God Speaks with Mankind-Genesis 17:22; 18:23; Exodus 33:11,

 

Sermon . God Speaks with Mankind

Scripture References: Genesis 17:22; 18:23; Exodus 33:11

Beloved believers, empowered by the Spirit of God — may the Lord, who promised, “I am with you always,” reveal Himself to you through today’s meditation and speak personally with you. Amen!

God is a God who desires to speak with man. However, because of sin, humanity became estranged from God, and direct fellowship was broken. Even so, God, in His mercy, continued to communicate with mankind in various ways:

1. Through Creation: In the beginning, God spoke to man through His creation — the heavens, the earth, and all that is made. The natural world became a silent witness and a voice declaring God's glory and presence.

2. Through the Holy Scriptures: God’s words were recorded in the Bible, becoming a written testimony for all generations. Before the Scriptures were compiled, God primarily spoke through creation and conscience.

3. Through Divine Wisdom: God also speaks through the inner voice of wisdom — guiding, convicting, and enlightening the hearts of those who seek Him.

4. God Speaks Through the Conscience

In this world, God speaks to every human being through their conscience. He says,
"Do you not know what is good and what is evil? I am the One who created you and the world you live in."

Therefore, according to the wisdom within you, discern what is right. When you do good, your heart will be at peace. But when you do evil, your conscience will convict you. This is the voice of God working within.

God also speaks through instruments and technology — such as microphones, radios, and televisions — as the Gospel is proclaimed through these sound waves. If God speaks to many through these instruments, would He not also speak through my instruments — like the trumpet (or loudspeaker)? You are hearing through this trumpet. Have you heard My voice? Yes, you have. Yet man does not take these things seriously.

That is why God said: "I will write down My commandments." He spoke many things, then gave us the Bible.

If you read the Bible, you will find that it contains all four modes of God's communication mentioned earlier (Creation, Scripture, Wisdom, Conscience). Yet even after receiving all of this, man often disregards God. Before the Bible was given, humanity could not fully understand God, and thus suffered great spiritual loss.

Due to carelessness, both man and his conscience suffer loss. Because of sin, man’s conscience no longer speaks clearly. Had there been no sin, one might look at the sun and declare, “What a wonderful light God has given!” But now, in a sinful state, people say, “Why is the sun so harsh?” and complain against God. Sin has corrupted the human heart entirely.

Therefore, God remained silent until He raised up a man — Moses — and trained him. God appeared to Moses again after his exile and said, "Moses, what I speak to you, declare it to seventy others. Let them pass it on to everyone else."

From the beginning of creation to the entry into the Promised Land, God revealed to Moses all the events in detail. Moses wrote them down and passed them on to seventy elders. Those elders passed the writings to future generations. That written record became a vital part of the Old Testament Scriptures, which we have today in the Bible.

God's Many Ways of Speaking to Humanity

So then, when a person’s conscience declares something as wrong, they must turn to the Bible. Because it is written and preserved, scholars have discerned right from wrong through it. They examined everything by the standard of Scripture. Therefore, the truths found in the Bible should only be examined and interpreted by those who are well-versed in it.

But if someone refuses to accept what is written in the Bible — and rejects all five ways in which God speaks (creation, Scripture, wisdom, conscience, and experience) — what more can be done for them?

God made yet another attempt.
He gave everything to the world, yet man still forgot God. People looked at the skies and the earth and reasoned, “Plants sprouted because of the rain,” while ignoring the divine hand behind it all.

This mind, as it is now, is of no use. It says: "God exists today, but may not tomorrow."
This is the thinking of fallen wisdom, fallen understanding, and fallen spiritual teachers.

They say: "I will listen to nothing. My comfort is my god. God is speaking through pleasure." Thus, people belittle the voice of their conscience, disregard the means God has provided, and fail to recognize the One who is speaking.

Yet God continues to reveal Himself to mankind in many ways.
For instance, when our feet burn under the sun, we cry, “Oh God! Have mercy!” When we are drenched in the rain and catch a cold, we suffer. Through such afflictions, God speaks.

God also speaks through comforts — education, clothing, air, water, fruit, food, and sleep — all these are blessings through which He communicates. And when even comforts fail to move people toward God, He allows suffering to come, which leads people back to Him.

Suffering becomes a tool for divine awareness. Without trials, we may not develop godliness. Some, however, even in comfort, cry out to God with sincere hearts.

