"Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, "An angel has spoken to Him." Jesus answered and said, "This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes." (John 12:27-30)
In this morning's passage, John tells the story of how God spoke to Jesus audibly. This was not the first time that this had happened. We read in the Gospels that God spoke both at Jesus Baptism (Mk 1:11) and at the Mount of Transfiguration (Mk 9:2-8). In each of those accounts very few if additional people heard God's voice. At Jesus' baptism its possible that only Jesus and John heard the voice. At the Mount of Transfiguration only Peter, James, and John were present (Mk 9:2).
Here, however, there were many who were present. In verse 29 it says that a crowd had gathered. Yet, after hearing this audible voice, these people dismissed the possibility of having heard God speak and instead reasoned in their minds that it had simply thundered or that an Angel had spoken.
There are many in this world who deny the miraculous. They live with the motto that everything can be explained through Nature and Science. These people call themselves "Naturalists" and follow a Naturalistic philosphy of life that demands that all miracles and miraculous events be disregarded and considered anti-intellectual. The only things that we can know for sure, these people reason, is that which can be verified through Science.
I once overheard an interview on a skeptic's talk radio show called The Infidel. He was not a believer but was discussing with a Christian the concept of miracles. He said that there was not enough evidence to be convinced of Christianity and at one point flippidly stated that "If God would simply do something miraculous in my life and show me beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is real then I would believe him." The Christian responded correctly stating that God has in fact revealed Himself to all people and that this man was simply not willing to believe.
Unfortunately, this is very true. For just as these listeners to the very voice of God chose to disbelieve so too did the atheist talk radio show host. Instead of looking for answers, they instead chose to look for reasons why not to believe. Claiming to be wise, they became foolish.
The apostle Paul stated it this way in Romans 1:21-23 "For even though they knew God, the did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish hearts were darkened, professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." (NASB)
Paul describes those who know the truth but refuse it as fools. They exchange truth for lies and make something other than God their god. For many today, their god is Science. They believe that all things can be solved through Science and the Scientific Method.
Don’t make that mistake. There are things in this world that we know to be true and yet cannot be proven through Science. The philosophy teacer Jay Budziszewski refers to them as "what we can't not know". There are things in which we know inherently. They are things in which we cant not know. One of them is that there is a god. This is why the Scriptures spend no time in attempting to prove this point.
Yet, people continue to be skeptic and refuse to believe. Unfortunately, even those professing to be Christians disobey God and choose not to do things that are clearly stated in Scripture. Issues like Baptism and others are often things that divide Christians and yet should be the very things that unite us.
If you are a skeptic, stop looking for reasons not to believe and start looking for reasons why to believe. God promises that if you truly seek Him and admit that He even might exist that He will reveal Himself to you (Jer 29:13). However, if you refuse to seek Him you will certainly never find Him.
If you are a Christian, stop looking for ways to make the Scriptures say what you want them to say. Start believing in what you know that they say. If Scripture clearly tells you to do something, do it.
Our time on this Earth is short. Miracles happen everyday and the greatest miracle that God ever has done is when He changes a Sinner into a Saint.
May the Lord find us all faithfully seeking Him when He returns.
Joshua
No comments:
Post a Comment