The Prophets of Israel Gathered in One SceneBible World
1:1Hebrews 1:1
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
In time past God spoke to the fathers or ancestors through the prophets at many different times and in many different ways and occasions. He did not give the Scriptures in unbroken utterances but piece by piece through successive generations, choosing fitting opportunities to impress people, with truth growing gradually like bud then blossom then fruit. That former speaking by prophets stands in contrast to His speaking in these last days through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Son is appointed heir of all things, and by Him God made the worlds, being the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power and after cleansing sins sitting down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Christ's own voice spoke through the prophets and patriarchs from Adam onward about His coming, while sacrifices and types pointed to Him, and God still speaks today through His servants and messengers to lead and guide His people.
Past Speech Through Prophets
In time past God spoke to the fathers or ancestors through the prophets at many different times and in many different ways and occasions. That former speaking through prophets prepares for and stands in contrast to His later speech through His Son. In that account God the Father and the Son are distinct persons.
The prophets through whom He spoke were people He specially chose and qualified to reveal His will, giving them special light to tell the people what He instructed them to speak.
He did not give the Scriptures in a continuous chain of unbroken utterances but piece by piece through successive generations, choosing in providence the fitting opportunity to impress man at different times and in different places. Men wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and the utterances grow gradually like first the bud then the blossom then the fruit, first the blade then the ear then the full corn.
That earlier speaking included nature and types and symbols as well as patriarchs and prophets. Those lessons had to be given in human language, until Christ came as the Messenger of the covenant to speak clearly in His own temple, separating truth from human teachings that had obscured it, explaining God's government and the plan of redemption, and fully setting out the lessons of the Old Testament.
Christ's own voice spoke through the prophets and patriarchs across history from Adam onward to the final events of time. He communicated with His chosen people throughout the ages at different times and in different ways, inspiring their testimony about His coming. Sacrifices and services and types and symbols pointed to Him, and were fulfilled when He appeared and gave His life to redeem the world, while believers before His personal advent saw the promised reality by faith though they had not yet received it. The Old and New Testaments form a harmony in which passages that first seem obscure become clear through careful study and comparison with other Scripture on the same subject, and careful study of the prophecies would have shown that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but the Jews misread them to fit their own ideas and ambitions.
The past speaking is also described as by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In contrast to that ancient speaking, in these days He speaks by the Testimonies of His Spirit, instructing His people concerning His will and the course He would have them pursue more earnestly than at any former time, reproving and warning them.
Son and True Revelation
God first spoke in time past to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in many different ways and occasions, and in contrast has in these last days and in the present spoken by His Son, Jesus Christ. The chapter that opens with this former prophetic speech presents God the Father and Christ the Son as two distinct, real, personal beings and personalities. The Son is appointed heir of all things, and by Him God made the worlds. He is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person and exact likeness of His being, upholding all things by the word of His power, and after by Himself purging and cleansing sins He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
To Jesus Christ was given the work of making this world as a home for humanity where people are tested and tried, and those who acknowledge loyalty to God become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. The treasures of eternity are at the Son's command and He is under no control in disposing of them, being one with God and equal with God. He is made far better than the angels with a more excellent name by inheritance as the begotten Son, to whom the Father says Thou art my Son and I will be to Him a Father, whom all the angels of God are commanded to worship while angels are made spirits and ministers a flame of fire. To the Son the Father says His throne as God is forever and ever with a sceptre of righteousness for loving righteousness and hating iniquity, anointed by God with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Bringing the firstbegotten into the world is the incarnation of Christ, in and through whom the Father establishes the kingdom of heaven among men, so Jesus is to be worshiped as Life-giver and served alone without trusting in man or making flesh an arm.
Nature is not God and never was God, though God is in nature as its superintendent and creator; nature as created work only bears testimony to God's power and has in itself no power except what God supplies. Leaves and flowers are not God but gifts and object lessons showing His power, including His power to save. The Word of God teaches the truth about creation and humanity rather than human theories. God's truth was manifested after He spoke from Sinai, and Jesus Christ as a living representation of God and of the truth made known that power belongs to God.
God made His revelation through Christ and the written word, with Christ as divine Teacher and Enlightener revealing all of God that sinful humans could bear without being destroyed, and God would have given any further revelation people needed. The Old and New Testaments form a harmony in which passages that first seem obscure become clear through careful study and comparison with other Scripture on the same subject; careful study of the prophecies would have shown that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but the Jews misread them to fit their own ideas and ambitions. Those prophetic testimonies and types were fulfilled when Christ appeared and gave His life to redeem the world, and believers before His personal advent saw the promised reality by faith though they had not yet received it. The chapter is to be studied carefully as Scripture that gives knowledge of God and instruction for salvation, able to prepare the student for usefulness in this life and for eternal life.
Present Voice and Response
The record of speaking at different times and in different ways does not mean that God promised to stop speaking, nor that He ceased communicating through prophets when the gospel began, for He also spoke through Jesus and the apostles at the beginning of the gospel. The warning in Revelation 22:18-19 against adding to or taking from the prophecy applies to the book of Revelation, not to the whole Bible and not as a ban on all future inspiration. John's visions corroborate Daniel's prophecies and add light to their subjects, while a prophet may not alter God's word.
