When stressing God's freedom in revealing himself in many and various ways (Hebrews 1:1), we sometimes forget an even more fundamental truth about his revelation: the God who is sovereign has chosen to reveal Himself finally and authoritatively in his final Word (Hebrews 1:2; cf. John 1:1-18).
This corresponds well with Gooding's observation of the thrust of the Spirit's witness on the Day of Pentecost (p.68):
"The dominating element in the Spirit’s witness would always be the spoken word. He would, of course, empower the apostles to do many signs and wonders from time to time, both to authenticate and to illustrate what was being said (2:43; 3:6–10; 4:29–30; 5:12–16). But without the word to explain their significance, no one would know what that significance was, or what it was the miracles witnessed to. Without the word no one would come to faith in Jesus as the Christ, or understand either the true terms or the true contents of the salvation that was available through him. The word, then, must be predominant; and since that word would be spoken through human lips, the first necessity would be to authenticate the channel of communication."
(emphasis added)
This continues to be the dominating element of the Spirit's witness to the world through the Spirit-filled people of God today.
No comments:
Post a Comment