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NORTHERN STYLE
CREDO
` The Silence of God' . . . . Thoughts on Psalm 50
Our title `The Silence of God' seems to be in direct conflict with the streams of `words' that come from the many and varied Christian ministries within the Charismatic-Pentecostal wing of the Church - to say nothing of the words of knowledge, wisdom and prophecy that are a regular feature of Church assemblies within the same stream of Christianity. This is of course quite Scriptural, for we find Paul, when writing to the Corinthian Church, saying:
1 Corinthians 12:1-11:
" Now about spiritual gifts, brothers I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to dumb idols. Therefore I tell you that no-one who is speaking by the Spirit of God can say: `Jesus be cursed', and no-one can say: `Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom; to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit; to another miraculous powers; to another prophecy; to another the ability to distinguish between spirits; to another the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues, and still to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines. "
However, as our title is limited to the sub-title `Thoughts on Psalm 50', we shall be taken back to a point in time before the birth of the Church to which Paul was writing, and on to a much larger `canvas' than a local church assembly where the Holy Spirit speaks to guide, to warn and to encourage the believers in their particular and unique setting where they outwork their lives on part of that larger canvas. At the risk of repeating ourselves we need to be reminded that Psalm 50 is set within the Second Book of Psalms, which carries within it a corresponding message to the primary message in the Second Book of Torah, the Book of Exodus, which is a message of Deliverance. With that in mind we can more easily understand whatever `Thoughts on Psalm 50' emerge, for the Book of Exodus reveals God's intention to deliver His people from the bondage of slavery in the land of Egypt: (Exodus 2:23-25)
" During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and He remembered His Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. "
For a deliverance to be effective, the need for a Deliverer was uppermost in the Hebrews' thoughts as they groaned in their slavery, and it is this recurring theme which is central to the whole revelation of Scripture. The need for deliverance causes men to look for a Deliverer who will restore all things according to God's Word. With this in mind we can at last turn to Psalm 50: (v1)
" The Mighty One, God the LORD, has spoken and summons the earth
from where the sun rises to the place where it sets. "
The opening verse takes us back beyond the groaning of the Hebrews and on to a much larger canvas for we hear the `Mighty One, God the LORD' speaking and summoning the earth `from where the sun rises to the place where it sets'. This, of course, takes us back to the Book of Beginnings, to Genesis, where God `speaks' of the Deliverer, the Seed of Promise who is the answer to the whole of creation's groaning in slavery. However, we must at this stage wrench our thoughts back to what may seem to be a smaller `canvas' but one through which God has chosen to speak. The wider `canvas' is still there, but we can leave the work on that for the time being. The writer to the Letter to the Hebrews tells us: (Hebrews 1:1-2)
" In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. "
It is here that we can begin to see the wider picture, yet broken down into parts that we can draw into our `Thoughts on Psalm 50'. The writer to the Hebrews states that there have been specific times `in the past (when) God spoke to our forefathers', and also that He spoke through human agencies whom He called into service to announce His Word - through `the prophets at many times and in various ways'. But He also spoke by Himself as the LORD God directly to individuals and He spoke to Adam in the Garden in Eden: (Genesis 2:16)
" And the LORD God commanded the man, `You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must NOT eat from the Tree of Knowledge'. "
God also spoke again to Adam, after his disobedience to His commands: (Genesis 3:17)
" To Adam He said, `Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you: You must not eat of it:
Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life'. "
Now would come the need of a deliverance and, therefore, the need of a Deliverer who would restore all things, and throughout the Book of Genesis, the Book of Beginnings, we see this outworking as God spoke `at many times and in various ways'. He spoke to Noah, an `heir of the righteousness that comes by faith'. He spoke to Abram: (Genesis 12:1-3)
" The LORD had said to Abram:
Leave your country, your people and your father's household
and go to the land I will show you:
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you.
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you'. "
He spoke yet again to Isaac, confirming what had been spoken to his father, Abraham, and on down the line God Himself spoke to and chose and separated unto Himself those who would be the vessels through whom would come the Deliverer. Jacob was spoken to in a dream: (Genesis 28:12-15)
" He (Jacob) had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching into heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There beside him stood the LORD, and He said: `I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. "
The long years rolled on. Jacob's sons had indeed been blessed through being brought into Egypt. They had multiplied and grown prosperous, to the point of being a threat to the Egyptians, and it was time for the LORD God to speak directly to an individual once again. Moses tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro saw `an Angel of the LORD in flames of fire from within a bush': (Exodus 3:3-10)
" So Moses thought: `I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up'. When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, `Moses, Moses!' God said: `Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground'. Then He said: `I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'. At this Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. The LORD said: `I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey - the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people out of Egypt. "
With the deliverance of the Hebrews close at hand - who in time would be formed and forged into a nation through whom the Deliverer would come - God Himself had spoken to Moses, the first of the prophets of Israel through whom God would now speak. These were chosen natural vessels through whom God would speak in what is known as `the Dispensation (the Age) of the Law'. From Gideon through to Samuel . . . through to Nathan, who spoke to David . . . through to Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah . . . `God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many time and in various ways'. Through those human vessels God Himself spoke to chasten and to discipline, to warn and to judge His chosen vessel of Israel, through whom one day would come the Deliverer:
(Psalm 50:2-6)
" From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
Our God comes and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around Him a tempest rages.
He summons the heavens above,
and the earth that He may judge His people:
`Gather to Me My consecrated ones,
who made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice'.
And the heavens proclaim His righteousness,
for God Himself is Judge. "
Through the long centuries God, as the LORD God of Israel, spoke to their forefathers through the prophets. Up to and through the long four centuries of `the Great Probation of Israel', which followed on from the prophet Malachi, God spoke through those human vessels for they had been chosen and separated and used for God's holy purpose of speaking the Word of God: (Psalm 50:7)
" Hear, O My people and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you.
I am God, your God. "
However this Age (of the Law) was drawing to a close, and we hear of it through the words of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 11:7-16:
" As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in king's palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:
I will send My messenger ahead of you,
and prepare Your way before You.
I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear. "
We now find this repeated pattern of the `Voice of God' being heard, speaking first as God Himself, then through His appointed natural human vessels, until finally: (Hebrews 1:2)
" BUT in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. "
That it would happen was clearly `spoken' by God Himself at the beginning of the earlier Dispensation. Moses, speaking to the second generation of the Israelites about to enter into the Promised Land, told them this: (Deuteronomy 18:14-19)
" The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practise sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: `Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire any more, or we will die'. The LORD said to me: `What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My Name, I Myself will call him to account'. "
Israel, through whom the Deliverer would come - not only for the nation of Israel itself but also for the whole of creation and its creatures who lay under the bondage and slavery which arose from Adam's rebellion in the Garden of Eden - was now summoned by God, as revealed earlier in Psalm 50, `that He may judge His people': (Matthew 4:12-17)
" When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, He went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali - to fulfil what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
` Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the Sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles -
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow
of death a light has dawned. '
And from that time on Jesus began to preach: `Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near."
Throughout those three short but momentous years the Voice of God was heard in the land, speaking directly to His chosen people: `You have heard it said . . . but I tell you . . .'
Matthew 7:7
" Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will
find; knock and the door will be opened to you. "
Matthew 11:20
" Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His
miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. "
Again, in speaking to the Pharisees He spoke directly to His people: (Matthew 12:30-32)
" He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. "
And so the Voice of God spoke once again directly to His people as the Son of God went throughout the land, speaking of the Kingdom of God and who He was: (Psalm 50:8-15)
" I am God your God.
I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices
or your burnt offerings, which are ever before Me.
I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is Mine;
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird in the mountains,
and the creatures of the field are Mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world is Mine, and all that is in it.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
Sacrifice thank-offerings to God,
fulfil your vows to the Most High,
and call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honour Me. "
Few would hear! Hearts were hardened! Whatever the reason, the rejection of the Voice of God was almost complete: (Matthew 23: 1-5 and 13)
" Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples: `The Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see . . . . Woe to you, Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the Kingdom of Heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter in, nor will you let those enter who are trying to'. "
Now came the Passover Supper for Jesus and His disciples, with the clear message within it of a great deliverance for His people through a Covenant which was made by God through His natural vessels, the prophets, in that earlier Dispensation. God was still speaking `by His Son, the Deliverer, the Lamb of God': (Matthew 26:26-29)
" While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying: `Take and eat; this is My Body'. Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying: `Drink from it, all of you. This is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father's Kingdom'. "
Gethsemane followed! The Voice of God the Son would soon be silenced and He would no longer speak directly to His people in that particular Age. The ongoing pattern would repeat itself, for God would once again speak through human vessels, those He had chosen and set apart to be instruments of His Voice: (Matthew 26:45-46)
" Then He returned to His disciples and said to them: `Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes My betrayer'. "
The writer to the Hebrews tells us of those human vessels who would now be the people through whom the Voice of God would speak: (Hebrews 2:3b-4)
" This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. "
Those disciples who heard and believed `the salvation which was announced by the Lord' had clearly heard the Voice of God. Now they were ready to be released as the vessels through whom God would speak - no longer to the nation of Israel alone but beyond that land to the Gentile lands, wherever the Spirit of Jesus would lead them: (Acts 4:4-8)
" But many who heard the message believed, and the numbers of men grew to about five thousand. The next day the rulers, elders and Teachers of the Law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, so was Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: `By what power or what name did you do this?' Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them . . . . "
Throughout the Book of the Act of the Apostles we see the disciples being scattered throughout the known world, taking the Voice of God to the uttermost parts of the earth. Rejection of their message did not deter them . . persecution did not stop them . . for they had been chosen and set apart to be the natural vessels through whom God would continue to speak. Paul, `a Hebrew of Hebrews', spoke the Voice of God in his letters to the early Gentile Church! Peter, the fisherman, spoke the Voice of God to His chosen people, the Jews! Only death would stop those faithful men of God from being human mouthpieces of God: (2 Corinthians 6:1-13)
" As God's fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For He says:
` In the time of My favour I heard you;
and in the day of salvation I helped you. '
I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation! We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way; in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonment and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as imposters; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange - I speak to you as my children - open wide your hearts also. "
The `voice' of Asaph would find its outworking amongst such men: (Psalm 50:16-22)
" But to the wicked, God says:
What right have you to recite My laws,
or take My Covenant on your lips?
You hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.
When you see a thief you join with him;
you throw in your lot with adulterers.
You use your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit.
You speak continually against your brother
and slander your own mother's son.
These things you have done and I kept silent;
you thought I was altogether like you.
But I will rebuke you, and accuse you to your face. "
Paul and the others would faithfully discharge their calling to be the human vessels through whom God would speak, but we see the end of their `speech' recorded in the final chapter of the Acts of the Apostles: (Acts 28:23-28)
" They (the Jews in Rome) arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning to evening he explained and declared to them the Kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when He said through Isaiah the prophet:
Go to this people and say:
` You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
You will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn
and I would heal them. '
Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen! After he had said this the Jews left, arguing vigorously among themselves. "
Following this rejection, the time was now ready for God to speak directly once again - but this time the Voice of God would be heard through the Third Person of the Triune Godhead, the Holy Spirit . . . the Spirit of Truth. As we have seen in Deuteronomy 18 Moses spoke of `One whom the LORD your God would raise up for you, a prophet like me from among your brothers . . . to whom you must listen'. That One came, and He then spoke of another One who would follow after Him: (John 16:12-15)
" I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you. "
We see Him, the Spirit of Truth, speaking by taking `what is Mine and making it known to you', and He speaks particularly through Paul's Letters to the Churches:
Ephesians 1:3-23
" Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His Blood, the foregiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached rheir fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one Head, even Christ. In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory! For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be Head over everything for the Church,which is His Body, the fulness of Him who fills everything in every way. "
We find the Spirit of Truth speaking directly again, this time through Paul's Letter to the Colossian Church - `taking what is Mine and making it known to you'.
Colossians 1:3-9
" We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints - the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the Word of Truth, the Gospel that comes to you. All over the world this Gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. "
It is in this last Pauline Epistle that we learn of the `mystery' the Lord revealed to Paul - who could not have written it until the Spirit of Truth was sent to speak directly to those who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah and had been born again of the Holy Spirit. And the Voice of God will not be stilled until those who are His are `taken away to be with Him for ever'. Yet there was still one human vessel through whom God would speak, and for that we have to turn our thoughts to the Isle of Patmos and to faithful John to whom would be given the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:1-3
" The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who testifies to everything he saw - that is, the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. "
John was then told to `write what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later', and he faithfully recorded God's `spoken Word'. Thus God finished `speaking' directly, or indirectly, to the people of this earth. All that needs to be said has been said, and it has been faithfully recorded in Scripture `as men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit'. Truly there is now a `Silence of God', and it is a deafening silence for God has not spoken directly to mankind in this Age since He completed His revelation and sealed it in the Scriptures, which alone `speak His Word'. No matter what prophets are thrown up from `the seas of history' with words from the gods of their prophecy . . . no matter what man may say, the Silence of God has not been broken since His Word was spoken and sealed in Scripture by the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End!
Revelation 22:18-20
"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the Tree of Life and in the Holy City, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, `Yes, I am coming soon'. Amen! Come Lord Jesus. "
The Psalmist Asaph, as he penned his Psalm, knew that God had spoken, and he faithfully recorded His Voice. Having done so he concluded his Psalm with a prayer of thanksgiving, for he knew that he had heard God speak . . he knew that Israel's deliverance was therefore assured, for the Deliverer would come to save His people: (Psalm 50:23)
" He who sacrifices thank-offerings honours Me,
and to him who considers his way
I will show him the salvation of God. "
Set within this Psalm are the words which He will one day say: (verse 7)
" Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, even your God. "
We have set out the six times in which God has spoken, either directly or indirectly through His chosen vessels, but added to man's number God will speak once more directly to the nation of Israel - He will speak a seventh perfect word which will bring deliverance to His people! In three of these six times He has spoken directly to His people - through the voice of the Father, through the Son and through the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit. In the remaining three times He has spoken indirectly, `through the prophets and at various times and in various ways' - these being the Prophets of Israel, the Acts of the Apostles and through John on the Isle of Patmos. But now that Scripture is sealed up there is `the Silence of God', which in a time yet to come will be broken and He will speak His seventh perfect Word:
" Our God shall come and will not keep silent. "
His seventh spoken Word will bring forth the fulness of deliverance to a creation which at present groans under a bondage and slavery as real as any the Hebrews endured in Egypt. Therefore concerning that longed-for Deliverance, Asaph the Psalmist could sing with assurance:
" And to him who considers his way,
I will show him the Salvation of God. "
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