Can you imagine having a conversation with God, listening directly to him? It is possible. You can have the very words of God, if you know how to listen properly.
The writer of the book of Hebrews talks about Jesus, the Son through whom God has spoken in the last days, and he says that Jesus is the exact representation of his being:
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Hebrews 1:1-3
Jesus was a man who walked here on the earth about 2000 years ago.
But he was no mere man. Not only a man, but much, much more.
Jesus is also the radiance of God’s glory.
What does that mean? The radiance of God’s glory.
The word radiance means emittance. God’s glory has been emitted from God and that is who Jesus is. He is God’s glory that was emitted here upon the earth. God’s glory means his high renown. That he is praised and magnified because of who he is.
And he displays his glory through his incredible acts. In this case, it says that the Son – Jesus – is the radiance of his glory. He provided purification for sins which finished the work. No more work needed to be done…by anyone. Not by Jesus. Not by God the Father. Not by any of us. No, instead, the work was finished and purification for sins was now offered and available to anyone who would receive that purification.
And so that is what Jesus did, and that is who he is. He is the radiance of God’s glory, the high renown of God made known throughout the earth through Jesus’s sacrifice for the purification of sins.
Yet at the same time, Jesus is also the exact representation of God’s being. He was not only a representation of God’s action. He is a representation of his being. He is God, but God who came in the flesh. He represented God’s being, his essence, here on the earth.
In Jesus, we have God himself.
And now, while previously God spoke through prophets and angels, he now speaks to us through Jesus. Why can we say this? Because he was on the earth! God was here! In the form of Jesus, God came here onto the earth and he spoke to us. We can know what God has to say if we read the words of Jesus. We can hear from God and understand him if we will learn and know what Jesus said.
And yet there is one more step further that we must take because Jesus was not only here then, he is here with us now. Jesus promised his disciples that he would be with them until the end. He is with us even now!
Through the Holy Spirit that we have received as believers in Jesus, we also have the Spirit of Jesus Christ within us. In several places within the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is a Person of the trinitarian God, living within us, and speaking the words of Jesus to each of us who believe in in him.
So while we have the words of Jesus written down from the time that he was here on the earth, we also have the words of Jesus spoken to us through the Holy Spirit even today. Listening to the Holy Spirit, you can hear the words of God.
Do you want to hear from God? The place to start is Jesus. Knowing him. Understanding him. Understanding what he wants to tell us.
We need to understand his plans. His goals. His desires. And if we will do this, we can much more easily distinguish the words of God through the Holy Spirit. We will know for what we must listen. We will know the types of things that the Spirit is speaking about and we can continue to both cry out to him and hear from him each day.