi mentioned that Elijah would return, and Jesus confirmed that John was the “Elijah that was to come”. Elisha was a type of Christ in many ways. He fed 400 with a very small amount of food, raised the dead, and did other miracles similar to Jesus.

Captivity in Babylon. Babylon in Revelation is a symbol of the world, the antichrist. The captivity is symbolic of our captivity to sin.

Restoration – Ezra/Nehemiah describe the return of the exiles to the promised land.

Wisdom Literature – Job through Song of Songs

These books contain many references to Jesus and his work. Psalms – David wrote about one half of the Psalms. Many are anonymous, some are by Asaph (one of David’s worship leaders) and other authors, many are messianic prophecies and are quoted by the apostles in Acts and some of the epistles.

For example, Psalm 2 – “kiss the Son..” Psalm 16, the resurrection “my body will not decay”. Psalm 22 – a very specific description of the crucifixion, including “casting lots for my clothing”. Jesus quoted the first verse of this Psalm on the cross, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Psalm 119 – all about the Word of God.
Song of Songs – a love story, but symbolic of the bridal relationship between Christ and his people (we are called his Bride in the New Testament).

Prophets

The prophets comprise the rest of the Old Testament. They lived and wrote during the period of the kings, the captivity, and the restoration. There are two groupings of the prophets, called major and minor prophets, defined by the length of the book. Within each grouping, they are more or less chronological.

Major prophets (the longest): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel.
Minor prophets (shorter): Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Prophecies About Jesus

These prophets spoke and wrote throughout the period of the Kings and the captivity. The books are full of references to Jesus, some very specific. The best known one is probably Isaiah 53, describing the suffering servant. Another specific example is in Micah 5:2, predicting that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. The last prophet and book of the Old Testament was Malachi, who predicted the Messiah’s forerunner, John the Baptist.

Interval Between Old and New Testaments

This period lasted about 400 years. Much happened in Israel, or Palestine, during this period. Alexander the Great conquered this area in the late 330s B.C, not long after Malachi’s book was written. The infamous Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple as predicted by Daniel, instigating the Maccabean revolt. Rome conquered Palestine in 63 B.C and would be in control past the 300s A.D. The Roman empire provided peace and security (the Pax Romana), along with good transportation systems, Koine Greek was the most common language, and contributed to the “fullness of time” for the Messiah to appear, as Paul mentioned in Galatians 4:4. Conditions were ideal for the Good News of Jesus to spread.

New Testament

The New Testament is comprised of 27 books. It was written in a very short time period entirely in the first century, 50 – 96 A.D. The writers wrote in Greek with some Aramaic expressions. It is the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies. Jesus said in the sermon on the mount that he “came to fulfill the law”, referring to all of the Old Testament writings.

Gospels

There are four accounts of Jesus’ life, called the gospels, or good news. Matthew and John, two of the twelve chosen disciples, wrote the gospels bearing their names. Luke, a Greek and co-worker of Paul, wrote his gospel after a careful investigation, apparently interviewing many of the witnesses who lived with and saw Jesus. Mark, also known as John Mark, was a close friend and co-worker of Peter and Paul. Many think that his gospel reflects Peter’s story of Jesus’ life.

Acts, written by Luke, is a sequel to his gospel. It is all about the church and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It follows Jesus’ statement early in the book that the disciples would be his witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. The book progresses in that order, starting with Pentecost in Jerusalem, moving to Samaria, and then focuses on Paul’s travels to the Roman world, “the ends of the earth”, ending with Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome.

Paul’s letters, Romans through Titus, were written at various points in his 30+ years of ministry.

General letters (by James, Peter, John, Jude, author of Hebrews).

Revelation (by John the apostle, or as some think, another John). It belongs to the genre of apocalyptic writing, featuring symbolic visions of church history, and the future.

How did the various writings come to be included in the Bible?

Old Testament: the Jewish people compiled them after Malachi was written. Scribes meticulously copied them. Jewish Talmud (teachings) says “after the later prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel.”

New Testament: The church gradually endorsed the current 27 books, and by the end of the 300s, was finalized. The Scriptures the early church used at first were the Old Testament! As Jesus related to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, he was an integral part of all the Old Testament, everything that happened to him was written there. For example, Philip used Isaiah 53 to preach the Good News to the Ethiopian in Acts 8. Both Peter and Paul used Psalm 16 to talk about the resurrection of Jesus (his body would not decay).

The original manuscripts are dated very close to the actual events, and when compared to other ancient writings, make the New Testament the best attested historical documents from the ancient historian’s perspective.

Criteria for Inclusion

When determining the books that were truly inspired by God, several criteria applied: Did the writings have prophetic and inspirational quality?

Were they written by a reputable prophet, apostle, or those associated with them?

Were they collected, accepted, distributed, and read by God’s people?

Did they harmonize with other scriptural teaching?

Why no new books? Witnesses! Matthew 18:16. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ Acts 10:41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen–by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

All of the New Testament books were written by witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, or those closely associated with the witnesses.

Major English Translations

• First complete one, 1380 by John Wycliffe in England.
• King James (KJV), 1611. Poetic, old English, it is not based on the newest, best Greek texts.
• Revised Standard Version (RSV), 1952. A revision of the American Standard Version of 1901, the first widely used English translation that was a more readable version than the KJV. It was also the first translation to make use of the Dead Sea Scrolls of Isaiah, discovered in 1946.
• Amplified (AMP), 1965. Includes alternate meanings of words from the original languages.
• New American Standard (NASB), 1971 very literal, accurate, not extremely readable.
• New International (NIV), 1978. Readable, good accuracy.
• New King James (NKJV), 1982. Retained poetry of King James, modernized much of the archaic language in the KJV, but uses the same older Greek texts.
• New Living Translation (NLT), 1996. Originally intended to be an update of the Living Bible paraphrase, then evolved into a new translation. Can be read and understood by middle school students.
• The Message, 2002. A highly idiomatic paraphrase, easy to read and understand.
• English Standard Bible (ESV), 2001. Considered a literal translation, more readable than the NASB.
• Christian Standard Bible (CSB), 2017. The CSB is a revision and replacement of the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), first published in 2004. It strikes a good balance between literal and readable. As readable as NIV, but more literal in its translation.

Sometimes people ask, which translation is best? The short answer: the one that is best for you is the one you will read!

It is a good practice when studying the Bible to compare the same passages in several translations, very easy to do using electronic bible applications.

Conclusion

The Bible itself is a miracle from God. There are a variety of authors, styles, types of literature, but all inspired by the Holy Spirit. They were written by men out of obedience with common themes over a period of 1600 years.

The books of the Bible are the most reliable, accurate sources of any ancient literature. God caused his Word to be written, preserved, communicated, and distributed throughout the world in all ages.

Just like Jesus, the star of the book, the Bible is fully divine, fully human.