In the past posts, we have seen how God is a God of unity and desires a relationship with us and has used the positions of king, priest, and prophet to help establish that. To do that, God has communicated to mankind in various ways. He did not do it in just one way but adapted to what was needed at the time. This also helps to show us that God is versatile in what he does as he keeps his character consistent. This also helps us to recognize that we cannot predict exactly how God will accomplish something, but we can rest assured in his character.

God can speak to us directly as Father, as his Son, or as the Holy Spirit. He can also speak to us through angels and through his Scripture. There are many examples of each of these forms of communication in Scripture.

God has appeared to many individuals in person. God spoke to Cain after he killed his brother Abel (Gn 4:9), spoke to Noah about the plans for the ark (Gn 6:13-22), to enter the ark (Gn 7:1), to exit the ark (Gn 8:15), and gives his blessing on them after they leave the ark (Gn 9:1-17). God told Abram to leave Ur (Gn 12:1-3) and promised him the land of Canaan (Gn 12:7). God appeared to Abram in a vision to make a covenant with him (Gn 15:1-19) and spoke aloud three times to announce Jesus Christ as his Son (Mt 3:16-18; Mt 17:5; Jn 12:28).

God has spoken as the Angel of the Lord which is likely Christ in his preincarnate form, and these manifestations are called Christophanies. He appeared to Hagar, the servant of Sarai, Abram’s wife (Gn 16:9-11), spoke to Abraham from heaven (Gn 22:11-15), appeared to Moses in a burning bush (Ex 3:2), spoke to Israelites during their journey to Canaan, their Promised Land (Nu 20:16), spoke to, and reprimanded, Balaam who had been hired by the king of Moab to cure the Israelites (Nu 22:22-35), reprimanded the Israelites for them not following him (Jd 2:1-4; 5:23), appeared to Gideon to raise him up as a deliverer for his people (Jd 6:11-12), appeared to the wife of Manoah announcing the birth of Samson (Jd 13:3) and to Manoah himself (Jd 13:13-21), appeared to Elijah to have him speak for him (2Ki 1:3-15), slew 186,000 Assyrians who had come against Jerusalem (2Ki 19:24; 2Ch 32:21; Is 37:36), punished Israel for David disobeying and numbering the Israelites which was against God’s wishes for David (1Ch 21:12-30), appeared to Joseph in a dream to tell him to take Mary as his wife (Mt 1:20-24), appeared to Saul (Paul) on his way to Damascus (Ac 9:3-4), and appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos (Rv 1:9-20).

The Holy Spirit speaks to and through individuals. He spoke through prophets (Ne 9:30) as well as the following: David (2Sa 23:2; Mk 12:36), Gideon (Jd 6:13), Jephthah (Jd 15:1), Samuel (1Sa 14:18), and Saul (1Sa 10:10, 11:6). The Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus Christ (1Co 12:3), communicated with Jesus (Mt 4:1), and will speak to and through us (Mt 10:20; Lk 12:12).

God speaks through angels, often through dreams and visions, but not always. Angels appeared to the following in this way. Angels appeared physically to Lot (Gn 19:1) and to Jacob (Gn 28:12, 32:1). They appeared in a vision to Isaiah (Is 6:1-3). The angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel (Dn 8, 9), and to Mary (Lk 1:19). An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream (Mt 1:20, 2:19). Angels appeared to shepherds at Christ’s birth (Lk 2:9), attended to Christ’s needs (Mt 4:11), and appeared to women at Christ’s tomb (Mt 28:5). An angel appeared to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, to Peter in jail (Ac 5:19, 12:8), to Deacon Philip (Ac 8:26), and to Cornelius, a Gentile Roman officer who sought knowing God (Ac 10:4).

God definitely speaks to us through his Scripture. Here are a few verses saying that:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (2Ti 3:16).

For the word of God is alive and active . . . (Hb 4:12).

Your word is a lamp for my feet, and a light on my path (Ps 119:105).

So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for what I sent it (Is 55:11).

Although we have seen how God adapts over time to help mankind understand him, God cannot change his character (Ml 3:6; Hb 13:8) and his plan cannot be altered (Pr 19:21; Ep 1:11). God can change his methods, but he does not limit them (Jb 9:10; Ps 115:3; Is 46:9-10). His gifts and calling are irrevocable (Ro 11:29). God will speak through us once again similar to how he did with the prophets of old (Jb 33:14-18; Jl 2:28) and we should test what is spoken to be sure it is from God and aligns with Scripture (1Th 5:20-21 1Jn 4:1, 2Pt 1:20-21). How God has spoken and whatever he has done in the past, he can do again.

Of course, the Jewish leaders knew all of this as well, so why were they not ready for the Messiah’s coming? Well discuss this topic next time.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

In our last post, we discussed how our perception of God is likely influenced by us living in a different dimension than where God resides. He also has unity between his three components of unity, and they can be represented by our human understanding of the positions of prophet, priest, and king. Let’s explore this topic further.

A king is someone who has ultimate authority. This is akin to God the Father who has ultimate authority over all. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:6 – One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. There is no one higher than God the Father and all things work according to his plan which no one can thwart.

