Shall We Hear Moses? by B.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U. S. A. · Sep 9, 1930

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 35.

Shall We Hear Moses?

By B.

A SCIENTIST has recently made the startling statement that somewhere in the ether that surrounds the world like a tangled skein are still circling the words of Moses and others of the ancients. He says that sometime experts will be able to pick these words from the air and reproduce them on the radio.

Personally speaking, this seems too highly imaginary, and we doubt if such a thing is possible. But then again, so many astounding discoveries and inventions have come to light in recent years that almost anything is believable. The very idea of the now-omnipresent radio would have been thought fantastic fifteen years ago.

We wonder what effect the actual voice of the ancients would have on this present irreverent and blasé generation. Would they accept the Mosaic record of creation should they hear Moses himself reading the majestic account of it as he wrote it in Genesis? What impression would the Decalogue make upon the present lawless age if they could hear it read as Moses proclaimed it as recorded in Deuteronomy 5?

And if we are made able to hear Moses, then we shall also hear the words of the Master when upon earth nineteen centuries ago. What effect would it have on the world to-day if the Sermon on the Mount was to be gathered from the ether, and the beatitudes should fall upon our ears as they did upon His hearers so long ago? Would the world, so busy with its business and its pleasures, pause to think of holy things if the voices around the table of the Last Supper were to drift in upon us to-day? Would the harsh and raucous cries of the rabble as they seized the Master in the garden chill the heart of us moderns? Would we stop to ponder the cost of our redemption should we actually hear the pounding of the sledges as He was nailed to the cross on Golgotha's stony crest? Would His infinite compassion melt our hearts if we should hear Him pray for His slayers? Would the soft weeping of the disciples and the women as they laid Him in Joseph's new tomb at eventide tell us of the strong bands of love He forged about His followers then, and in every age since? Would the sound of the stone as it was rolled away by angel hands and the cry of victory as He came forth triumphant over death and the grave witness to this age of the supernatural element in Christianity?

But at this juncture echo the words in our ears, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16:31.

All through the ages the words of Moses and the other prophets of old as well as of the apostles of New Testament times have been faithfully recorded for us in the word of God. Our generation neglects and rejects and sometimes even laughs them to scorn. How, then, can we expect that if the actual voices were to be reproduced to-day anything deeper and more lasting than mere wonderment would result.

Whether or not the technicians ever bring to pass anything so surpassingly wonderful as the reproduction of the voices of the holy men of old is, after all, an immaterial question. Is our world to-day taking heed to the counsel they gave us as everlastingly recorded in the enduring pages of Holy Writ? Are we guiding and molding our lives by the precepts of the Scriptures? Are the words of the Master as given us by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the chart and compass of our lives? If not, then hearing His voice over your radio will not suffice to alter the course you have chosen. God has left Himself an abundance of witness in things we already have. If we have not tuned in on the things of heaven thus far, we might turn the dial to jazz rather than to Jesus even if His voice were made available to-day.

Another record breaker. The great British dirigible, "R-100," as it appeared attached to the new 110-foot mooring mast at the St. Hubert Airport, Montreal, Canada, after crossing the Atlantic from Cardington, England, in 78 hours, 51 minutes.

Where is your dial set for now? B.