God
Keeps His People Informed
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry
[many] times and in divers manners [various ways]
spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets. KJV
God wanted to
keep His people informed about Himself and what was going to happen,
so He spoke to His people through the prophets and through various
other ways throughout the different administrations.
Hebrews 1:1
In the past God spoke to our forefathers
through the prophets at many times and in various ways. NIV
Here are six
different ways in which God kept and still keeps His people
informed. These may not be all the ways because there is always His
option of phenomenon. The bottom line is that if He wants you to
know something, He will get the information to you. However, it is
up to you to act on the information.
1. The stars.
2.
By direct revelation.
3.
In dreams or by visions.
4.
Via messengers: angels, prophets, or
ambassadors.
5. Through the
manifestation of interpretation of tongues and prophesy.
6. His Written
Word
His information
consists of two parts, knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is the basic
information pertaining to what you need to know. Wisdom is how to
apply the knowledge.
God’s
Word was
Written in the Stars
God had His Word
written in the stars so all could see and understand His ways.
Psalm 147:4 He
telleth the number of the stars; he
calleth them all by their names.
Why? He had them
set in a certain way to reveal His plan of redemption. The names of
the stars and their groupings reveal certain aspects to
God’s plan of redemption.
This information
was orally passed down throughout history until it was written down.
God told Adam, who in turn told the patriarchs who passed down it
down until God had a prophet record it. The written Word of God
declares God’s glory and redemption plan. So do the heavens.
Psalm 19:1-6
This Psalm not
only shows awe for the Creator, but it graphically tells of God’s
revelation placed in the heavens: the stars prophesy, they show
knowledge, they tell of God’s glory, and they set forth His
purposes.
Genesis 1:14 And
God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years:
The Hebrew word
for “seasons” means “appointed times,” periods or cycles of time,
not just spring, summer, fall, and winter.
The word “signs”
means “to mark.” It is used of marking someone significant to come.
It anticipates the coming of the one prophesied about in
Genesis 3:15, the seed of the woman.
Genesis
Jeremiah 10:2
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way
of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the
heathen [nations] are dismayed at them.
After the fall
of man, God immediately informs mankind of his plan of redemption.
Since the stars declare God’s plan of redemption, they herald the
coming of the woman’s seed, the redeemer. By way of the stars, God’s
blueprint for mankind was known long before it was put into writing.
God’s Word
Orally Passed Down
Genesis 2:16-19
God specifically told Adam what He could do and what he could not
do, and the consequences of his actions.
God and Adam had
a relationship, a fellowship. They had communion one with another
via the spirit that God had created in Adam. God was teaching Adam
vocabulary, which he would need in order to communicate with Eve.
Once Adam
sinned, he lost his direct connection with God, spirit. Mankind now,
had to communicate with God without this connection, utilizing only
their senses to find out what God’s will was. Occasionally God did
put spirit upon certain individuals at different times throughout
the Old Testament for a specific purpose.
Genesis 4:3 And
in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit
of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he
also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof…
The wording of
Genesis 4:3 “in process of time” in Hebrew is literally “at end of
days.” This informs us that the time, and place, as well as the
offering were appointed by God. God
informed Cain and Abel, by their senses, what sacrifice to bring to
a pre-appointed place and time.
Adam had lost
spirit, his way to communicate directly with God. God had no other
choice but to communicate His will to Adam and Eve, and then Cain
and Abel via the senses. He had informed Cain and Abel to bring a
blood sacrifice as an example, a type, of the coming redeemer that
they could know about from the stars.
God continued to
make known His will to Adam’s descendents that a redeemer was coming
who would shed his blood on behalf of mankind.
Since human
nature was running rampant on earth, matters there grew quite
gruesome.
Genesis 6:6-8
Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Genesis
Genesis 6:13,14
God was keeping the only one on the whole planet who still cared for
Him informed as to what was going to take place. He was commissioned
by God to build an ark, a floating building. It’s inhabitants were
to be, not the best minds or most skilled craftsman, but rather
Noah’s family, and at least two of every species of animals on the
earth.
Genesis 8:15 God
speaks via His spirit to Adam’s spirit.
Genesis 8:16-22
Noah remembers God’s grace first when he sets foot on land and
immediately recognizes the goodness and mercy of God.
