They knew Him not, nor the voices of
the prophets which are read every sabbath. Acts 13:27
We would
remind our readers that these messages are constituted by a principle which
governs so much of the Bible. It is that, deeper than the words of
Scripture, there is a voice; that it was – and is – possible to hear
the words and miss the voice. The words are the statements; the voice is the
meaning. We have proved this to be the case by such a statement as that in
Isaiah 6:9: “Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed (margin:
‘continually’) but perceive not.” This is the condition lying behind our basic
quotation in Acts 13:27.
It is
sometimes positively amazing and staggering what even Christians – and
Christian leaders – can do and say because of this deaf ear to the Spirit. They
can take up and pass on most pernicious reports which are sheer lies and do
untold harm to others and the Lord's interests because they do not so walk in
the Spirit as to have Him say within: "That is not true." It is one
thing to include belief in the Holy Spirit as a tenet of Christian doctrine,
and it may be quite another thing to know when "the Spirit of truth"
witnesses within the heart to the truth or the falsehood. It is significant
that both the Remnant and the Overcomer are marked by this "hearing
the voice." Jesus placed the ultimate issue of Life or death
upon this "hearing the voice (not just the words) of the Son of
Man."
"Every
sabbath" they heard the words, but not the voice.... Let us pray
for the ear of Samuel –
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