Does The Final Prophet Or Snooki Have Your Ear?

The ever quotable AW Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us… Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.”

We can be very religious, but if we are not utterly fascinated with the person of Jesus Christ our worship is base. Scripture says the Glory of God is found in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). If we would be acquainted with God’s glory we must find it in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Christ revealed Himself to be many things. One office He fulfilled was that of prophet; not just any prophet, but in an ultimate everlasting way THE FINAL PROPHET for all peoples and ages. Scripture communicates this in Hebrews 1:1-2:

¹ In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

Hebrews 1:1

In Hebrews 1:1 we find that God speaks-He is not silent. He reveals Himself. Only a person can speak. Only a person who wants to relate to other persons can speak and communicate.

God is a person, with a personality, with a heart to communicate to us. He is neither stoic nor neutral about communicating truth to us.

Before, in the Old Testament, He spoke through various prophets to Israel. Who was a prophet? Not a purple haired lady or some greasy haired charlatan in a three-piece suit who waxes, “Sow into our ministry and we’ll give you miracle water/prayer cloth/financial anointing!”

The OT prophets words were tough; Forget seeker sensitive, more like seeker abrasive. Their consummate message:

Don’t put your trust in the living God for coats and boats! Trust Him because His perfect wrath will fall on you if you don’t! 

Some prophets were subjected to utter rejection while carrying out strange and radical displays of obedience. (read about Hosea here)

John the Baptist, the forerunner prophet of Christ, was a wild man with an uncompromising message of repentance.

A prophet is one who simply speaks for God. They are, in the moment they are prophesying, the mouthpiece of God (2 Peter 1:21). God could have spoken with a thundering voice from the sky, but that would neglect the human incarnational component He was intimating. In an awe-inspiring way God chooses sinful men as His blessed ambassadors.

This speaking happened “in many ways.” (verse 1) Through creation, as Psalm 19 shows, nature speaks praises of her Creator. God speaks now through the recorded lives and words of Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, Samuel and David. God can even speak through the sacrificial system of Leviticus and endless genealogies of Numbers. Though the message is singular, God has diversified the means with which He would speak to man.

For us to say “God has not spoken to me,” is like covering our ears during a rock concert and saying “I can’t hear anything.” If we aren’t hearing it’s our fault. The problem isn’t with the decibel level of God’s voice, it is with the selective hearing of our own ears.

God’s creation, God’s prophets and Christ’s blood have spoken with clarity, and all who spurn their word will be condemned justly.

Hebrews 1:2

Verse 2 says He has spoken in these “Last days through the Son” Usually, in the NT, the “last days” refer to the advent of Christ into the world. I’m not convinced the disciples had a “Left Behind” dispensational understanding of the end times. The beginning of the “last days” started with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So in a real sense the disciples believed they were living in the last days. In the person of Christ, we find God’s final communication to humanity for these last days.

As CS Lewis stated “Christ is the self-expression of the father.” The Father had one thing to say to us, and He breathed out Christ into the world as the message in the flesh. As the final prophet, He is the living Word of God to humanity (John 1;1).

Have we heard God’s voice through the work and person of Jesus Christ? Has the magnitude and beauty of the cross ravaged us? Has the wonder and power of the empty grave captivated us?

Both the Old and the New Testament speak of Him, and thus the whole series of biblical literature testify to the Person, work, grace and glory of the Son of God. Christ said:

“You search the Scriptures because in them you seek eternal life. But these Scriptures testify of Me!”(John 5:39)

Our privilege is to see Christ in it all from Genesis to Maps. Jesus in every bible story, character, prophecy, praise, lament, everything.

He is the center of the story. His words do not reveal information, they reveal Him!

God’s word is “God –breathed” and He continues to speak to us through his word about Jesus. (2 Tim 3:16) The testimony of Christ is the spirit of prophecy. (Rev 19:10)

What is the final prophet saying to me? This is no ordinary man making unsubstantiated claims. This not just another Mohammed, Joseph Smith or Jim Jones. This is the “heir of all things.”  Christ owns it all, for through Him God made the universe (Hebrews 1:2) Yet this is still a person; through God’s word in the power of the Holy Spirit a word is being spoken to us. The Comforter has many things to say. There is a message that is being communicated right now. That is why Jesus and the prophets proclaim again and again,

“He who has an ear let him hear!”

Which begs a personal question:

Who has your ear?

Facebook, Fox News, Hollywood, ESPN, Twitter? (I’m wounding my own pride)

Some voices have no right to speak into your life.

You can listen to Snooki.

Or you can listen to the one who speaks for God.

This one Who speaks is very God of God.

Are you listening to Him?

He is speaking. In and through Christ.

Listen.

Bryan Daniels