Great
deliverance follows a great problem. For great deliverance, there
has to have been a great problem.
God continued to
work in order to bring forth his plan of salvation. After saving the
Christ line from Nimrod at the tower of Babel by confounding the
languages, God singles out one man and identifies him as the father
of the Christ line and gives Him specific instructions.
Genesis 12:1-5
As Abram follows
God’s input, God takes care of Him by prospering him and keeping him
out of trouble.
Over time God
continues to reassure Abraham that He was with him, and that His
covenant would be not only with him but with his seed also. When
much is written about a person in the Bible, you see many times that
God spoke with them and how God protected them to get His will
accomplished.
Genesis 17:1-10
God is informing Abraham what the future holds for his seed.
Abraham has a
son Isaac who receives the promises of the covenant. God then
protects him and his family throughout their lives. For example, God
helps Isaac by informing him where to go during a famine.
[recession]
Genesis 26:1-6,
12-14 The prosperity of Isaac.
Isaac’s son
Jacob, or Israel, receives the promise of the Christ line. He leaves
the promised land for a time, but God is still talking with him,
taking care of him.
Genesis 28:10-22
God sent information to Jacob via a dream. The end result of
receiving revelation, information from God, word of knowledge, word
of wisdom, is knowing. Knowing that the information comes from God.
It doesn’t really matter how you get it, but that you know the
source and then act on it.
Jacob, while on
his journey, gets two wives, twelve sons, and becomes very wealthy.
On his return trip to the promised land God sends information via
another route, angels.
Genesis 32:1,2,
24,27,28 The person that he wrestled with was an angel.
Hosea 12:3 He
took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had
power with God:
4 Yea, he had
power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication
unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he
spake with us.
Jacob wrestled
with an angel that had a message for him from God concerning the
changing of his name to Israel, and about his subsequent life
changes. Look at verse nine:
9 And I that am
the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell
in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
10 I have also
spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used
similitudes, by the ministry of the
prophets. KJV
10 I spoke to
the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them.
NIV
God tells us how
He communicates with mankind through His prophets by visions
including dreams, and similitudes.
12 And Jacob
fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and
for a wife he kept sheep.
13 And by a
prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was
he preserved.
Moses was that
prophet. However, before we see how God utilizes prophets to get his
message across, let’s consider “similitudes”
[1819].
Similitudes
The Hebrew word
for “similitudes” is also translated
thoughts, likes, likens.
Wilson defines
it as likeness, representation, picture, image.
II Chronicles
4:3 And under it was the similitude [1820] of oxen…
Psalm 89:6 For
who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons
of the mighty can be likened [1819] unto the LORD?
Isaiah 1:9
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we
should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like [1819] unto
Gomorrah.
Isaiah 14:14 I
will be like [1819] the most high.
24 The LORD of
hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought [1819], so shall
it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
Daniel 10:16
And, behold, one like the similitude [1823 the form] of the sons of
men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and
spake, and said unto him that stood
before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me,
and I have retained no strength.
Context: Daniel
10:1-21
It’s nice to
receive revelation today that doesn’t just “knock you off your
feet.”
Joseph
This leads us to
another way God gets His message out, prophets. Before we go to
Moses let’s examine part of the record of Joseph.
One of Jacob’s
dearest sons Joseph is sold into captivity by his
enviest brothers. Even there, in
captivity, God prospers him, and prepares a place for his people to
be safe from the seven years of grievous famine that is to come.
Genesis 45:3-11
God gives
information about the future to save his people and their flocks and
their possessions. He supplies them with the best of the land in
another country where they can live and worship as they chose
without the inhabitants of the land interfering.
Genesis 49:1,2
Before Jacob’s death God wants more information revealed to His
people about their future.
Prophets
God’s people go
into captivity in Egypt, but God delivers them once they have grown
into a great nation.
Exodus 3:1-10
God selects a man, puts His Spirit upon him, and commissions him to
carry out His will. The plan seems easy enough, but once humanness
gets in the way, God’s plan takes longer than Moses expected.
Exodus 5:1-3
Moses explains to Pharaoh what God wants on earth. He doesn’t share
the same vision.
