This was an article published by my father the Rev John J Murray.
There are ultimately only two voices in the world –
the voice of truth and the voice of the lie. We can trace the origin of
the great divide back to the Garden of Eden. God is the God of truth and communicated Himself through
His Word. The Word created all things, including man in the divine image. Man
lived by the Word that proceeds from God. (Deut 8.4). The voice of God was heard in His command to man (Gen 2.16). The voice of the lie was introduced
by Satan: 'Yeah, hath
God said?' and 'Ye shall not surely die.' (Gen 3.1,4). It was the serpent's word against God's, and our first parents believed the lie of Satan. The divine image was lost
and when the Voice came to them after the Fall they hid themselves, for their
foolish acceptance of the lie was exposed. (Gen 3.8).
And so began the age long battle
between the truth and the lie. God made known his truth throughout the period
of the Old Testament. The Word, who spoke through the prophets (Heb 1.1),
became incarnate. 'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us' (John 1.14). The
incarnate Son of God was tested in His confrontation with Satan, the originator
of the lie: 'he is a liar and the father of it' (John 8.44). This battle took
place not in a garden but in a wilderness. (Matt 4.1-11). The lie was spoken
three times and was countered each time by the written Word and especially by
the truth that 'man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God'.
What was true for Christ in his human nature is true for the life of
everyone who is united to Christ.
1 The voice of God must be heard
in our Christian life
Scripture is the living Word of the living God. We are
reminded by John Calvin that 'the Scriptures obtain full authority among
believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there
the living words of God were heard' (Institutes
I, vii, 1). The Word of God radiates with the glory of God.. Abraham Kuyper shows what happens in the the experience of the Christian: 'The veil is gradually pushed aside. The eye
turns to the divine light that radiates from the Scripture, and now our inner
ego sees the imposing superiority. We see it as one born blind, who being
healed, see the beauty of colours, or as one deaf, whose hearing being
restored, catches the melodies from the world of sounds and with his whole soul
delights in them'. (Quoted in The Mouth of God by Sinclair Ferguson,
Banner, 2014, p 52).
The Christian has the complete and final revelation of God
in the Bible. This is what conveys the knowledge of God to us and also what conforms us to the image of God. (2 Copr
3.18). It is what counters the lie of Satan
in our expereincee. Scripture is 'the Spirit's sword' (Eph 6.17),
a weapon put into the hand of the Christian. We have the sword of the
Spirit which is the Word of God. Sincalir Ferguson writes: 'The Spirit uses the Bible to retake what has been enemy
occupied territory in our lives, and
then to sow the seeds of new fruits in our character. Through it he cuts down
offending characteristics in his people
and and puts to the sword any remaining remnants of opposition to
God's kingdom' (From the Mouth of God, p 153).
2 The voice of God must be heard
in our churches
The New Testament Epistles were
addressed mainly to churches. The infallible message was conveyed to them
through the chosen apostles. The words came directly from God. Further words
were addressed to the Seven Churches of Asia in Revelation, chapters 2-3, with
an application for all time: 'He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches”. Are we hearing that voice in the Church today? There
are factors that appear to mute it.
a) We are losing the Biblical concept of the ministry. The minister
is a man called and anointed by God, with an authoritative message. He is
'God's trumpeter'. His primary responsibility is faithfulness to God's
Word. Many denominations are obsessed with
gender balance while in others churches, we are seeing a
proliferation of ministries - associate
ministers, mission directors, church plant officers, community workers, youth
organiser etc. Where is the New Testament order in all this? A common view today is that you need special
training and techniques to speak to different age groups, especially the young.
Sermons tend to be topical and the connecting point with the audience could
well be a movie, a pop song or a sportsman. The man proclaiming 'Thus saith the
Lord' seems to be disappearing.
b) There is too much time given to trying to defend the inspiration and
authority of the Bible. Do we need to answer every critic that expresses a
view about Scripture? There is too much emphasis on the Word being defended
instead of letting it loose. Spurgeon said that we might as well think of
defending a roaring lion. 'The Bible', he said, 'has passed through the fire of
persecution, literary criticism, philosophical doubt, scientific discovery and
has lost nothing.' John Calvin put it like this: 'Scripture exhibits fully as
clear evidence off its own truth as white and black things do of their colour,
or sweet and bitter things do of their taste'. (Institutes I, vii, 2).
c) We have almost lost sight of the concept of truth carrying with it
confrontation. When the Church is backsliden and worldly and plagued with
error, the man of God is called to expose the falsehood. Satan is bent on
silencing such voices. At this time there is an urgent need 'to root out, and
to pull down and to destroy' (Jer. 1.10).
Where are the ministries today that are grappling with real ills of the
Church?. How can the voice of God be heard when error goes unchallenged and evil is condoned? In regular ministry pastors who do not
preach for conviction of sin are fighting against the Holy Spirit, who has come
to convict the world of sin (John 16.8-9)). We can talk about and pray for
revival, but what about the ongoing disobedience to the Word of God?
3
The voice of God must be heard in our nation
If there is one thing that Satan hates it is the Word of
God, because it is the revelation of the Truth.
In propagating the lie, his strategy is to cast doubt upon the
Scriptures. Through the subtelity of Satan working inside the Church, created to be 'the pillar and ground of the truth', our country has lost its hold of the Bible.
(see I H Murray, 'How Scotland Lost Its Hold of the Bible,' Banner of Truth,
Aug-Sept 2015). In evidence of divine judgment there is the prospect of the withdrawal of
that blessing. which has been despised. A similar thing happened to Israel in the days of Amos: 'Behold the days come, saith the Lord God,
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to
sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the
word of the Lord and shall not find it' (Amos 8.11-12).
In such an event the vacuum does not remain unfilled. The cults press in eagerly to fill it as we
see from the references in verse 14 of
chapter 8 to Samaria, Dan and Beersheba.
The truth of God is our only fence against error. We are warned of what happens when the fence
comes down (Isa 5.5; Psalm 80.12-13) The people who would not hear the Word of
God are left to taste the poor fare of man-made religion. We see the aimless
helplessness of man without the revealed truth of God to hold him steady and
still - 'they shall wander from sea to sea'. Man lives by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God. If this food is withdrawn, there is no other way of satisfaction or
security. 'In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst'
(Amos 8.13) In the famine of the Word of God Amos saw the young as being the
sufferers. They are fainting for spiritual food but it was the earlier
generation that deprived them of the possibility of finding it. What a thought!
What are we doing with the inspired, infallible, and
all-sufficient Word of God?
