Does God still speak today?
Yes. God has spoken, and God still speaks. He spoke through the prophets and has spoken finally and fully in His Son; He speaks through His word, which is God-breathed; He speaks by the Holy Spirit, who opens the word and guides God's people into truth; and He speaks to the hearts of those who hear His voice and follow. God is not silent today: He speaks in Christ, in Scripture, and by His Spirit.
This question arose from studying Why does God seem silent when I pray? and Can I trust the Bible?.
Begin by reading
Go into the Word
Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
God has spoken, and finally in His Son
The Bible opens the question of whether God still speaks by showing how much He has already said. Hebrews begins, 'God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son.' God is not a distant God who has gone quiet; He has spoken through prophets, and He has spoken fully and finally in Christ, and all of it is gathered in the word He has given us.
God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
God still speaks through His word today
The word God has given is not a museum piece; it is living. Paul says all Scripture is 'God-breathed' and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete. The writer of Hebrews calls the word of God 'living, and active.' Peter calls the prophetic word 'the more sure word of prophecy,' a lamp shining in a dark place. When we read Scripture, the living God speaks to us.
Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts:
God speaks by His Spirit
The Spirit who inspired the word is the Spirit who brings it home. Jesus promised, 'when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth,' and 'he will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.' Paul speaks of words 'which the Holy Spirit teaches,' and Jesus pictures His people as sheep who hear His voice and follow. The Spirit makes the written word heard in the heart.
However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.
He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.
Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
God speaks today, and we are to hear
Psalm 95 frames God's speaking as a present address: 'Today, oh that you would hear his voice!' Hear His voice, and do not harden the heart, as at Meribah in the wilderness. The writer of Hebrews applies it directly to the church: 'as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts.' And John writes that God's people hear what the Spirit says to the churches. God's speaking is not only in the past; He speaks now, and the first response is to hear and not to harden the heart.
for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.
So we listen to the word God has given
Because God has spoken completely in Christ and in Scripture, we do not wait for new words to be added to the Bible. But we are to listen, and listen well: to study the word He has given, to hear it preached, to test what is claimed in His name by the Scriptures as the Bereans did, to ask for the Spirit to open our eyes, and to obey what we hear. Faithful Christians differ about whether God grants new prophetic words today, but we all agree on this: God has spoken, and His word is sufficient, and by His Spirit He is still speaking to every heart that will hear.
“Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Don’t you add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.
Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.
Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice! Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.
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