Hearing and Believing God's Voice

There are many voices in the world. Many people say one thing, and others say another – it is impossible to know ‘What is truth?’, as Pilate asked Jesus Christ. But we know what Christ said to His father, during His prayer in John Chapter 17: “Sanctify them with your truth, YOUR WORD is Truth”. The Word of God is the only valid truth in the whole world. And God’s Word is not only a Book, but it is a Person: Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Word of God that became flesh, and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ was the last and definitive Message that God was speaking to the world. As it says in Hebrews 1:1-2: "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world."

What the writer of Hebrews means is that God used to speak to the world in many times and in various ways through His prophets in the past, but in these last days, He sent His only begotten Son to speak His perfect and definitive word to us. Jesus Christ and His life, death and resurrection – the Gospel – was the last Word that God had to say to this world that is dead in sins. And it is by hearing, believing and following this Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ the Gospel, that a sinful man is saved, and is given everlasting life.

The reason why God has made hearing and believing in the Gospel as the only way of salvation is because sin originally sprang forth from the rejection of the voice of God for the voice of others. Eve sinned first by listening to the voice of the devil, who spoke the lie to her, and she believed that voice, and followed that voice over God’s. But in Genesis Chapter 3:6, we can see that she did not just do what the devil told her to do, but she also followed her own thoughts, which were influenced by the devil, and followed the desire of her own heart. Thus sin is never the Satan's fault alone, but equally our fault. And Adam listened to the voice of his wife over God’s, and believed her when she preached her own thoughts to him. He fell in sin, and the entire human race was subjected to sin, pain, death and eternal condemnation – all because he rejected the voice of God for the voice of another.

So we see that there are 3 voices that are hindering us from listening to the voice of the one True God: the voice of the Devil, the voice of our own mind, and the voice of world or man. These three led the entire human race astray, making all of them do the will of the devil, the will of self and the will of man, over God’s good and perfect will.

Let us ask for ourselves, even as Christians: What is it that makes us to sin against God? What is the main sin that leads us to all other ‘fruits of sin’, such as lusting, lying, anger, hatred, etc. Is it not listening and believing and following these other three voices? When we were lost, and had not the Holy Spirit living in us, there were only these three voices in us, making us only to do those things which we are ashamed. We were slaves of sin, listening to our own desires, obeying the voice of our flesh, which was influenced by the devil and encouraged by fellow sinners. Sin was the only choice for us.

But what happened, that led us out of the darkness into the light of God? Was it not the voice of Jesus Christ? Was it not the Word of God which preached to us the Good News of Jesus Christ? We listened to this voice, and we knew that this was the voice of Jesus Christ, the Creator of the world. It killed these other three voices that were in us, and led us into God’s marvelous light, and we believed joyfully in what Christ has done for us. And we were led by this voice, the voice of the Spirit, and became the sons and daughters of the Almighty God!

But what happened during the way, which made us stop walking this good Way? What has made us back-slidden from this Way? Was it not listening to and believing and obeying these other voices, to the voice of the Devil, to the commandments and doctrines of man, and to the voice of the world that teaches us lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes and the pride in possessions? We have committed spiritual adultery against God, by listening to these other voices rather than God’s.

In the bible, revival always came when people stopped listening to these wicked voices and began to listen to the voice of the Almighty God again. When the King Josiah found the book of the Law which had been buried in the temple, and read the book of the Law, His heart was torn, and He repented before God with weeping. And what did God say to him about that?:

2 Kings 22:16-20: "Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD. Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.'" And they brought back word to the king."

God said to Josiah “I also have heard you”. When we repent before God and are willing to listen to His voice alone, and we reject all these other voices, then God also begins to listen to our prayers. Until we are listening to Him, God will not listen to us. And we see how Josiah afterwards brought a total revival upon the land. Why? Because he listened to the voice of God that was written in the Scriptures and not any other voices:

2 Kings 23:1-25: "Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made forBaal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech.And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south ofthe mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. Then he said, "What is that monument that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel." And he said, "Let him be; let no man move his bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that werein the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.

Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him."

But here is the issue with listening to God’s voice that plagues modern Christianity today: how do you know that you have heard from GOD? For everyone claims that they are hearing from God. We have heard so many times “God told me this, and God told me that”. But how do we know for sure?

As Jesus Christ said to His Father, “YOUR WORD is truth”, His Scriptures is the Word of God. Josiah did not listen to his own voice and thoughts and ripped His clothes in repentance. He read the SCRIPTURES! Listening to and believing in and following the Scriptures what brought about revival in His heart.

Also listen to what Jesus did:

Luke 4:3-13: "The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'" And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, "'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,' and "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time."

Every time the Devil wanted to start a conversation with Him, Jesus Christ only replied with “IT IS WRITTEN”. The Scriptures are the definitive voice of God. It is the living Word of God. If Jesus Christ listened to the Scriptures, believed the Scriptures and followed the Scriptures, what makes us to think that we can listen to anything else as the true Word of God? What makes us think that we can listen to our voice or imaginations and call that the "Word of God"? Are we saying our thoughts and our words have more authority or equal authority to the Holy Scriptures? God has spoken all that He needs to speak through His Bible. There are no more prophesies, no more revelations than what has already been revealed to us in Bible through Jesus Christ. The truth has already come through Jesus Christ. There are no more profound truths to be found anywhere else but in His Gospel, which has already written in the Bible, which has been proclaimed first by Christ’s eyewitnesses and subsequently by those who have believed through them.

But is not the Church today ravaged by wolves who lead Christ’s sheep astray, who say “God says…” but instead they speak their own minds and their own thoughts? God has not spoken to them in any voice – for God has already spoke all things through His Son and Christ’s Apostles – but they still say, “Thus says the Lord…”, making their own voice to be more important than the voice of God speaking through the Scriptures. They make themselves to be more important than Christ, who is the Word of God in flesh. They justify their own thoughts by mis-interpreting and misquoting Bible verses, not realizing that in doing so they have become as the devil. They have become thieves of God’s word, as Jeremiah said. Is not God speaking to today's Church through this passage in Jeremiah?

Jeremiah 23: 16-40 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, 'It shall be well with you'; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No disaster shall come upon you.'"

For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
Behold, the storm of the LORD!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the LORD will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his heart.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

"I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.

But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.

"Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD. Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who steal my words from one another. Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their tongues and declare, 'declares the LORD.' Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.

"When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, 'What is the burden of the LORD?' you shall say to them, 'You are the burden, and I will cast you off, declares the LORD.' And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, 'The burden of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his household. Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, 'What has the LORD answered?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?' But 'the burden of the LORD' you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. Thus you shall say to the prophet, 'What has the LORD answered you?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?' But if you say, 'The burden of the LORD,' thus says the LORD, 'Because you have said these words, "The burden of the LORD," when I sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The burden of the LORD,'" therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.'"

If we want to live again, we must stop listening to the voice of these false shepherds and false prophets, who speak not the words of God, but words of man, and we must listen again to the voice of the Son of God: John 5:25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

Many times God has been speaking to us, through the Scriptures that have been delivered to us by the Spirit, or by the preaching, or by godly friends or family who were near us. But we have ignored the voice of God, and suppressed the truth of God’s word by our unrighteousness. Therefore we have heaped upon ourselves judgements because we have suppressed God’s voice, while listening, believing, following and obeying other the voice of false prophets, who only spoke the words that were smooth to hear. Thus we have trampled the glory of God underfoot.

