Introduction: When COVID forced me to teach my law classes by video conferencing, I lost part of my connection to my students. Seeing their heads in boxes on a screen was much less informative than seeing their entire person sitting in front of me in the classroom. When Adam and Eve sinned, their next conversation with God, which they tried to avoid, was face-to-face. When their son Cain killed his brother and was sentenced to be “a wanderer,” he had a very interesting regret. In Genesis 4:13-14 he declared that his punishment was “greater than I can bear.” And he explained that part of his unbearable punishment was that “from your [God’s] face I shall be hidden.” Imagine that! Cain regretted losing face-to-face contact with God. Cain’s regret mirrors our situation. We cannot have face-to-face contact with God. Yet God still wants to communicate with us. The way in which He does that is the subject of this series of lessons. Let’s dive into the question of how God speaks to us!
I. The Hidden
A. Read Genesis 3:1-3. Where was the forbidden tree located? (“In the midst of the garden.”)
B. Read Genesis 2:9. Where was the Tree of Life located? (“In the midst of the garden.”)
1. Whose idea was it to put the tree that humans had to eat from to live (see Genesis 3:22) next to the tree that would kill them if they ate it?
2. Since God is much smarter than we are, and none of us would think this was a good idea, what does that tell you about the origin of this idea? (I think this was an arranged contest between God and Satan to see if humans would be faithful to God. Satan was not allowed to constantly tempt the new humans. This is the agreed-upon test.)
C. Read Genesis 3:4-6. In three verses we are able to see how humans were plunged into sin and eternal death. Read Genesis 3:7-8. Why would Adam and Eve hide from God? When Cain sinned, he wanted to be able to see God’s face!
D. Read Genesis 3:9-11. Do you believe Adam when he says that his reason for hiding from God was that he was naked? (In fact, verse 7 informs us that he was not naked. I think Adam was ashamed and afraid.)
1. Obviously, God knew where Adam and Eve were located and what they had done. Why was God calling for them? (God wanted to speak with them.)
E. We are not going to review the punishment meted out to Adam and Eve or their silly excuses for sinning. Read Genesis 3:22-24. Why are they driven out of the Garden of Eden, their home? (So that they would not be able to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life and live forever.)
F. Read Genesis 4:9-10. In these verses we read that God is having a face-to-face discussion with Cain. Read Exodus 33:11 and Exodus 33:20-23. How do you explain that God tells Moses he will die if he sees God’s face?
1. After the sin of his parents, and after murdering his brother, Cain has what reads like a face-to-face conversation with God. We discussed in the introduction that Cain could not bear to be hidden from God’s face. Yet Moses is said to have face-to-face conversations with God when God says that Moses cannot see his face and live. What is going on? (Let’s add Genesis 18:1-2 to this problem. It seems that God shields His glory so that humans can live, but at the same time has intimate conversations with humans.)
2. Why do you think that humans will die if they see God’s face?
G. Read 1 Timothy 6:15-16. What does this suggest is the reason we cannot see God face-to-face? (He dwells in “unapproachable light.” That is a reference to God’s glory. We are sinful humans, and He is our sinless God. A mortal human is not constituted to endure God’s glory in its fullness. When the Bible refers to what appear to be face-to-face conversations with God, we must conclude that God has mediated His presence in some way. He has made His presence survivable.)
1. This lesson is not about the glory of God, it is about communicating with God. What do the texts we have just studied tell us about the motivations of God and humans to communicate with each other? (Often when humans are angry or disappointed with another, they refuse to talk. God had reason to be outraged that humans turned against Him and sinned. Yet God pursued a conversation with Adam and Eve. Cain reveals how important it was to him, the first murderer, to converse with God. We need and want to be able to communicate with God.)
II. God’s Agents
A. Read Hebrews 1:1-2. Let’s spend some time on these verses. When the writer of Hebrews says that God spoke to us “in many ways” through the prophets, what ways can you recall? (One way that God spoke to the people was through the books of the Old Testament. We recall that he sometimes sent the prophets visions, dreams and symbolic actions.)
1. Before we get into a discussion of Jesus’ role, let me ask you why God would speak through prophets? Why not speak to all of us individually, through a mediated presence? Why not speak to us individually through angels? (If you have read the Old Testament, you will know that God spoke through those who had a special relationship with Him. Once the number of humans exceeded just a few, God speaks through designated people.)
B. Look again at Hebrews 1:2. In the last days, God spoke to us through Jesus. Is this an answer to my prior question about why God did not speak to us individually, even through a mediated presence? (Jesus is clearly a “mediated presence.” In the incarnation, God made Himself known to us in a form humans could see and hear. Reading the accounts of His life, give us a much better insight into the nature and will of God.)
C. Read Hebrews 1:3. What about Jesus makes Him a superior communicator of God’s will over the prophets?
D. Read Numbers 12:6-8. What does this add to the question of why God uses prophets as opposed to speaking to all? (The strong suggestion here is that most are not worthy to be prophets, and being spoken to directly by God is very rare.)
III. The Holy Spirit
A. Read John 16:7. When we looked at Hebrews 1, the message was that God spoke through prophets, and then He upgraded His means of communication by sending Jesus. This text seems to say that a new advantage in God’s way of communication is coming. Is that how you understand this text? Who do you understand is this next messenger? (Jesus is saying that when He leaves, the Holy Spirit will come – and that gives us an advantage.)
B. Read John 16:8-13. What role does the Holy Spirit play in communicating God’s will? (Verse 12 tells us that the Holy Spirit will teach things that Jesus could not because the timing was not right.)
C. Jesus’ prediction of the Holy Spirit coming in power was fulfilled in Acts 2. Have we now arrived at what seems to be the ideal method of communication – that God speaks directly to each of us? (It is like we have come full circle.)
1. We have seen in these verses the vector of God’s communication with humans. First, it was face-to-face. Then it was through prophets. Then it was through Jesus. Now it is through the Holy Spirit. Has the coming of the Holy Spirit negated the reason for God to communicate through prophets? (One caveat here is that the Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament. Acts 2 brought a whole new level of Spirit involvement.)
a. If you answer, “no,” to the question of whether the Holy Spirit negates the continued reason for prophets, tell me why you reach that conclusion?
D. Read Joel 2:28-31. What does this teach us about the relationship between the Holy Spirit and prophets before the end? (The question of prophets versus the Holy Spirit is not an either or question. The Holy Spirit powers the work of the prophets.)
E. Look again at Joel 2:28-30. Does this sound like God is using those rare people in the Old Testament to communicate to humans? (The sense of this is that all sorts of people, from all sectors of life, are prophesying. Young men and women, male and female servants, are not the classic group through whom God spoke in the Old Testament.)
1. Why do you think God makes this alteration? (It is more consistent with each of us having access to the Holy Spirit.)
2. How should we respond to messages that come from this “all flesh” group who is now prophesying? Should we test them against what God told the prophets of the Old Testament? Should we test them against what the Holy Spirit tells us? (Read 1 John 4:1. It says that we should test. The Bible gives us an objective standard for testing.)
3. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21. Are we supposed to reject modern claims of prophecy simply because they are claims of prophecy? Are we supposed to accept them simply because someone says the Holy Spirit gave the message? (“No” to both. Paul tells us not to despise prophecies, but also tells us to “test everything.”)
F. Friend, these last questions launch us into an exploration of God’s communications with those of us who are living in the last days. God has shown a deep desire to communicate with us. Will you open your heart to His messages to you?
IV. Next week: The Call of a Prophet.
Copr. 2026, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.
