132 – THE SILENCE OF GOD

SEMESTER 2

132 – THE SILENCE OF GOD

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

COURSE: THEOLOGY II LESSON # 32
THE SILENCE OF GOD

Read II Pet. 3:1-9, Rev. 6:10-11, Ps. 50:3, Ps. 2.

INTRODUCTION:

1. Like wrath compared to longsuffering, or justice compared to permission, the silence of an omnipotent and omniscient God seems very strange to impatient creatures.
2. When we behold the world’s wickedness and consider that it is witnessed by an infinite God, it seems inconceivable that He would hold His peace.

III: The strange dialogue of Revelation 6:10-11.

3. What is happening? The plot of Ps. 2:2 and 3 is being acted out in a detailed and protracted drama.

I. THE STRANGE APPARENT PASSIVENESS

1. This is to accentuate that God is not manifesting Himself in public miracles.

i. As to good widows, sons are not being raised.
ii. As to judgment, Herods are not being eaten by worms.

2. You hear of “shenanigans” but not miracles like Moses at the Red Sea, Elijah on Carmel, or Paul on Cyprus.
3. This does not deny miracles, but it denies the public ones where God’s hand is unquestionably seen by all.

i. To some this is a trial of faith.
ii. To others it is an occasion to sin more and more.
iii. It is a frustration to others who make wrong comparisons.

4. The claims of “miracles today” are basically tongues and healing, and are sadly lacking Bible parallel.
5. The saints in Russian prisons are not released as were Peter and Paul.
6. Millions of saints have been martyred and the sun kept shining and the rocks were not rent.

II. THE EXPLANATION OF GOD’S SILENCE

1. Not because God cannot deliver, He surely can. (Job 23:13)
2. Not because He does not care for our grief.

III: A lot of “Daniels” have been eaten by lions, yet He surely cares.

3. It is not because He does not know, or has abnegated His throne.
4. It is not, as some think, because He is crippled by the weak faith of His people.
5. God is, in fact, speaking and acting even as concerns the minutest event, but secretly, not openly.
6. The nature of His work in this age does not require open signs, but rather forbids them. (Rom. 10:17)
7. Miracles were never and are not now to prove God’s love for and invitation to sinners.
8. Men are, and were seldom, if ever, brought to Christ by public miracles.

III: The dialogue between the rich man in hell and Abraham.

III. MIRACLES AND JUDGMENT

1. Most public miracles in Scripture related to judgment, not salvation.

III: The miracles of the animals coming into the ark, the plagues of Egypt, Elijah, Gideon, Jesus, and “Woe unto thee, Beth­saida.”

2. The church epistles are not occupied with miracles, but the future judgment of Revelation is.

i. The means and the effect of the antichrist.
ii. The hand of God moving against him.

3. When God next speaks by public miracles it will be in fulfill­ment of Ps. 2:4 and II Pet. 3:10.
4. Gods silence today is in reality the longsuffering voice of mercy.
5. God grant that we may be able to persuade men by His word, and that they will obey the “still small voice,” before the rocks and mountains begin to fall.