What do the following texts reveal about how God has spoken to humanity after the entrance of sin? (Read Heb. 1:1, 2; Rom. 1:19, 20; Num. 12:6; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; John 14:7–9; John 10:27–30.)
In spite of sin, God found many ways to communicate with fallen human beings. One way God reveals Himself to us is through creation. Nature is a powerful revelation of His wonderful acts. Scientists are amazed by the wonders of our universe and at the complexity of even the “simplest” life. Yet, nature also displays the consequences of the Fall, with the death of every living thing the most powerful example.
Another way in which God has spoken to humanity is through the prophets—individuals whom He has chosen as His spokespersons. For example, God spoke to Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Daniel, revealing His will for His people. At their core, God’s prophetic messages are a reminder that He has not forgotten His children and is still with them. And though some of the prophets wrote what has come to us as Scripture, others never wrote any books of the Bible.
However, many of the prophets’ words were communicated through Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). The Bible is a revelation of God Himself. It is through His words that we learn who He is, see His relentless love, and discover His guidance for how we are to live.
Moreover, it is through the Bible that we understand who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. There we find God’s purpose for our lives.
But the most effective way in which God has spoken to us is through Jesus Christ, who, of course, is revealed to us in the Bible. As God sought Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, so Christ came to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “ ‘He who has seen Me has seen the Father,’ ” Jesus declared (John 14:9, NKJV). Through His life, death, and resurrection, Christ fulfilled the promise given to Adam and Eve in Eden. He came and died in our place so that we may have eternal life through Him.
After Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the Holy Spirit has continued to guide us “ ‘into all the truth’ ” and to speak to us of “ ‘what is yet to come’ ” (John 16:13, NIV).
How much comfort do you get from knowing that Jesus, His love, His character, and His self-sacrifice reveal to us what God the Father is really like?
Supplemental EGW Notes
Only by knowing God here can we prepare to meet Him at His coming. . . . In His lessons and His mighty works Christ is a perfect revelation of God. This Christ declares through the inspired evangelist. “No man hath seen God at any time,” He says; “the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” These words show the importance of studying Christ’s character. Only by knowing Christ can we know God.
As our representative, Christ stands on the highest possible ground. When He came to the world as God’s messenger, He held the salvation of God in His hand. All mankind was delivered to Him, for in Him was the fullness of the Godhead. . . . So fully did Christ reveal the Father that the messengers sent by the Pharisees to take Him were charmed by His presence. . . . As they beheld the soft light of the glory of God that enshrouded His person, as they heard the gracious words that fell from His lips, they loved Him. And when. . . they were asked by the Pharisees, “Why have ye not brought him?” they answered, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:45, 46).
As we behold Christ we shall be changed into His image and made fit to meet Him at His coming. Now is the time to prepare for the coming of our Lord. Readiness to meet Him cannot be attained in a moment’s time. Preparatory to that solemn scene there must be vigilant waiting combined with earnest work. The union of these two makes us complete in Christ. The active and devotional must be combined as were the human and divine in Christ. So God’s children glorify Him. Amid the busy scenes of life their voices will be heard speaking words of encouragement, hope, and faith. The will and the affections will be consecrated to Christ. Thus they prepare to meet their Lord; and when He comes, they will say, with joy: “This is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.”—In Heavenly Places, p. 250.
In every age God’s chosen messengers have been reviled and persecuted; yet through their affliction, the knowledge of God has been spread abroad. Every disciple of Christ is to step into the ranks, and carry forward the same work, knowing that its foes can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. God means that truth shall be brought to the front, and become the subject of examination and discussion, even through the contempt placed upon it. The minds of the people must be agitated; every controversy, every reproach, every effort to restrict liberty of conscience, is God’s means of awakening minds that otherwise might slumber.
How often this result has been seen in the history of God’s messengers! When the noble and eloquent Stephen was stoned to death at the instigation of the Sanhedrin council, there was no loss to the cause of the gospel. The light of heaven that glorified his face, the divine compassion breathed in his dying prayer, were as a sharp arrow of conviction to the bigoted Sanhedrist who stood by, and Saul, the persecuting Pharisee, became a chosen vessel, to bear the name of Christ before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And long afterward Paul the aged wrote from his prison-house at Rome: “Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, . . . not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds. . . . Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached.” Through Paul’s imprisonment the gospel was spread abroad, and souls were won for Christ in the very palace of the Caesars. By the efforts of Satan to destroy it, “the incorruptible seed” of the Word of God, “which liveth and abideth forever,” is sown in the hearts of men; through the reproach and persecution of His children, the name of Christ is magnified, and souls are saved.—Sons and Daughters of God, p. 261.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.