Austin Bible Church
Communication in the Age of the Gentiles
The biblical communication relating to the Age of the Gentiles involved God speaking directly to man. Gen. 2:16; Gen. 3:9-10; Gen. 6:13.
“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;” (Genesis 2:16, NASB)
“Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."” (Genesis 3:9-10, NASB)
“Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:13, NASB)
God spoke to the serpent in the Garden in Genesis 3:14. There was only one language. Gen. 11:1. Communication was diversified by God as judgment of the Tower of Babel and the single nation on earth (Internationalism) as a means of controlling man’s purposes for Himself. Gen. 11:8-9.
“The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;” (Genesis 3:14, NASB)
“Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” (Genesis 11:1, NASB)
“So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:8-9, NASB)
Communication in the Age of the Jews
In the Age of the Jews, God chose a nation through which He would communicate to other nations, that being the progeny of Abraham, the Hebrew, the Jewish nation. Gen. 12:1-3. God spoke to Abraham in dreams. Gen. 15:12-13. God appeared directly to people. Gen. 17:1.
“Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."” (Genesis 12:1-3, NASB)
“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.” (Genesis 15:12-13, NASB)
“Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1, NASB)
God spoke to people through the appearance of angels. Gen. 19:1. In the Gospels, He spoke to the shepherds. Luke 2:9-10. God spoke to Jacob in the form of a man in Genesis 32:26-27. God spoke to evil kings, often through dreams. Gen. 41:1; Dan. 2:1.
“And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;” (Luke 2:9-10, NASB)
“Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.” (Genesis 19:1, NASB)
“Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."” (Genesis 32:26-27, NASB)
“Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.” (Genesis 41:1, NASB)
“Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.” (Daniel 2:1, NASB)
God spoke to certain people through miraculous events. God spoke to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3:2. God had certain designated communicators for the nation Israel and to other nations such as Moses, Aaron, Joshua, priests, judges, prophets, kings, two witnesses in the Tribulation, 144,000 evangelists, and angels.
“The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.” (Exodus 3:2, NASB)
God illustrated His messages in the rainbow, the sun and moon, evening and morning, prophets dressing certain ways, prophets doing odd things, the Levitical sacrifices demonstrating coming truth, and Urim and Thummim.
God recorded His communication through certain writers operating under the inspiration of Scripture. Written communication included the plans for the tabernacle, the Mosaic Law, civil law, religious law, history, prose, condemnation concepts, exhortation, and prophecy. God preserved that communication in the Old Testament Canon of Scripture.
Communication in the Church Age
Communication was given first verbally, received by direct revelation by the apostles. Gal. 1:12. Communication was recorded by certain men operating under the inspiration of Scripture. 2 Peter 1:20-21. The communication of the Word of God in public assembly is made possible by spiritual gifts of communication such as pastor-teacher, evangelist, apostle, prophet, etc. Eph. 4.
“For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:12, NASB)
“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20-21, NASB)
The function of spiritual gifts must have as a requisite the filling of the Holy Spirit for effectiveness. 1 John 1:9. At regeneration, God has built into every believer a “receiving set,” the human spirit for the reception of divine truth. 1 Cor. 2:14.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NASB)
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (1 Corinthians 2:14, NASB)
God has also designed a grace system by which every believer, apart from variable capacities, mentally, socially, or intellectually, can utilize that communicated divine knowledge. That system is faith. God has designed a capacity for storing divine communication called the right lobe of the soul.
Within the exercise of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher, God has certain men (all potentially) in the avenue of communication which best sets forth truth in a way it can be systematized in the thought process for maximum benefit and memory. This is called the frame of reference.
God no longer speaks to man in the Age of the Church by miracles, signs, etc., because He has a completed Canon of Scripture, or a complete written, accepted revelation of God. 1 Cor. 13. There is also no additional spiritual information given by God at any time and under any circumstances beyond that of the written Word.
In communicating to man in the most exact way, God chose the Hebrew and Greek language to make clear even the most difficult truth and restricted those variables which occur more plentifully in other known languages. Hebrew and Greek are, therefore, an extension of the Doctrine of Inspiration and relate to the principles of God in communicating in the Church Age.
At the outset of the Age of the Church, before the Canon was completed, God used special communication gifts which no longer exist. They included the gift of knowledge which is related to receiving knowledge directly, the gift of prophecy which is related to truth expressed in predictions, and the gift of tongues which is communication in another language which the speaker does not know, preaching the Gospel in foreign tongues.
The chief method of communication expressing the spiritual gifts of evangelist and pastor-teacher is monologue, the sermon, one-sided conversation, the lesson, not the dialogue concept of today. There was the matter of discussion and challenge in Acts when the Gospel was strictly verbally communicated.
Throughout the Church Age, different kinds of communication are observed through narrative, lecture or sermon, personal letters of apostles, and sarcasm, rhetoric, analogy, and all of the hermeneutical principles. See category on Hermeneutics.
Communication in the Millennium (Age of Christ or Kingdom Age)
The Lord will communicate directly to all people in the Kingdom. Isaiah 11:2-4.
“The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.” (Isaiah 11:2-4, NASB)
The Lord’s communication will be to the entire earth. Isaiah 11:9.
“They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9, NASB)
The believers in the Millennium will communicate the praises and character of God. Isaiah 12:4-6; Isaiah 25:8-9.
“And in that day you will say, "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted." Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 12:4-6, NASB)
“He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."” (Isaiah 25:8-9, NASB)
Those who have been limited in understanding and opportunity shall have full knowledge. Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 29:24; Isaiah 32:3-4.
“On that day the deaf will hear words of a book, And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.” (Isaiah 29:18, NASB)
“"Those who err in mind will know the truth, And those who criticize will accept instruction.” (Isaiah 29:24, NASB)
“Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen. The mind of the hasty will discern the truth, And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.” (Isaiah 32:3-4, NASB)
There will be other communicators besides the Lord called “shepherds.” This is רָעָה (raah) in the Hebrew and means the one who feeds. Jer. 3:15; Jer. 23:4; Ezek. 34:23.
“"Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.” (Jeremiah 3:15, NASB)
“"I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:4, NASB)
“"Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd.” (Ezekiel 34:23, NASB)
There will be no need to teach salvation truth to those entering the Kingdom because they will already have a personal eternal relationship with the King. Jer. 31:34.
“"They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."” (Jeremiah 31:34, NASB)