Blog Template Theology of the Body: God Spoke and Speaks

Monday, November 13, 2006

God Spoke and Speaks

"This concept of the contemporary voice of God is emphasized in Hebrews 3 and 4. The author quotes Psalm 95: 'Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' But he introduces the quotation with the words 'as the Holy Spirit says.' He thus implies that the Holy Spirit is 'today' making the same appeal to his people to listen to him as he made centuries previously when the psalm was written. Indeed, it is possible to detect here four successive stages in which God spoke and speaks. The first was the time of testing in the wilderness when God spoke but Israel hardened her heart. Next came the exhortation of Psalm 95 to the people of that day not to repeat Israel's earlier folly. Thirdly, there was the application of the same truth to the Hebrew Christians of the first century A.D., while, fourthly, the appeal comes to us as we read the Letter to the Hebrews today. It is in this way that God's Word is contemporary: it moves with the times and continues to address each fresh generation."

-John Stott
Between Two Worlds