So God made yet another plan — through religion. According to the Bible, He chose the Jews and entrusted them with the Scriptures. After sin entered the world and nations spread, God raised up a unique people group — the Jews — among the many. He nurtured them in Egypt for 400 years, then led them through the wilderness for 40 years, and finally settled them in Canaan.

Through Judaism, God spoke to them. The Jews were entrusted with the Bible, while other nations had not yet received it or were unwilling to receive it. God instructed the Jews to teach others what was written in the Scriptures — this was God’s purpose for them.

However, these very Jews crucified God’s Son. The most devout committed the greatest sin.

So, the Lord Jesus chose twelve apostles and gave them both the Old Testament and the New Testament, suitable for both the Jews and the Gentiles. He handed this to the early Church. God, through Gentile religions, instructed the Jews. And through the Jews, He spoke to other nations, saying, "They have forsaken Me and begun to worship creation instead of the Creator."

To the Christians, He said: "Go and tell everyone." Thus, through Gentile religion, Judaism, and Christianity, God is now speaking to the world.

As Hebrews 1:1 says: “In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways…” From the beginning of creation until now, God has always been speaking — in one way or another.

He is the Eternal God Who Speaks

He is the God who exists eternally — the Everlasting Father. In this world filled with discouragement, He is the One who uplifts the weary soul. In this dark and ignorant world — where people do not know right from wrong — God has prepared a path of wisdom, enabling us to walk according to His Word.

Therefore, He is a God who speaks.

The first religion that arose on earth was idolatry. After the entry of sin, many religions began to emerge. Among them, let us briefly examine a few:

1. The Religion of Creation (Creation Worship)

Some began to worship creation itself — this gave rise to the religion of creation.
Why did God permit such a thing? Because the time had not yet come for the chosen nation and the promised religion (Judaism) to appear.

So, in the meantime, people who could not see God directly began to worship visible things — the sun, moon, stars, trees, rivers, and images — since God is invisible, but creation is visible, creation became their object of worship.

2. The Chosen Religion (Judaism)

This is the religion of promise, the covenant people chosen by God.
God gave them the Law and allowed them to hear His voice.
Among all religions, Judaism is unique — it is the religion to which God gave commandments, ordinances, and the promise of sending a Savior into the world.

The Jewish faith is the root from which the Savior of the world would arise. Then why was the creation religion allowed to continue even after this? Because the time for the Messiah’s arrival had not yet come, and God was preparing the way.

 

Religious Diversity in the World

Today, many religions exist throughout the world:

• Hinduism in India
• Islam in Palestine and across the Middle East
• Buddhism in Asia
• And many others...

Hinduism and Buddhism possess religious scriptures. But creation religion — that is, the worship of nature or idols — has no scriptures. It is based only on visible things and natural phenomena.

Christianity is the full expression and fulfillment of God’s promise — it is the faith that declares, “Christ has come.” Following Christianity came the Islamic faith. This religion also holds to a sacred book, which they regard as a great scripture. There is also another religion — far more ancient than all — known as Atheism, the belief that “there is no God.” When did this belief begin? From the very moment Adam and Eve sinned, and God declared His judgment and withdrew His visible presence, a group arose who began to say, “God is no more.”

The rest — the descendants of Adam and Eve — continued to believe, “God exists. He is in heaven.” But atheists said, “He is unseen, He does not speak. Therefore, He does not exist.”
They denied His existence altogether.

The rest of the world religions are known as theistic religions — they acknowledge the existence of God in some form.

Atheists challenge, “Show us God!” — and in this, a certain prideful defiance is revealed.

All religions have scholars. But among them, the Christian faith has the greatest number of deep and devoted scholars who have studied, interpreted, and preserved spiritual truth.

However, does that mean all religions are the same? No. All religions will become one only when all missions unite as one — and when that happens, all the lingering theological questions written across the ages will vanish into thin air.

Jesus Christ Himself said: “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. There will be one flock and one Shepherd.” (John 10:16) In this verse, God speaks of two flocks — and of the coming time when they will be made one. One fold. One Shepherd.

The Ways God Speaks:

1.      Through Creation and

2.     By speaking directly Himself.
Man is not yet ready for the second way, so God speaks through the first. Even today, and until the final judgment, God continues to speak through His Son. God spoke to the Jews. Likewise, He is speaking through other religions as well. He is even speaking through atheistic beliefs. If a person accepts all these, then God Himself will speak directly.

The Jews said, "How long will you keep us in suspense if you are the Messiah?" I have already said what I needed to say—and I am still saying—“He is speaking through all religions,” yet the essence of truth in each religion is different.

