A God who speaks with man!
At the garden
As we read through the Bible, there is a beautiful thread of
instances where we see God speaking with man. The creation account in Genesis records
God speaking with Adam in the garden every day. God talked to him about his
work, gave a command to follow and even brought all the animals and birds He
had created to Adam so he could name them. It was a friendly relationship, more
like a mentor guiding his student.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in
the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God
commanded the man, saying, “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, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis
2:15-17
But the very next chapter captures the events that lead to
this communication breaking down due to Adam’s sin. God called Adam as usual in
the cool of the afternoon. But this time Adam’s response was different. The
Bible says, “He hid himself”.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his
wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the
trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him,
“Where are you?”
So, he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I
was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:8-10
Adam’s sin produced guilt and a fear of punishment, and this
guilt and fear made him hide from God. We also see a pattern emerge; Adam
sought to justify his actions. He was projecting his failure in obeying God
upon his wife. This highlights how God holds us accountable to our actions
individually and projecting our failures on someone else or giving excuses for
our bad behaviour does not absolve us from the consequences of our
transgression, as we see that God punished Adam and Eve.
In the city
Then we read the instance where God speaks with Noah. Here
we see God reaching out to a righteous man, a man who feared God and was
willing to obey Him, in a generation that was wicked and disobedient to God’s
voice.
Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.
Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:9
And God said to Noah, “The end
of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through
them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Genesis 6:13
Here we see a “Righteousness Certificate” that God
gave Noah! God observes men and their ways through all generations and is
pleased with those who revere Him and walk with Him. While God destroyed an
entire generation for their wickedness, God saved Noah because of his
obedience. Imagine, if Noah has disobeyed or doubted God and did not build the
ark, he would have perished with the rest of the people. That is the reason,
God chose to speak to obedient and righteous people who would heed His voice.
At the burning bush
Years later we see God speaking to another man, Moses. Moses
would have heard, from his mother Jochebed, many stories of the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; a God who called His people Israel and
promised them the land of Canaan. As a kid growing up in the palace of the
Pharoah and his mother being his nurse, he would have heard of how miraculously
God had saved Moses from the Egyptian soldiers who were on a rampage killing
all the Hebrew male children on the Pharoah’s orders; and how God had
marvelously hid Moses right there, in the palace. Surely Jochebed spoke to her
son about the calling that God had on him.
And Moses when he was a young man, took this seriously and
desired to show himself as the protector of the Israelites. With a good
intention, he fought for an Israelite and killed the Egyptian who oppressed
him. However, his attempt at projecting himself as their leader fell to the
ground.
Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown,
that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an
Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So,
he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the
Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second
day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did
the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”
Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over
us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Exodus 2:11-14
But God had different plans for Moses. God guided him
through a wilderness experience, away from the pomp and glory of the Egyptian
palace, to weed out his pride and the customs of Egypt. Moses came to the end
of himself and started looking to God. Then God chose to speak to him at the
burning bush.
Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your
sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
Moreover He said, “I am the God of your
father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses
hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3:5,6
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus
you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover,
God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel:
‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever,
and this is My memorial to all generations.’ Exodus 3:14,15
Through this encounter the God of Abraham, that he heard
from his mother, revealed Himself to be the “GREAT I AM”, the God of holiness,
righteousness, power and might. Moses trembled in the awe-inspiring presence of
a holy God. He grew pale when God turned his hand leprous by His mighty word
and he cried in thankfulness when God restored it healthy again the very next
moment.
At the mountain
Through a great ordeal and with many mighty acts, God led
the people of Israel out of Egypt by the hand of Moses and they reached the
foothill of Sinai, the mountain of God. Here again God speaks to Moses, He
reveals His heart for His people, His love, His zeal and His purpose and high
calling for them. Every encounter with God transforms our understanding, it
reveals a whole new dimension of His love and the grandeur of His thoughts
towards His chosen people.
And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called
to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob,
and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the
Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you
to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed
obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special
treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And
you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus
19:4-6
God had chosen these people, not a great and powerful
nation, but a small nation- oppressed and frail- to call His own, to treasure
them, to sanctify them and to set them as a kingdom of priests to all the
nations of the world. God yearned to speak with His people. Not through Moses,
but directly, as a man speaks with his friend, as He had with Adam in the
Garden.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people
and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their
clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day
the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the
people. Exodus 19:10,11
And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet
with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount
Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended
upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and
the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the
trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke,
and God answered him by voice. Exodus 19: 17-19
The mountain quaked,
fire and smoke descended and God spoke in an audible voice. This God was no
longer the God of their fathers, a God about whom they had heard stories, but
He was “Their Mighty Deliverer” and “Their Holy and Living God”. God had chosen
to reveal himself to His people. He was ready to make a covenant with them, to
speak and etch His laws in their hearts, to make them a people of renown among
the gentiles, to raise His mighty hand to fight on their behalf and to settle
them in a promised land flowing with milk and honey. But, lo and behold, Israel
dreaded His holiness, feared His might, and rejected hearing His voice.
Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the
lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and
when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then
they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not
God speak with us, lest we die.”
Exodus 20:18,19
At the tabernacle
So, with Israel choosing to hear their God via a mediator,
God continued to speak His commandments to Moses. He loved His people, God
wanted to dwell with them, guide them, lead them and commune with them. But
again, His beloved people broke His heart. Even while God was speaking to Moses
of His grand plans, instructing Moses to build a tabernacle where He would
dwell among His people, while He was preparing tablets of stone, written with
the finger of God, the people were contending with Aaron to make them a ‘Golden
Calf’ to worship as their God. Though their feet left Egypt, their heart was
still tied to Egypt and its Gods. They wanted
rituals not consecration, they yearned for revelry not reverence, they sought
to fashion their own gods and worship them than seek to worship the one true
God who sought them and delivered them.
The Lord’s anger burned against His people. God’s heart grew weary and He scrapped all His loving plans to dwell among His people and swore that He would not journey with His people anymore. Moses had to build a tent of meeting outside the camp to meet with God. Oh, how they broke God’s heart and pushed Him outside the camp when He proposed to live among them.
Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from
the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to
pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the
tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. Exodus 33:7
But in the middle of this fiasco, the heart break and the
rejection, we find a young man eagerly seeking God’s presence. Yearning,
thirsting and waiting for God’s presence, to hear His voice and waiting outside
the tent of meeting while Moses was inside speaking with God. He saw Moses’
face radiate the glory when he emerged from the tent, he felt the thickness of
God’s Holy presence, and this young man refused to leave the tent of meeting
long after the meeting was over and Moses had returned to the camp.
So, the Lord spoke to
Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the
camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart
from the tabernacle. Exodus 33:11
God’s eyes saw this young man, Joshua the son of Nun. His
intentions were known to the Lord, his faithfulness approved, his love
cherished. God chose this young man to be the next leader of Israel.
Through Christ
From Canaan to Jerusalem over the centuries, God spoke to
His chosen people through the Prophets, in whom He put His Holy Spirit and
inspired them to guide, encourage, warn and chastise His people. Through the
Prophetic word he also spoke to man of a distant future of the coming of the
promised Messiah, of an eternal reconciliation, a new covenant, and an eternal
hope.
For prophecy never came by the
will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21
But man did not listen and obey the voice of God through his
prophets. They rejected the prophetic voices of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos
and more. Then there was a silence of 400 years. No word, no prophecy, just
pitch-black darkness. Then God sent His word as flesh, in His only begotten son
Jesus as a light in that darkness.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with
God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made
that was made. In Him was life, and the life was
the light of men. John 1:1-4
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Jesus walked on the earth revealing the Father’s heart to
man. He spoke of a God who loves us and yearns to draw us unto Himself. A God
who has given His son Jesus as a sacrifice on the cross to pay for our sins, to
cleanse our iniquity, to reconcile us to the father and to restore the
beautiful relation that man had with God at the Garden. Jesus brought the
Kingdom of God on earth.
God spoke again, but this time in flesh and blood, as a
brother, as a friend. He walked among them, he healed the sick, cast out
demons, set the captives free, he finally gave himself on the cross. His words
on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing”
showed His love.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave
the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
John 1:12
He gave us the right to become children of God, to call God
our Abba Father, to inherit eternal life by believing Jesus. It is a free gift.
How many of us have received it? Are we rejecting Him again? Stubborn,
stiff-necked, wicked, we refuse the truth that challenges us. God is speaking
to us today. If you listen and obey, you will experience great joy. But if you
refuse, we will experience the same end as the many examples we saw above.
Through the Holy Spirit
And today, God is choosing to speak with us through his Holy
Spirit. Are we willing to listen? Are we willing to obey?
How are you responding to the voice of God? Are you like
Adam, enticed by sin? Are you like Moses, awed by his holiness? Are you like
the people at Sinai, fearing his might and rejecting his voice? Are you like
young Joshua, yearning to hear Him? Are you like the Pharisees, intent on
finding fault while ignorant of your eternal loss? Are you like the thief at
the cross willing to repent and receive a promise of paradise? Or, are you
ready to hear the nudge of the Holy Spirit and say “Break me, melt me, mold me
and fill me”. Let’s allow the refiner’s fire to cleanse and consecrate us so
that the Holy God can commune with us. Amen.
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