God Has Spoken

Lesson Five
"God Has Spoken Through His Writings"

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    Above all, you must understand that 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. 2 Peter 1:20-21

One of the greatest works of the Holy Spirit has been the giving of God's truth to people through the prophets. Notice that phrase, "prophecy of Scripture." This simply means God's prophetic message as written in Scripture. The prophets not only spoke from God, they also wrote from God! What they prophesied was not their own "interpretation." It was not their personal opinion or guess about truth. True prophecy never came from human will. It came from God Himself as His Holy Spirit moved them to tell just what He planned.

All Scripture Is Inspired

The Holy Spirit did not have to change the prophets into machines to do this. They still wrote in the language and manner of their time. This passage in 2 Peter is about the Old Testament prophets. They usually used the Hebrew language. (The New Testament used the Greek language.) We can often see in the writing what kind of person the writer was. The Holy Spirit used all of this -- the place and time, the language, and the person himself -- to write exactly what GOD wanted. That is why Paul could be so confident in describing ALL Scripture in this way:

    "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
    (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

If you are looking for "teaching" which you can fully trust as God's truth, go to Scripture! If you have strayed and need "correcting," go to Scripture! There God Himself gives guidance to you, so that you can return to Him. In fact, Scripture is so dependable in every part that all of it is useful. It completely ("thoroughly") prepares us for EVERY good work.

God gave the New Testament in much the same way as He had given the Old Testament. As we shall see later in this lesson, the Holy Spirit worked in the apostles and their fellow-prophets in the early church. Their writings are also called "Scripture" (2 Peter 3:16; 1 Timothy 5:18). The statements of the Bible itself leave no doubt. God has spoken fully and clearly through Scripture! Many great thinkers have written their own books. But not one of their books is like the Bible. For the Bible is LORD'S own book. Given over a period of 1,500 years, this is the Book "breathed" or "inspired" by the one true God Himself!

God's Main Way of Speaking

    "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." (Hebrews 1:1-2)

In a previous lesson we noted from Hebrews 1:1 that God spoke through the prophets. But the writer of Hebrews had an even more important lesson to teach. He wished to show how God has spoken to us today. He did not mean that the old prophets have nothing to say to us. Hebrews itself has many quotes and lessons from Old Testament prophets. So the writer clearly means that God's main way of speaking to us today is "by His Son." His Son is Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:1-6).

God Has Spoken In Two Parts

Hebrews 1:1-2 places God's speaking into two different parts.
Look at each of these:

TIME HAS TWO PARTS:
"In the past" (1:1)
"in these last days" (1:2)

GOD'S PEOPLE ARE IN TWO GROUPS:
"God spoke to our forefathers" (1:1)
"He has spoken to us" (1:2)

GOD HAS USED TWO METHODS:
"through the prophets" (1:1)
"by His Son" (1:2)

In the past God used the prophets as His main method of speaking. He used them "at many times and in various ways." Yet all along God planned to use a better method for the last part of history. "In these last days" He has spoken "by His Son."

The verses which come next in Hebrews show why the Son is far better. He is so much like God that He can represent God in the most clear and exact way (1:3-4). The old prophets give us much of the basic knowledge that we need. What they said is still true. Yet God wants us to know more fully what He is like. God has much to say especially "to us." That is why we should learn from God's Son, Jesus Christ.

The Bible becomes much easier to understand when we realize that God has dealt with TWO major groups in TWO major ways. This is especially important when we try to obey the commands of the Bible. Should we have the priests of the Old Testament or the priests of the New Testament? Should we be circumscized or baptized? Should we keep the Sabbaths? Should we still worship in the ways given by the law of Moses? Hebrews chapter seven helps us find the answer.

There Has Been a Change of The Law

Hebrews 7 teaches us that Jesus has become the priest to which Psalm 110 had pointed. It is well known that Jesus came from the family line of Judah and David. But the law of Moses was very strict about such matters. It said that its priests should come ONLY from the family line of Levi and Aaron. How could Jesus have become our High Priest when He did not belong to the right family? Remember that it was God who planned and foretold that the Christ would come from Judah and David (Genesis 49:10; Psalm 89). It was also GOD who said that this Christ would be "Priest forever" (Psalm 110). Therefore God must have planned some change that would allow One from Judah to become Priest. This conclusion is exactly what we find in Hebrews 7:12.

For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law.

Hebrews 7:18 goes on to say that "the former regulation is set aside."

Other Laws of Moses

God spoke through the great prophet MOSES when He gave the old rule about priests coming only from Levi and Aaron. What about the other laws give through Moses? Are they also "set aside"? The very same words are used in Hebrews chapter 10.

    "He set aside the first to establish the second." (Hebrews 10:9)

This is about Christ's new sacrifice taking the place of the old sacrifices. The two kinds of sacrifice could not continue together. The book of Hebrews uses the word "better" thirteen times to show how Jesus' way is greater than any other way. The new way of Christ is so much better that there is no longer any need for the old way given through Moses. That is why we are clearly told that the laws about circumcision no longer rule us (Acts 15). Anyone trying to put us under those laws again will have serious trouble from God (Galatians 5:1-6).