3.     There is another religion—a religion of power worship. In that religion, they see and hear something speaking to them. But it is not God; it is a demon. Therefore, it is a religion of demons.

4.     The Shinto religion (of Japan) believes in, “My religion is what feels right to me.” Since people believed that God should speak through every religion, He permitted them all.

God indeed wants to speak to everyone personally, but He has also revealed Himself through scriptures, traditions, and rituals. The original purpose of religion was to worship God, but over time, man began worshipping creation instead. That worship should belong to God alone.

After the nature-worshipping religions came the Jewish religion, then Hinduism. Through each of these, God has been speaking something. Through every religion, God is sending a message to the world. Those messages have been recorded in their respective scriptures.

Why did God allow these religions? Because when people created religions for themselves, He chose to use them as channels to speak. Yet, He is preparing to speak directly to all people from all religions. That time is soon approaching.

Today, all people in the world are engaged in some work for the sake of livelihood. That work is related to knowledge:

1.      Some are pursuing education.

2.     Others are learning skilled trades.

Through these, knowledge and strength increase. Since there is no rest from the corruption in human life, sickness arises, and therefore the medical field becomes necessary. These three—education, skilled work, and medicine—were organized by humans themselves. And God permitted what humans established in this way. They were all set up so that He might speak through them. Through the education system and all other sectors, God is conveying a message—He is proclaiming the news about His Son. What injustice has God done?
He is speaking through all these things, but humans are the ones not listening to Him.

The Ways God Speaks

God speaks to humanity in several ways:

1.      Through creation

2.     Through wisdom

3.     Through conscience

4.     Through the Bible

5.     Through other people

These five are as essential as the first three. Beyond these, God also speaks directly.

If we fail to listen when God speaks through these means, how will we recognize His voice when He speaks directly? And if we do not discern His message through these avenues, how can we expect to hear Him clearly? All these ways are grounded in Scripture—hence, reading the Bible is of utmost importance.

After revealing Himself through these means, God may begin to speak directly to us. He may do this in two distinct ways. A time is coming when God will speak clearly to everyone. When we become spiritually sensitive, we will begin to discern when God speaks directly.

This journey is like climbing a staircase. We must ascend step by step to reach the top. Yet even after climbing, there is the risk of slipping. Therefore, we must continue upward without becoming complacent. On every step, our mind and dedication must remain steady. Those who fall from higher steps often return to the beginning, but true believers stand firm on every step.

Without Concentration, no step will be stable.
If a person refuses to hear the message God sends through creation, God offers yet another way—through prayer—where man speaks to God.

·        There, God speaks to man

·        Here, man speaks to God

God is always speaking through His divine instruments. Yet man often behaves like the mute, slipping and falling. Still, God’s truth stands like firm, smooth steps upon a mountain.

Along this spiritual path, someone might ask, “Are you still stuck here?” while they press on and ascend. In the same way, some believers speak with God and move on to dwell eternally with Him. They have run up the steps and entered into divine communion.

Some may argue that God no longer speaks, or deny that He ever did. But how does God speak? The Bible is the only book where God’s voice is clearly heard. All true divine manifestations are recorded within it. Especially in the Book of Revelation, God speaks directly and unmistakably. He spoke clearly to John. Some might point to the Book of Esther and say, “God seems hidden there.” Yet even today, God still reveals Himself to those who seek Him.

To behold God’s visible presence, we must enter into the Tabernacle of Revelation. In the time of Moses, the tabernacle was divided into three parts:

1. The Outer Court
2. The Holy Place
3. The Most Holy Place

Only the High Priest was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place, and that too only once a year. He had to enter with great reverence and fear, after thoroughly cleansing himself.
This third part—the Most Holy Place—symbolizes the level where one receives divine vision or revelation.

Similarly, the first six steps in the ladder of prayer correspond to the Outer Court and the Holy Place. But the final step is like the Most Holy Place. If someone today constructs such a spiritual "place of manifestation" through devotion, the Lord still descends and meets with them. Just as the Outer Court, Holy Place, and Most Holy Place exist on earth, so they exist in Heaven as well. The Bride of Christ will dwell in the New Jerusalem.

If we understand the three levels of the Tabernacle of Revelation, the steps of prayer, and the levels within the Temple, we will begin to grasp what it means to have a portion in eternal salvation.

May the Lord count you among those who will be gathered into the New Jerusalem! Amen.

A sermon by Father. Devadasu Ayyagaru, delivered on 15th March 1949.