# Quiet



## Pittzburghkid (Apr 1, 2013)

Why is God silent. It has been 2000 years since he spoke to anyone through his son. Why not shout out to make us fully aware of his presence? Why not raise up a prophet to perform miracles in his name like in the Old testament. These are questions I received from a friend. I responded that God's work was finished at Calvary. shared a few scriptures, no one knows when the end is coming. he sent us the spirit, one day is like a thousand years. Does anyone have anything better to explain God's 2000 year silence?


----------



## Andres (Apr 1, 2013)

Why do you think God is silent? We have his word. We have his sacraments. As you mentioned, we have the Holy Spirit to make both of them effectual unto us.


----------



## MarieP (Apr 1, 2013)

Pittzburghkid said:


> Why not raise up a prophet to perform miracles in his name like in the Old testament.



Hebrews 1
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

2 Peter 1
For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

AW Tozer wrote:


> The Bible will never be a living Book to us until we are convinced that God is articulate in His universe. To jump from a dead, impersonal world to a dogmatic Bible is too much for most people. They may admit that they should accept the Bible as the Word of God, and they may try to think of it as such, but they find it impossible to believe that the words there on the page are actually for them. A man may say, “These words are addressed to me,” and yet in his heart not feel and know that they are. He is the victim of a divided psychology. He tries to think of God as mute everywhere else and vocal only in a book.
> 
> I believe that much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong conception of and a wrong feeling for the Scriptures of Truth. A silent God suddenly began to speak in a book and when the book was finished lapsed back into silence again forever. Now we read the book as the record of what God said when He was for a brief time in a speaking mood. With notions like that in our heads how can we believe? The facts are that God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second Person of the Holy Trinity is called the Word. The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God’s continuous speech. It is the infallible declaration of His mind for us put into our familiar human words.
> 
> ...



I'm reminded of a song from some years ago by Out of the Grey:



> The people said this desert never ends
> We have no bread our throats are dry
> Our heads are heavy and our feet need rest
> Has He left us here to die?
> ...


----------



## Zach (Apr 1, 2013)

I think you pointed your friend in the right direction. God's own Son hanging on the cross and walking out of the grave is the loudest "shout" God could ever give.


----------



## FCC (Apr 1, 2013)

Zach said:


> I think you pointed your friend in the right direction. God's own Son hanging on the cross and walking out of the grave is the loudest "shout" God could ever give.



Amen to that Zach! A shout so loud it rolled the rock away and released the Son of God, who appeared alive and ascended up into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God waiting until His enemies are made His foot stool!


----------



## Jack K (Apr 1, 2013)

The rich man and Lazarus comes to mind:



> "And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:27-31)



Those who are determined not to listen will find an excuse not to repent, even if someone were to rise from the dead (which someone did—and remember how those who opposed him responded).

It may also be worth noting that the life of faith is based on us responding in gratitude to God's love, not on us responding with resentment to his constant hounding. There is a blessedness to life with Christ that comes from faith in what is not seen—the sort of blessedness you might not get if the signs were constantly in your face, forcing you to accept what you really didn't want to accept. Consider Jesus with Thomas: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29).


----------



## Jerusalem Blade (Apr 1, 2013)

Does Jesus Christ not speak today through His living and eternal word? The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that His word is alive and full of saving power, for it is even now the word of Him who sits on the throne of majesty governing the heavens and the earth.


----------



## jwithnell (Apr 1, 2013)

These questions circulated when Jesus was physically present on the earth. Phillip ask Jesus: "Show us the Father," (John 14:8). Jesus answered with a little bit of exasperation: "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father ..." And in the same discourses, Jesus promises to continue to be present through the Spirit: John 15:26, "When the Helper come, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me ..."


----------



## Tim (Apr 1, 2013)

He is There and He is Not Silent - Francis A. Schaeffer - Google Books


----------



## Pittzburghkid (Apr 2, 2013)

Thanks everyone. MarieP...great stuff!


----------



## Poimen (Apr 3, 2013)

The King has gone away but He will return. While He is gone we do His bidding (business -Luke 19:13) testifying of Him (His minas - vs. 16,18,20). And as long as there are disciples on earth who are doing so, there is no need of any other witnesses (even supernatural) to cry out (Luke 19:40). 

Furthermore, the Lord is still speaking (Hebrews 1:1ff.). It's just that few are listening (Hebrews 2:1ff.), just as previous generations would not listen (Hebrews 4:1ff.).


----------



## sevenzedek (Apr 3, 2013)

What good is a shout if they do not listen to the one already given?



> Luke 16:29-31
> 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. ’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. ’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. ’”



It is not about having convincing proof. Having a good argument never saved anyone.


----------

