THE LORD SPOKE (August 16)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Psalm 66-69

Psalm 68:18 - “Why gaze in envy, O rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the Lord himself will dwell forever?”

Does God “dwell” in any one place? There are numerous verses that speak of God dwelling in Jerusalem, specifically on Mt. Zion, and they frequently say He does so forever. Those must be taken quite literally even though we may have some difficulties in understanding them.

But isn’t God omnipresent? Isn’t God everywhere? Indeed, but omnipresence does not mean God is equally present everywhere. Theologians talk about the “immediacy” of His presence. There are many verses that indicate that His Presence is focused in certain specific locations or at certain specific times:

• references to the Voice - in the Garden of Eden, at Jesus’ baptism and at His transfiguration, the book of Revelation
• many descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant or the Tabernacle and Temple - “between the cherubim”, at the front of the children of Israel as they marched, filling the Holy of Holies
• in relation to individuals in Bible times - at the burning bush, on Mt. Sinai, in the cleft in the rock as a still small voice
• references to heaven as the Father’s House - “in” or “from” Heaven, “on” the throne

One word of caution: It’s not perfectly accurate to explain omnipresence by saying, “He is everywhere”. That can lead to pantheism or pan-entheism (God is in everything). It’s better to say that there is no “where” that is outside His presence. If you say, “He is everywhere”, that makes every “where” a boundary of sorts and it’s as if God fills it up. Omnipresence does not mean that God is diffused throughout the universe as if part of Him is here and part of Him is there. He has no boundaries or spatial limitations. Rather, it is more accurate to say “there is no place anywhere that is outside of His presence”. He is bigger than any “where”.

That is exactly what David says in Psalm 139:7-12. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there, if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” If you’re looking for a place to hide, that can be a fearsome thought. But, if you’re delighting in God’s presence in your life, you can take great comfort in the truth that He will never leave you or forsake you.


New Testament: II Peter 1

What if you had heard the very voice of God? Not only heard Him speaking through Scripture but you heard an actual voice. Peter recognized the great privilege and awesome responsibility of being an eyewitness, or, in this case, an ear-witness of Majesty (II Pet. 1:16). That voice was forever sealed in his memory - when he heard those words spoken by God the Father: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (II Pet. 1:17; from Mat. 17:5; Mk. 9:7; and Lk. 9:35).

Very similar words were spoken on another earlier occasion - at Jesus’ baptism (Mat. 3:17). And there was also a third time when that Voice from heaven spoke audibly, confirming the Son’s position. Shortly after His triumphal entry when Jesus prayed and predicted His own death, the Father confirmed His glory (Jn. 12:28-29). It’s likely that Peter was there that day too. “The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.” In any case, Peter was profoundly and permanently moved by what he heard. His concern here is that we would “always be able to remember these things” (II Pet. 1:15), so he took pains to write them down.

Peter knew the human proclivity to “follow cleverly invented stories” (II Pet. 1:16) and the tendency to ignore or misinterpret prophecy (II Pet. 1:19). Besides taking care, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, to write it down for us, he also delivers here one of the most important texts in the entire Bible to explain how inspiration works: “...men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (II Pet. 1:21).

The prophets did the speaking (or the writing) but they were not the source. They were not mere recorders but God so superintended and controlled the process that what was produced was His word. The product, not the people, was inspired. Paul’s word for this was theopneustos, “God-breathed” in II Timothy 3:16. The end result was a perfect record of what God wanted us to know because these men were “carried along by the Holy Spirit”.