God Speaks to Man

.... The Bible teaches that "God spoke in times past to our fathers by the prophets in various and sundry ways." (Hebrews 1:1), and in this posting we’ll take a cursory look at some of those ways: .

.... Perhaps the most dramatic example of God speaking to man is in the first three chapters of Ezekiel, when the heavens were opened and the glory of the God of Israel descended upon the captives who were on the banks of the River Chebar – Ezekiel the son of Buzi being among them. God showed Himself to the prophet in an open manifestation of His glory.
.

.... God can also appear in a dream, as He did to Jacob at Bethel. As Jacob slept, Behold, he dreamed, and a ladder ascended into heaven, and at the top of the ladder stood the Lord Himself. He spoke to Jacob, giving him the covenant first established with Abraham, then passed along to Isaac, and now to Jacob himself (Genesis 28:12-16).

.
.... God may appear in a vision, as He appeared to the prophet Micaiah in 1 Kings 22, or to Isaiah, as He appeared to him in Isaiah Chapter 6.
.

.... God might also send His angel to communicate with man– the angel of the Lord was in the burning bush, as we see with Moses in Exodus 3:2.

.
.... An angel can also appear to us in a vision, such as we see in Daniel Chapter 9.

.
.... The angel of the Lord can appear to us in a dream as well. We saw this is the story of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and in the three wise men, in Matthew Chapters 1 and 2.
.

.... Another way God may speak to us is through an audible voice from heaven. We saw this is John Chapter 12, and again when Jesus was baptized, and again on the Mount of transfiguration: a voice that roared like thunder, that shook the place when it spoke, so that some thought it was thunder, and others thought it was an angel speaking.

.
.... Or God may speak to us, as He spoke to the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19, in a still, small voice.

.
.... God may speak to us through visions, as He spoke through a vision to Peter at Joppa.. If you recall the story, as object like a great sheet was let down by its four corners from heaven, and the Lord spoke to Peter from out of that vision.
.

.... God may speak to us through symbolic dreams, such as Daniel’s vision of the son of man in Daniel Chapter 7, "Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." (Joel 2:28)
.

.... God can speak to us through circumstances, which we gather from the Book of Esther. There’s never a direct quotation from God in the Book of Esther. But by the ordering of the circumstances they saw God’s hand to deliver His people.

.
.... God can speak to us through the casting of lots (Proverbs 16:33).

.
.... God can speak to us through something called Urim and Thummim, which is similar (Numbers 27:21).

.
.... Or if God wants to – He’s done it before – He can even stretch forth His finger into our world and write a message to you on the wall. We saw this in Daniel Chapter 5 – "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin."

.

.... God spoke in times past to our father by the prophets in many, many different ways. But in this module we’ll describe what it was like when He spoke to them in giving the prophecy of Jesus. For this, of all areas, will have the greatest New Testament bearing and similarity to how God speaks to us now, in a New Testament sense, through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

To proceed to the next lesson, click here

Daily Bible Reading: Acts 2