Who has spoken through the prophets

Introduction

We’re in the part of the Nicene Creed which is about the Holy Spirit. So far we’re thought about how he’s the Lord and Giver of Life; and he proceeds from the Father and the Son; and he is to be worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. He is to be worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son, because, with them, he is God. The God we worship and glorify is three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are three persons, but one God. And since all three are God, then all three persons of the Trinity deserve to be worshipped and glorified.

In the next line of the Creed, we confess and proclaim that we believe in the Holy Spirit ‘who has spoken through the prophets’.

Biblical witness (1)

The classic text for supporting this is in 2 Peter 1:21, where Peter wrote that ‘prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’ So, no prophet spoke by himself, but only by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enabled the prophets to speak.

And we have examples of the Holy Spirit doing precisely this in the Old and New Testaments. In 2 Samuel 23:2, for example, David wrote: ‘The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.’ And Ezekiel wrote in Ezekiel 11:5: ‘Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and he told me to say, This is what the Lord says….’

Then in Luke 1, Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit and blessed Mary. And after the birth of John the Baptist, Zechariah was filled with the Spirit and began to praise the Lord. And on both occasions, the Holy Spirit inspired them to speak about the coming of the Saviour.

In Acts 4:8, we’re told that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and then he began to speak. We read the same thing about Paul in Acts 13:9. And in Acts 21:11, the prophet Agabus declared to Paul a message from the Holy Spirit.

And so, we have cases in the Old and New Testaments where people were inspired to speak by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was speaking through them, which is what we confess and proclaim when we say the Nicene Creed.

Biblical witness (2)

However, when the Creed mentions the prophets, it’s probably referring, not just to the people I’ve already mentioned: David and Ezekiel and Elizabeth and Agabus and so on. The Creed is probably referring to the biblical writers. All the biblical writers are prophets in the sense that the Holy Spirit spoke through them. And the message he spoke through them has now been written down and preserved in written form. It’s been written down and preserved in the Bible.

The classic text regarding the inspiration of the Scriptures is 2 Timothy 3:16+17: ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ We breath out our words when we speak and God breathed out his word to us by means of the Holy Spirit, who inspired the biblical writers in such a way so that what they wrote down for us is the word of God to us.

Then there’s Acts 1:16. Peter stood up to speak to the believers about choosing someone to replace Judas. And he began what he said by saying to them: ‘Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David.’ So, the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of David to produce the Scriptures.

In Acts 28, which we were studying on Sunday morning, Paul introduced a quotation from the Old Testament book of Isaiah by saying that ‘The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through the prophet Isaiah….’ So, what we read in the book of Isaiah was from the Holy Spirit who spoke through Isaiah the prophet.

In Hebrews 3:7, the writer to the Hebrews introduced a quotation from the Psalms with the words, ‘So, as the Holy Spirit says….’

And in each of the seven letters to the churches which are recorded for us in the book of Revelation, John says that he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Those letters, recorded for us in the Scriptures, were from the Holy Spirit.

So, God the Holy Spirit spoke through the biblical writers. And the message he spoke through them has been written down and preserved for God’s people in every generation in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. And since this is the case — since the Scriptures come from the Holy Spirit — then Paul is able to describe the word of God as the sword of the Spirit.

Explanation

When we say that the Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets and through the biblical writers. we’re saying something about him. We’re saying that he is a person who can speak. So, he’s not an impersonal force. The Spirit is not just another term for God’s power. The Spirit is not an ‘it’. The Holy Spirit is a divine person who speaks.

Oddly though, we rarely hear him speak in a direct way. One writer (Sanders) points out that we don’t hear him say, ‘I am the Holy Spirit’ or ‘I, the Holy Spirit, say this.’ And the only time we come across direct quotations which are attributed to him are Acts 10:19+20 and Acts 13:2. In Acts 10, the Spirit told Peter to meet the men who had come from Cornelius. And in Acts 13:2, the Holy Spirit told the believers in Antioch to set Paul and Barnabas apart for a missionary journey. Apart from those two places, we don’t hear the Spirit speak directly. The rest of the time, he speaks through people.

And so, the Creed is spot on when it says about the Spirit that he has spoken through the prophets. He does not speak directly to God’s people; instead he speaks through other people. And this is important, because Christians sometimes expect God to speak to them directly. They expect to hear a still, small voice from God. And then they worry about how to discern whether they’re hearing God the Spirit or whether they’re only listening to their own thoughts. But the Creed reminds us of what the Scriptures show us, which is that God the Holy Spirit doesn’t normally speak directly to anyone. Instead he has spoken to us through the prophets. And his message to us through them has been written down in the Scriptures. And so, we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures.

And when we say that the Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets and through the biblical writers, we’re saying something about the Scriptures. We’re saying that they are indeed the word of God. Each of the biblical writers used their own vocabulary and they have their own style. For instance, John’s gospel is very different from Mark’s gospel. Paul’s letters are very different from the letter of James. The history books of the Old Testament are very different from the poetry books. However, the Holy Spirit superintended the writing of all of it, so that what the biblical writers wrote, using their own vocabulary and style, is indeed the word of God. And since it’s the word of God, then we’re to receive it, believe it and obey it, because it is the word of God.

One writer (Sanders) makes the point that the Holy Spirit superintends Scripture from both ends. So, the Holy Spirit inspired the biblical writers to write the Scriptures in the first place. But if we’re to receive the Scriptures correctly, then we need the Spirit’s illumination. In other words, we need his help to understand and to believe what we read in God’s word. If we’re to benefit from the Scriptures, then we must seek his help.

And who better to help us to understand the Scriptures than the author of the Scriptures? And that’s who the Holy Spirit is. And that’s why, before we read the Bible at home, we should ask God for the help of his Spirit to understand and to believe and to obey what we read. And that’s why we must always seek God’s help for our Sunday services. God’s word will do us no good unless the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to receive it.

And so, we’re taught to read the Scriptures and to come to church humbly. We cannot come to God’s word with an attitude of self-sufficiency. Instead we must come with humility, depending on God the Holy Spirit to help us. Without him, we wouldn’t have the Scriptures at all. And without him, we can’t understand or believe the Scriptures. And so, we come humbly, and prayerfully, relying on his help always.