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Transcript 225B — God Speaks to Us Only Through the Bible
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I got the idea that you feel that God doesn't speak to anybody except through the Bible. And I was wondering if you would like to enlarge on that.
HC: Yes. Your observation is that you understand that I am suggesting that God only speaks through the Bible. And I am very convinced that this is so. Until the Bible was completed, it is true that God spoke through visions and dreams and personal confrontations. Angels came to bring messages, and so on. This is because the Bible was not yet completed.
But then finally God finished His book, and He declared in Revelation 22:18 that if anyone adds to the words of this book, "I will add to him the plagues written herein." This meant that now God has given us His Word. It is the complete Word that God wants, and we'd better start studying it now and becoming acquainted with it. It is the Living Word. It is the Sword of the Spirit. And there is no possibility of some other kind of a divine revelation. And so for that reason I would not believe that anyone could receive a message from God through a vision or a voice or whatever.
CALLER: The reason I'm calling is that I can't believe that there aren't situations in which God can speak to a person through a friend, or through a book someone has written, for amplification of something they have learned from the Bible. For instance, a situation in which a person believes in God, and they have an area in their life that they don't want to face. And God is trying to work them into the position where they will face this situation. Okay. But they fight it, and they won't talk to certain friends because they know what's going to be discussed. They won't read certain parts of the Bible because that section speaks to them. They won't read certain books because they speak to them. Don't you think God might possibly speak to them in a voice or in some way, to get them to listen, if they refuse to listen in any other way, to set the problem straight?
HC: What does Luke 16 say? In Luke 16 we read about the rich man and Lazarus. Now the rich man is in Hades. He's in hell, in torment, and he's concerned about his five brothers on earth. And so he said to Abraham, "I beg you. Send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment."
And then Abraham said, "They have Moses and the Prophets [that's another name for the holy scriptures]. Let them hear them." And he said, "No, Father Abraham. If someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." He said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." In other words, God is emphasizing that we go to the Word of God for our truth. And if you're not going to believe the Bible, then forget it. We're not going to find truth. God has given us His Word.
And that's exactly the situation that is developing in the world today. People have the Bibles, but they're not reading their Bibles. Oh yes, they read certain parts of the Bible that relate to their own experience. But insofar as just sitting down and letting the whole Bible be the final authority, that's a very arduous task. And it's an ugly task, too, because the Bible has some very detrimental and ugly things to say to mankind. It's far more exciting to let God come to them through a vision or a voice of some kind. And besides, that proves that they personally are in contact with God. It gives a real sense of power, a real sense of belonging. This is the way it's happening today.
But that isn't God speaking. God speaks through His Word. And if we really want to know His Word, let's take time to study it.