If we continue to not listen to the voice of Christ, then we plainly show that we are not the sheep of God. We plainly show that we are goats, having never been chosen by God from the foundation of the world:

John 10:1-6 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

See what Christ is saying: “The sheep hear His voice… and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice… a stranger they will not follow … but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers”. Let us examine ourselves: do we know Christ’s voice? Do we know when Christ speaks to us through the Scripture, through the Holy Spirit? Do we have the ears to hear? If not, we are found reprobates, and bastards, goats who were never the sheep of His pasture. If you don’t know Christ’s voice, or have never heard Him speaking to you, you are not His sheep. Do we follow Him? If we claim to know His voice, we WILL follow Him, is what Christ is saying. Do we follow what He says to us? Do we live according to His will? Or do we do our own will? Do we follow His Words and commands or do we follow our own heart? Following Him does not MAKE US His sheep, but it is the evidence that we are His sheep and we hear and know His voice.

Do we follow strangers’ voice? Look what Christ says: “A stranger they WILL NOT follow”. If we are following the false Christs, the false Messiahs and the false gods of this world, then we clearly prove that we are not His sheep, nor we do we have ears to ear, and that we are not following Him. If we are following another god, let us repent, and turn back to the voice that called us from the darkness. Lastly, we do flee, run away, from other people’s voices? Do we run from these false prophets and false christs and false teachers with their false gospels? Or do we run straight into their arms as though they are our shepherds? Do we love the voice of the devil, of man, and of our own selves more than Christ’s voice? When we are led astray by these things, do we run away and straight away cry after our Shepherd? If not, we are not Christians. We have not been chosen. We are lost. We are goats. Or worse yet, we may be the wolves in sheep’s clothing ourselves, who have led many astray. Hell awaits us if that is the case.

Let us run into the arms of Jesus Christ. If we have refused to listen to Him, and have listened to the million voices of the world, and have lost the way, let us cry after Christ our Shepherd as David did in Psalm 119:176: I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

Let us ask Christ to seek after us. If we are not the sheep of God, and we do not know His voice, then let us become the sheep of God by asking God to make us a New Creation in Christ. God is able to make us into His Sheep. He is able to give us ears to hear Christ’s voice. He is able to grant us the faith to believe in His voice, and the faith to follow and obey His voice. Let us run after Him and stay with Him, as Peter said: John 6:68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

Let us listen to God’s voice in this passage, in which He pleads that we listen to His voice, and not our own thoughts:

Psalm 81:8-16

Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

"But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

When Jesus Christ took Peter, John and James on the Mount, Jesus Christ was transfigured and there appeared two great men of God beside them: Moses and Elijah. But see what it is written:

Luke 9:28-36 "Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah"— not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen."

See what it says. God spoke from the clouds. God’s voice was actually heard from heaven! Yet what did God’s voice say? “This is my Son, my Chosen One, listen to HIM!” God’s voice said: “Listen to JESUS!” And look what happened, Moses and Elijah disappeared. Why? To stress that Jesus Christ alone is the only natural Son of God. And secondly, to stress that HIM ALONE IS THE ONLY ONE WORTH HEARING. Moses was great and Elijah was awesome, but without God’s grace they are nothing but worthless sinners. Only Christ remained on the mount. And see Peter, who uttered silly words in the presence of God, but as he was saying those things, the cloud overshadowed Him, and what was God’s answer “LISTEN TO JESUS CHRIST MY SON!” And see what it says: “they kept silent”.

We do well to shut our mouths like Peter and stop saying silly things, and listen alone to Jesus Christ. This is the command of God. Be still and know that Jesus Christ alone is GOD! We don’t need to listen to anyone else. We don’t need to make smart comments. It is God’s will that we listen to Jesus Christ and follow His commandments. Martha had a lot to say about how Jesus should do many things, but Mary humbly listened to Christ’s voice, and thus she was praised over Martha. Let us listen to Christ! For in listening, believing and obeying Christ is the sum of our Christian life. By this, God will begin to listen to our prayers, and revival shall come. Let us give our undivided attention to Christ alone, and obey Him.

Image by Ambro