We are familiar with the concept of a spokesman or spokesperson. It’s a person who speaks for another person or group.
Zizi Kodwa is the South African presidential spokesmen. What Zizi says, the SA president says.
Sean Spicer, probably has one of the worst jobs in the world, he is the current spokesperson for President Donald Trump. Officially he is the White House Press Secretary. What Sean Spicer says Donald Trump says. Mr. Spicer must also explain what Donald Trump says and tweets.
Individuals and organizations have official spokesmen who speak for them or the organization.
One of the functions of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Triune God, is to be the spokesman of God.
How does God communicate with us?
Did God send an email from heaven? Does God have his own Twitter account?
No. The creator of the universe communicates with us:
By men and women
2 Peter 1:20-21 is a key verse about this:
…no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
In Old and New Testament times, men and women spoke, but when they spoke they spoke from God. They spoke God’s message to God’s people.
Through his Spirit
However, when they spoke, they were “carried along by the Holy Spirit”.
The Holy Spirit enable them to say what God wanted them to say. They weren’t robots or on remote control. They each had their own style, background and words, but nevertheless, what they said was what God wanted them to say because they were carried along by, or inspired by, the Holy Spirit of God.
We call this process “inspiration” (not dictation).
On the record
These men and women not only spoke God’s word as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, and they wrote it down for future generations.
And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. (2 Peter 1:15)
These men and women, not only spoke God’s word, they put it on the record.
These public records are what we know as the Bible.
The Bible is God’s Word, written; it is the revelation from God.
The Bible is not a record of man’s thoughts about God, but God’s thoughts about himself to man.
God speaks through what he has spoken
The Bible is not just a record of God’s Word in the past; it is God’s Word to us today.
The Bible is not just what God SAID, it’s what God SAYS.
For example, in Hebrews 3:7-8, the author quotes the OT, but note what he writes:
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit SAYS,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion…
As we read the Bible and hear the Bible correctly explained, it is the Holy Spirit speaking.
The Bible is unlike any other book on our planet; it’s God’s Word, written.
Wait, there’s more…
The Holy Spirit has inspired men and women to write what we have in the Bible. But he does more than that – the Spirit helps us to understand the Bible.
The natural person (the non-Christian person i.e. the person without the Spirit) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2: 14)
If you are not a Christian, you won’t understand the Bible because it’s spiritually discerned.
If you are a Christian, and therefore possess the Spirit, you will understand the Bible because the Holy Spirit will give you understanding*. As we read, study, discuss and wrestle with what God has said, God speaks to us, challenges and changes us.
The Holy Spirit is the spokesman of God.
I guess the question is: are we listening to God?
What a tragedy if we aren’t.
*That’s not to say there aren’t some difficult passages in the Bible that we struggle to understand. Even the Apostle Peter found some of the Apostle Paul’s writing hard to understand! (cf. 2 Peter 3:16) However, the Bible’s message and important doctrines are, for the Christian, not hard to understand.