In contrast to speaking in ancient times by the mouth of prophets and apostles, in these days He instructs His people through the testimonies of His Spirit. He speaks today just as surely through His servants and messengers as He spoke in past ages through prophets and messengers. Through those testimonies He makes His will and the course He would have them pursue especially clear, instructing His people concerning His will, reproving them and warning them, more earnestly than at any former time. They are to receive His reproofs and heed His warnings.
God continues to speak to people in many ways and in many different ways, and He is still speaking to the children of men now. People must listen to His voice and trust Him to lead and guide them. His present speaking in many ways calls for hearing His voice, placing the hand confidingly in His, and saying, Lead me, guide me. Those who fight in the strength of the Mighty One are on the side that will win at last and conquer in the end, yet the greatest work, the most perilous scenes, and a deadly conflict are still before them and require preparation.
In His Word He has spoken to His people many times and in many different ways, calling them again and again to come into line and unify. That call tells them to cease accusing and finding fault and to love as brethren by being gentle, courteous, kind, and speaking no evil. Although He has already spoken to man at sundry times and in divers places and in various ways, the world's ignorance is increasing, so those who have truth must speak with more pronounced utterances to bring to man a knowledge of God.
Speaking in past time at different times and in different ways gave precious views of the divine character, yet that light did not save those who received it. Solomon had remarkable manifestations of divine power when he entered upon his work, was employed to build the temple of God and offered a remarkable prayer at its dedication, yet forsook that very temple to worship idols. So the people made the repository of His law and the men entrusted with sacred trusts as teachers of truth still need clearer and increased light from heaven to spiritualize, elevate, and vitalize them. That light is to make them careful, distrustful of self, stripped of self-sufficiency and spiritual pride, humble in their views of their own wisdom and insufficiency, and sensing they are kept by the power of God through faith, lest like those before them they prove unfaithful and turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.
He sent messengers to guard truth and then sent His own Son as heir to gather fruit, but the Jewish people abused the messengers and lifted the heir on the cross at Calvary. The Son so sent is appointed heir of all things, made the worlds, is the brightness of God's glory and the exact image of His person, upholds all things by powerful word, purged sins by Himself, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The verse is a warning to profit from that parable by giving returns for God-given opportunities and privileges and bearing fruit in season, and not to repeat impenitence that brings the wrath of the Lamb falling like a rock to grind to powder.
In time past God spoke to the fathers or ancestors through the prophets at many different times and in many different ways and occasions. He did not give the Scriptures in unbroken utterances but piece by piece through successive generations, choosing fitting opportunities to impress people, with truth growing gradually like bud then blossom then fruit. That former speaking by prophets stands in contrast to His speaking in these last days through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Son is appointed heir of all things, and by Him God made the worlds, being the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power and after cleansing sins sitting down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Christ's own voice spoke through the prophets and patriarchs from Adam onward about His coming, while sacrifices and types pointed to Him, and God still speaks today through His servants and messengers to lead and guide His people.
Past Speech Through Prophets
In time past God spoke to the fathers or ancestors through the prophets at many different times and in many different ways and occasions. That former speaking through prophets prepares for and stands in contrast to His later speech through His Son. In that account God the Father and the Son are distinct persons.
The prophets through whom He spoke were people He specially chose and qualified to reveal His will, giving them special light to tell the people what He instructed them to speak.
He did not give the Scriptures in a continuous chain of unbroken utterances but piece by piece through successive generations, choosing in providence the fitting opportunity to impress man at different times and in different places. Men wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and the utterances grow gradually like first the bud then the blossom then the fruit, first the blade then the ear then the full corn.
That earlier speaking included nature and types and symbols as well as patriarchs and prophets. Those lessons had to be given in human language, until Christ came as the Messenger of the covenant to speak clearly in His own temple, separating truth from human teachings that had obscured it, explaining God's government and the plan of redemption, and fully setting out the lessons of the Old Testament.
Christ's own voice spoke through the prophets and patriarchs across history from Adam onward to the final events of time. He communicated with His chosen people throughout the ages at different times and in different ways, inspiring their testimony about His coming. Sacrifices and services and types and symbols pointed to Him, and were fulfilled when He appeared and gave His life to redeem the world, while believers before His personal advent saw the promised reality by faith though they had not yet received it. The Old and New Testaments form a harmony in which passages that first seem obscure become clear through careful study and comparison with other Scripture on the same subject, and careful study of the prophecies would have shown that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but the Jews misread them to fit their own ideas and ambitions.
The past speaking is also described as by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In contrast to that ancient speaking, in these days He speaks by the Testimonies of His Spirit, instructing His people concerning His will and the course He would have them pursue more earnestly than at any former time, reproving and warning them.
