Chaplain’s Corner: God Speaks

Our Sierra View Bible Study has recently started a study of the book of Hebrews. It is a book that is rarely studied in its entirety. Perhaps this is because it is so dense, with so many references to other Old Testament texts. Perhaps it is because we know so little about its author or intended audience. Or perhaps it is because after the Gospels and Paul’s letters, our attention starts to wane a bit.

The first four verses of Hebrews waste no time beginning with royal fanfare. In the original Hebrew, those four verses are one long sentence, beginning with an affirmation that God speaks. We know God, not because we have puzzled out clues in God’s absence but because God has spoken and continues to speak, most profoundly through the coming of Jesus.

According to Craig Koester,

God “speaks” by sending his Son to share in
human blood, flesh, and death, and by exalting
the Son to glory so that he might be a source
of salvation for others.

We have experienced glimpses of the divine (or heard stories of such things,) through voices, events, visions, dreams, stories, prophets etc. Yet God revealed in the human form of Jesus, who lived and walked among us, taking on all of the body’s weaknesses and limitations, experiencing suffering, rejection, and despite it all, transformation is a revelation of an active God, a God who speaks.