Does God speak directly to us today?

This is not a post on whether we as Christians can hear God's voice and guidance in our personal lives. Of course we can and as witnesses of God and children adopted into His family we can come to Him with confidence that He hears and answers us. This post is regarding whether God speaks to us His word today directly, as He did in Bible times.

Every now and then you come across certain people who claim to be prophets of God. You hear people begin sentences with words such as "Thus says the Lord...". If you hear people say this, do not listen.

Everything in the motions of redemptive history has been completed. From the physical claiming of a nation and land to the incarnation of Christ Jesus who made salvation available to us all. For now, in this age God's revelation to us is complete. Through the Bible we now know the mystery of the gospel, which was revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The ability to speak God's Word has nothing to do with time periods or dispensations, for there exists other writings recorded during OT/NT times, even writings that are directly referred to in the Bible itself, that are not considered to be the Words of God. The ability to speak the Word of God as the Biblical authors did came from a unique indwelling of the Holy Spirit and direct and clear instruction from God the Father and this type of inspiration has not been repeated since the closing of our Scriptures. E.g as in Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 30:2

"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you."

The OT prophets can be grouped together with the NT apostles as both having that unique dwelling of the Holy Spirt within them.

1 Corinthians 14:37

"If any one thinks that he is a prophet, or Spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord."

The OT prophets were empowered to speak the Word of God by the Holy Spirit. After the last OT prophet, Malachi, the 500 or so year long inter-testamentary period was the real dark ages as nobody was empowered to speak the Word of God during this time.

Nobody was so inspired until John the Baptist - truly the last OT prophet (even though he appears in the NT), of whom the Lord said "But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet." (Matthew 11:8). Furthermore the Lord spoke of John, "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than him" (Matthew 11:11).

The NT apostles were also empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak God's Words.

John 16:13-15

"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for he will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of mine and declare it to you."

Nobody today can claim to speak the Words of God. We may think we know what He is saying, or we may be repeating what we know to be the principles of God. This often can happen and the more set apart to God we become the more able we are to discern what God may be saying to us, but only canonized Scripture contains the actual Words of God.

How blessed we are that there is one book contaning the Words of God. Can you imagine the chaos if everybody claimed to have a different Word of God? It would not work. If I was to give information to just 3 people, their interpretation of the information would differ, because we all sub-consiciously see what we want to see. However, in the Bible, we can see a perfectly coherent book which gives us God's Word objectively and free from human opinion or error.

What is Canonized Scripture?

Canonized Scripture is those Scriptures with the authority of God that have been bound together in our Bibles today. People often argue that this is an impossible thing because the Bible was compiled by men at the Council of Trent 1546, but this is not actually true.

The Council of Trent was the response of the Roman Catholic church to the rapid spread of Protestantism at that time. The Council finalized what they believed to be canonized Scripture by including the Apocraphya. They did this not because the books within the Apocraphya claim to have any authority as the words of God - because they don't, but rather because that which is contained in the Apocraphya aids Catholic doctrines such as praying for the dead and praying to Mary.

In fact, a compiled list of Scriptural books can be dated back as early as 170AD, coming from Melito, the Bishop of Sardis.

Canonized Scripture is the Words of God bound in our Bible today. The books within the Bible claim to be direct revelation from God. The evidence that this is true can be seen in the Bible itself and the way all of the books are completely coherent and do not contradict, even though the 66 books were authored over a period of 1,500 years.

The Word of God has nothing to do with time periods. It is not that God spoke back then, but does not speak now. God will speak whenever he wishes. The Word of God is the Word of God because it claims to be. For instance, the inter testamentary period (the time between the writing of Malachi and Matthew) was about 500 years. The Apocraphyal books were authored during this time, however we know that God did not speak his word during this time. Even the Aprocraphya itself accepts this in 1 Macabbes (written about 100 BC):

1 Macabees 4:45-46
"So they tore down the altar and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until there should come a prophet to tell them what to do."

It was understood during this time that there was nobody with the authority to speak God's Word.

But at the end of the day, if you believe in Jesus, who is God, then you must have faith that His Words and His Bible are also the Words of God. For if we do not believe His words to be true how could we possibly trust Him with our lives? Concerning the Bible we must have faith that what is included is exactly what God intended for us. Nothing more and nothing less. Those who argue that the Bible was written by men and compiled by those at the Council of Trent are approaching Spiritual things from the point of man.


1 Corinthians 2:14 
"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; now can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned."

-BACChristian