For the same reason, no one can judge us now about the special days and Sabbaths of Moses' law (Colossians 2:16). Colossians 2:17 and Hebrews 8:5; 10:1 explain that such rules were just a "shadow." Since this "shadow" went ahead, it helped to picture the coming "reality" -- Christ. Even the Ten Commandments were a part of this shadow that had to move aside when Christ came. Romans 7 shows this because it quotes from "the law," using words from the Ten Commandments (Romans 7:7). Yet this same law is "the law" from which we have been "released" or set free.

"So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God....But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (Romans 7:4,6)

We see the same teaching in many other passages (Romans 3-4; 6:15; 10:4; Galatians 2-3; 5:1-4; Hebrews 9:15-17; 12:18-24). Perhaps the one which sums it up best is Galatians 3:25:

    "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law."

The Covenant With Israel

When God has chosen people to belong to Him, He has usually made a special COVENANT with them. A covenant is a binding agreement that ties one person to another. It is sometimes called a "contract." It helps people to know where they stand with each other. They are either "in" the covenant or "out" of it. (For example, a man and a woman enter their marriage covenant at the time of their wedding.) For those in the covenant there is greater assurance. They can be sure of their partnership and its terms. Knowing what each should give and receive, they can go forward in life with far more of a sense of direction and certainty.

One of the most famous covenants God made was with Abraham (Genesis 17). When Abraham's children, the Israelites, had grown large enough to become a nation, God sent Moses to them.  When God brought them out of Egypt He made His special covenant with the whole nation (1 Kings 8:9,21). The Ten Commandments were an important part of this covenant.

"Then the lord said to Moses, 'Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.' Moses...wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant -- the Ten Commandments." (Exodus 34:27-28)

Many people have misunderstood this covenant. They have thought that it was meant for all people. But God Himself spoke of it as a contract between Him and THE ISRAELITES (Exodus 34:27; Leviticus 20:23-26; 26:46; Malachi 4:4). Many have thought that it would continue even after Christ. Yet even the Old Testament pointed ahead to a great change. The old covenant would be replaced by a NEW covenant.

"The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt." (Jeremiah 31:31-32)

Notice that the new covenant would be quite different. It would "NOT" be like the covenant that God had made with them when they came from Egypt. Scripture is very clear on this point. The new covenant would not be the old one continued or repeated. The two covenants would be different in some important ways.

The New Covenant Replaced the Old

Hebrews 8 quotes from this same passage in Jeremiah 31, showing that what if foretold had come true. Christ is now the Mediator of the new and better covenant (Hebrews 8:6). And, according to Hebrews 8:13,

"By calling this covenant "new," He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear."

"Obsolete" means "no longer in full use" or "out of date." We can still learn many important things from the old covenant (as we have already done in this course). It is "obsolete" in that it does not rule over us as it once ruled over the Israelites. God's people are no longer part of that covenant written on stone tablets at Sinai (2 Corinthians 3:6-11; Galatians 4:21-31).

This does not mean that God's people now act in a loose or lawless way. Quite the opposite is true. All who are in the new covenant "know the Lord," and have His "laws" on their hearts (Hebrews 8:10-11). Which "laws"? The full will of God, which He has now give through Jesus! For Jesus is the mediator of this new covenant (Hebrews 8:6). He is the main way that God speaks to us today (Hebrews 1:2). He is the Prophet like Moses. He is the One of whom God said,

"You must listen to everything He tells you. Anyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people." (Acts 3:22-23)

Jesus said that all His teachings and commands should be obeyed (Matthew 7:21-29; 28:18-20).

THE NEW FOUNDATION

Jesus chose special apostles and prophets to serve as a "foundation" with Him. All others who have followed Jesus since that time have been built on that foundation (Ephesians 2:20). The apostles and the prophets of the New Testaments were a foundation because Jesus gave His words to them (John 17:8). Jesus used the Holy Spirit to safely give them ALL His teachings (John 14:26;16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16). When these teachings were written down they were respected as words from the Lord (1 Corinthians 14:37). They were to be followed (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

We call these call these holy writings the New Testament. "Testament" means a will or a covenant. When we call these writings the "NEW Testament" we reflect the fact that the "NEW Covenant" has now come. When we call the writings of the Hebrew prophets the "Old Testament," we reflect the fact that it included the OLD covenant.

The best news of this new covenant is that Christ brought something that Moses' law could never bring. Laws can only show us what sin is, and tell the punishment for sin. But laws and animal sacrifices do not provide forgiveness for us (Hebrews 10:1-18). We needed GRACE, that is, we needed God's kindness and mercy.

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)

In this new agreement God forgives and forgets our sins because of Jesus.

"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Hebrews 8:12; 10:17)

This is the covenant we need! Even we who are non-Jews are welcomed into it and share in its blessings (Ephesians 2:11-3:7). All who truly want to belong to God today must enter into this new covenant with Him.

Since Christ came, we are under the new and better covenant given through Him as our Mediator. In this covenant, we know God and enjoy His full forgiveness.

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