Son and True Revelation
God first spoke in time past to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in many different ways and occasions, and in contrast has in these last days and in the present spoken by His Son, Jesus Christ. The chapter that opens with this former prophetic speech presents God the Father and Christ the Son as two distinct, real, personal beings and personalities. The Son is appointed heir of all things, and by Him God made the worlds. He is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person and exact likeness of His being, upholding all things by the word of His power, and after by Himself purging and cleansing sins He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
To Jesus Christ was given the work of making this world as a home for humanity where people are tested and tried, and those who acknowledge loyalty to God become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. The treasures of eternity are at the Son's command and He is under no control in disposing of them, being one with God and equal with God. He is made far better than the angels with a more excellent name by inheritance as the begotten Son, to whom the Father says Thou art my Son and I will be to Him a Father, whom all the angels of God are commanded to worship while angels are made spirits and ministers a flame of fire. To the Son the Father says His throne as God is forever and ever with a sceptre of righteousness for loving righteousness and hating iniquity, anointed by God with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Bringing the firstbegotten into the world is the incarnation of Christ, in and through whom the Father establishes the kingdom of heaven among men, so Jesus is to be worshiped as Life-giver and served alone without trusting in man or making flesh an arm.
Nature is not God and never was God, though God is in nature as its superintendent and creator; nature as created work only bears testimony to God's power and has in itself no power except what God supplies. Leaves and flowers are not God but gifts and object lessons showing His power, including His power to save. The Word of God teaches the truth about creation and humanity rather than human theories. God's truth was manifested after He spoke from Sinai, and Jesus Christ as a living representation of God and of the truth made known that power belongs to God.
God made His revelation through Christ and the written word, with Christ as divine Teacher and Enlightener revealing all of God that sinful humans could bear without being destroyed, and God would have given any further revelation people needed. The Old and New Testaments form a harmony in which passages that first seem obscure become clear through careful study and comparison with other Scripture on the same subject; careful study of the prophecies would have shown that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but the Jews misread them to fit their own ideas and ambitions. Those prophetic testimonies and types were fulfilled when Christ appeared and gave His life to redeem the world, and believers before His personal advent saw the promised reality by faith though they had not yet received it. The chapter is to be studied carefully as Scripture that gives knowledge of God and instruction for salvation, able to prepare the student for usefulness in this life and for eternal life.
Present Voice and Response
The record of speaking at different times and in different ways does not mean that God promised to stop speaking, nor that He ceased communicating through prophets when the gospel began, for He also spoke through Jesus and the apostles at the beginning of the gospel. The warning in Revelation 22:18-19 against adding to or taking from the prophecy applies to the book of Revelation, not to the whole Bible and not as a ban on all future inspiration. John's visions corroborate Daniel's prophecies and add light to their subjects, while a prophet may not alter God's word.
In contrast to speaking in ancient times by the mouth of prophets and apostles, in these days He instructs His people through the testimonies of His Spirit. He speaks today just as surely through His servants and messengers as He spoke in past ages through prophets and messengers. Through those testimonies He makes His will and the course He would have them pursue especially clear, instructing His people concerning His will, reproving them and warning them, more earnestly than at any former time. They are to receive His reproofs and heed His warnings.
God continues to speak to people in many ways and in many different ways, and He is still speaking to the children of men now. People must listen to His voice and trust Him to lead and guide them. His present speaking in many ways calls for hearing His voice, placing the hand confidingly in His, and saying, Lead me, guide me. Those who fight in the strength of the Mighty One are on the side that will win at last and conquer in the end, yet the greatest work, the most perilous scenes, and a deadly conflict are still before them and require preparation.
In His Word He has spoken to His people many times and in many different ways, calling them again and again to come into line and unify. That call tells them to cease accusing and finding fault and to love as brethren by being gentle, courteous, kind, and speaking no evil. Although He has already spoken to man at sundry times and in divers places and in various ways, the world's ignorance is increasing, so those who have truth must speak with more pronounced utterances to bring to man a knowledge of God.
Speaking in past time at different times and in different ways gave precious views of the divine character, yet that light did not save those who received it. Solomon had remarkable manifestations of divine power when he entered upon his work, was employed to build the temple of God and offered a remarkable prayer at its dedication, yet forsook that very temple to worship idols. So the people made the repository of His law and the men entrusted with sacred trusts as teachers of truth still need clearer and increased light from heaven to spiritualize, elevate, and vitalize them. That light is to make them careful, distrustful of self, stripped of self-sufficiency and spiritual pride, humble in their views of their own wisdom and insufficiency, and sensing they are kept by the power of God through faith, lest like those before them they prove unfaithful and turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.
He sent messengers to guard truth and then sent His own Son as heir to gather fruit, but the Jewish people abused the messengers and lifted the heir on the cross at Calvary. The Son so sent is appointed heir of all things, made the worlds, is the brightness of God's glory and the exact image of His person, upholds all things by powerful word, purged sins by Himself, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The verse is a warning to profit from that parable by giving returns for God-given opportunities and privileges and bearing fruit in season, and not to repeat impenitence that brings the wrath of the Lamb falling like a rock to grind to powder.