Exodus 6:1-13 If
God wants you to do something, it doesn’t matter what people think.
Most of the time they will try to talk you out of doing the will of
the Lord. Obey God rather than man.
After the
plagues, that God instructed Moses about, God informs Moses and
Aaron about the Passover, a type of the coming redeemer.
Exodus
12:3,5,7,12-14 God is saving His people from the angel of death that
God allows to visit.
After the
children of Israel leave Egypt, they are pursued by Pharaoh with the
Egyptian army, only the greatest fighting force of its day and time.
God is bigger than all the armaments of man.
Exodus 14:13-18
God announces what He is going to do. In the next verse He goes to
work
Exodus
14:19-22,27,28,30,31 God working with His man to save His people and
to accomplish His promise to Abraham.
The one true God
requested to be their God. He informs His people that He would
protect them, take care of them, and meet their every need.
Food during
famine; protection from warring nations; the best of lands freely
given to His people to enjoy. Why? So God’s people could have a
physical location with their minds freed from daily worries, to
worship and obey and love Him.
God’s Word is
Written Down
The whole Mt.
Sinai excursion was one big God information time. God adds a new
twist there. God tells Moses to record His words in a book to be
read and understood and complied with.
In Exodus 20 God
tells to the people aloud, then after the people react to God’s
methods, He writes them down for Moses.
Exodus 20:18-22
The children of Israel cannot handle the voice of God, so they
enlist Moses as their representative to speak to God on their
behalf.
Exodus 31:18 And
he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him
upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written
with the finger of God.
The rest of the
time God has His prophets record His Word.
Exodus 17:14 And
the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and
rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
Exodus 24:3 And
Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all
the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said,
All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
4 And Moses
wrote all the words of the LORD…
7 And he took
the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people:
and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be
obedient.
Joshua was to
read the book and then add to it.
Joshua 1:8 This
book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou
shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do according
to all that is written therein: for then thou
shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou
shalt have good success.
Joshua 24:26 And
Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God…
God has His
prophets to add to the book throughout the years.
I Samuel
10:25 Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and
wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent
all the people away, every man to his house.
Romans 15:4 For
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope.
God had the Old
testament recorded for our learning; both what to do and what not to
do.
I
Corinthians 10:6-11
God had
the disobedience of Israel recorded so we living today could learn
from their mistakes.
God Instructs
and Warns His People
God gives them
the best rules, the most honest laws, in which to govern themselves
by. He puts Spirit upon the judges so they could live and prosper in
a society where few have the spirit from God.
There is no need
for a king, for if they would do their best to love Him, He would
rule over them making sure they received the information they needed
to stay safe and free in that day and time.
All they had to
do was love this God, obey His commandments, have no other gods
before Him.
Deuteronomy
8:1-20, 9:1-7 Why God drove out the inhabitants of the land before
Israel.
God fed them for
40 years in the desert with manna and quails. He had water come out
of rocks for them. Their clothes didn’t wear out or go out of
fashion. He met their every need.
Examples of
God’s Goodness
God has left
many examples of deliverance for us to learn from, some good some
not so good.
Joshua
6:1-5,15,16,20,21,27 the walls of Jericho falling down.
Judges
4:1-10,15,16,21-24 Deborah and Barak and
his believing.
I Samuel
3:10-14,19 How God had to teach a young man how to receive
information from Him.
I Samuel
10:17-19, 24-27 No, not a king!
I Kings 3:3-15
God appeared to Solomon and asked him what He could do for Him.
I Kings 17:1-16
Elijah having his needs met because he was doing the will of God.
I Kings 21:17-29
God sends His spokesmen, His prophets to bring
messages from Him. The message is sometimes not received
well.
II Kings 1:1-17
The king who should have set the example for his kingdom, chose to
go to the world for information and deliverance rather than the
prophet, God’s spokesman.
Many times God
does something because He knows human nature. He knows man’s lust
for relics, for having a form of godliness. Elijah and Moses did not
get burial sites that could be found by others.
II Kings 2:1-22
Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind so his last resting place on
earth wouldn’t be turned into a shrine.
II Kings 20:1-11
God tells the prophet Isaiah what is going to happen to King
Hezekiah. “Put your affairs in order, you are going to die.” Then
God sends His prophet back with the new message, 15 more years of
life with proof that the king needed to know that what Isaiah was
saying was from God.
Signs
Judges 6:11-21,
36-40 Gideon needed a sign to help him to believe that it was really
God who wanted him to lead His people.
Judges 7:9-15
God throws a dream in to aid Gideon with his mission.
Judges 7:19-22
This is a rather unusual way to win a war.
Daniel 5:5,6
Again God communicates with man by way of the senses, with a hand
writing on the wall.
Daniel 5:15-17,
26-30 Daniel gives God the credit for his information.
The Savior’s
Time
Matthew
2:1-3,11,14,16 Joseph receives his information in a dream. Then acts
immediately.
John 1:25-34
John the Baptist was sent by God to identify and announce the coming
Saviour, to make ready the path of the
lord.
Jesus Christ
promised a comforter when he left. He instructs the apostles about
what is going to happen once he ascends into the
heavenlies.
John
14:12-18,25,26 The comforter is coming.
Acts: The
Transition Time
God’s messengers
were alive and at work during this transition time. God utilizes all
of His methods to communicate with His people.
Acts 8:26 And
the angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that
goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza,
which is desert.
27 And he arose
and went…
Acts 9:10 And
there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named
Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision,
Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here,
Lord.
Peter is
instructed by God to go where no law keeping Jew has ever gone
before, to the Gentiles.
Acts 10:20 Arise
therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing:
for I have sent them.
God gives Paul
encouragement and direction by revelation in a vision.
Acts 18:9 Then
spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a
vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
10 For I am with
thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much
people in this
city.
Acts 21:10-14
The prophet Agabus is sent by God
to warn Paul about his desire to go to Jerusalem. This is a great
illustration of free will. Paul received the information from God
but did not heed it.
Today
The written Word
of God is the best place in which to get information today.
II Peter 1:3
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that
hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises…
God tells us
that He has already made available all things that pertain to life
and godliness and that He has already given us great and precious
promises. They are found in His Word.
Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in
glory by Christ Jesus.
This includes
needed information as well as physical blessings. God’s promises in
His Word are extremely beneficial.
Romans 8:31-39
It is comforting to know that nothing can separate us from God’s
love.
II Corinthians
2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always
causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of his
knowledge by us in every place.
We can triumph
through Christ because He makes known His knowledge to us when we
need it.
II Corinthians
5:18-20 God sends His messages with prophets, angels, ambassadors.
Today His children have been commissioned by Him to bring the
ministry of reconciliation to the world.
I Thessalonians
2:4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the
gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which
trieth our hearts.
13 For this
cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received
the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word
of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe.
We are witnesses
on his behalf, showing the world the power of God.
Acts 1:8 But ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and
ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth.
God Informs His
People About How to Receive Salvation Today
Romans 10:9 That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 6:23 For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I Peter 1:23
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever.
God Talks to Us
Through the Manifestation of the spirit
There are two
specific manifestations of the gift of holy spirit that allows God
to communicate with us to build us up, interpretation of tongues and
prophesy..
I Corinthians
14:2 For he that speaketh in an unknown
tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto
God: for no man understandeth him;
howbeit in the spirit he speaketh
mysteries.
3 But he that
prophesieth
speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and
comfort.
4 He that
speaketh in an unknown tongue
edifieth himself; but he that
prophesieth
edifieth the church.
5
I would that ye all spake with
tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that
prophesieth than he that
speaketh with tongues, except he
interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
This is not the
ministry of a prophet, but rather the manifestation of prophesy
which is equal to speaking in tongues with interpretation. They are
designed by God to build up the Church of God with words of
exhortation and comfort.
God Makes Known
the Great Mystery
Ephesians 3:1-10
Jews and Gentiles fellowheirs with no
differences between them.
Colossians
1:25-27 The Great Mystery completes the Word of God.
It is a great
thing to note that God didn’t tel all
that He knew concerning the Mystery.
I Corinthians
2:6-8
God provided for
His people in this day and time with gift ministries and other helps
needed for the perfecting of the saints and the work of the
ministry.
The End of Our
Time
I Thessalonians
4:13-18
I Corinthians
15:50-58
Matthew
4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.
This is how we
are to live, by every word of God.