A priest has spiritual authority. This is akin to God the Son who enacts God’s plan of reconciliation and will become the ultimate judge of mankind because everyone will be judged according to one’s response to Jesus Christ and his work of redemption and reconciliation. John tells us, in John 5:27 – And he [the Father] has given him [the Son] authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

The term “Son of Man” had a more profound meaning to the Jewish leaders than did the term “Son of God.” Jeus is referred to as “Son of God” 46 times in the New Testament and as “Son of Man” 81 times. The term “Son of God” was applied to angels, pious men, and the kings of Israel. Yet, the term “Son of Man” became symbolic of the coming Jewish Messiah. Well known to Jews, and especially to the Jewish leaders, was this term used by the prophet Daniel: In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence (Dn 7:13).

The prophet Ezekiel was called “son of man” because he typified as a type of the coming Messiah, acted as a divine messenger and mediator between God and humanity, offered hope to the exiled nation of Israel, served as a watchman calling Israel to repentance, acted as a shepherd providing guidance, and as a priest interceding for their reconciliation with God.

This term “Son of Man” became known to refer to their coming Messiah who they believed would bring about an everlasting kingdom where righteousness and justice would reign. The term wasn’t only a title for the Messiah but represented him being both human and divine identifying and sympathizing with the human condition yet possessing the power and authority of God (Title Son of Man). This is why the Jewish leaders got to upset when Jesus referred to himself as Son of Man because he was stating he was both human and divine. They could not accept this because Jesus did not fit the mold for which they had envisioned for their Messiah.

A prophet helps to ensure alignment between the king and the priest so they both give a consistent message to the people about God. This is the working of God the Holy Spirit. Jesus stated in John 15:26 – When the Advocate (i.e., Holy Spirit] comes, whom I [i.e., Christ] will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me (i.e, Christ, the Son of God].

These ways in which God works is for the purpose of creating Unity: both within himself and between himself and mankind.

These roles were not always distinct within the Godhead or within human presentation. Sometimes an individual fulfilled, or tried to fulfill, more than one role. Next time, we’ll go further into this topic. Please join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

God is a God of unity. How does he communicate such a characteristic? He does this through the offices of prophet, priest, and king. This is a trinity of a sort where each serve as a check and balance for the other. We’ll explore this more as we go over this topic in the next several posts.

The Bible tells us that God is a God of order (1Co 14:23). What does that mean? For one, it means that God is about unity which means he is about relationships. And this unity and relationship starts with God himself. The Bible clearly states that God is one: “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God the LORD is one” (Dt 6:4). How does this verse align with God being Trinity? Although not directly stated in the Bible, we do see a Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We experience these as three separate individuals, but they are of one will and work in harmony with each other. So, how do we have a Three-in-One God? Is he really one, or is he three? Perhaps it is a matter of our perception and not a matter of who he is.

Our perception of God can be partly explained by thinking about dimensions. In the book Flatland by Edwin Abbot, originally written as a piece of political satire, it has become more famous about an understanding of dimensional perceptions than it has about politics. Abbott speaks of how someone who lives in a two-dimensional world (i.e., with only length and width—no height) would experience a three-dimensional object, like a sphere. From a Flatland—2-dimensional—perspective, the sphere will at first look like a point which grows as a circle in size until the diameter of the sphere is reached and then shrinks in size until it appears again as a point. Therefore, what is observed is a perspective of the sphere but not the sphere as it really exists in its own dimension. Those in Flatland can only observe the character of the sphere but never the sphere itself.

Maybe a more complex 3-D structure can help us better understand our perception of God: perhaps something like a tetrahedron. In a 2-D world, this object will appear as a progression of different diameter circles going from one circle and ending as three circles. And depending on orientation, it may appear different each time it passes through their dimension. So their experience is different each time if the object’s orientation changes. This is similar to how we experience God. He does not change, just as this object is the same each time, but how we experience him can be different each time, just as the Flatlanders experienced the object differently due to the orientation of the object.

So, if God is a God of order, does that mean we can answer the nagging question, “Is God predictable?” Some, who may look at God as the sphere, say we can see what he has done in the past and then know how he will respond going forward. Others, who may see God as the tetrahedron, say that no one can know what God will do in any given situation. I think there is a better way to look at this. We can observe how God has worked in the past which lets us know how he could work in the future but not how he will work in the future. Why do I say this? Because there are two things to consider: God’s character and God’s methods. His character is consistent. This is equivalent to the object itself which never changed. In Malachi, it states, “I the LORD do not change” (Ml 3:6). This same sentiment is expressed in other Scriptural passages as well. Yet, his methods of working are adaptive. This is similar to the object’s orientation changing. This reminds us of the words of the apostle Paul: “Who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has been his counselor?” (Ro 11:34).

We don’t have the time to go into how God’s heavenly council works, but we do know that how God works on the Earth is patterned after how he works in heaven (Hb 9:24). The trinity can be seen in the earthly duties of a king, a priest, and a prophet.

This is what we will look at in my next post. I hope you join me as we discuss this topic further.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens