The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 112

72

HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT We

sense.

can not communicate with our neighbor except he hear

or see or feel our touch.

The unfortunate who

is

devoid of these

senses can not receive the slightest information from without.

But the Lord our God

is

sciousness whatever

He

He

will in a direct

drum, auditory nerve, and vibration of deaf,

God can make him

He

not thus limited.

heart and consciousness from within.

has access to man's

can impart to our con-

way, without the use of earair,

Tho a man be

stone-

hear, inwardly speaking to his soul.

However, to accomplish this God must condescend to our limitations. For the consciousness is subject to the mental conditions of the world in which it lives. A negro, e.g. can have no other consciousness than that developed by his environment and acquired by his language. Speaking to a foreigner unacquainted with our tongue, we must adapt ourselves to his limitations and address him Hence in order to make Himself intelligible in his own language. to man, God must clothe His thoughts in human language and thus convey them to the human consciousness. To the person thus addressed it must seem therefore as tho he had been spoken to in the ordinary way. He received the impression that he heard words of human language conveying to him divine thoughts. Hence the divine speaking is always adapted to Because in condescension the capacities of the person addressed. the Lord adapts Himself to every man's consciousness. His speaking assumes the form peculiar to every man's condition. What a difference, for instance, between God's word to Cain and that to Ezekiel This explains how God could mention names, dates, and ,

!

various other details; certain period

;

how He

could

make use

of the dialect of a

of derivation of words, as in the changing of names,

as in the case of

Abraham and

Sarah.

This also shows that God's speaking is not limited to godly and susceptible persons prepared to receive a revelation. Adam was wholly unprepared, hiding himself from the presence of God. And so were Cain and Balaam. Even Jeremiah said " I will not speak :

any more in His Name. But His word was in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing, but I could not" (chap. xx. 9). Hence the divine omnipotence is unlimited. The Lord can impart the knowledge of His will to whomsoever He pleases. The question why He has not spoken for eighteen centuries must not be answered, " Because He has lost the power"; but, " Because it seemeth not good to Him." Having once :

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen