The Voice of The Spirit

Divine Counsel In The New Testament

The first prophet of New Testament times is John the Baptist, the servant chosen by Heaven to prepare the way for the Lord. John arrived with his message of repentance and shared it with the people in oral form. There is no evidence that he ever wrote out his messages. Then, “when the time had fully come,” Jesus, the maximum revelation of God, arrived. His message surprised and shook the society of His day. Thousands met to listen to His sermons. Hundreds followed Him wherever He went. Like John the Baptist, Jesus left no written record of His miracles, sermons, or instructions. Nevertheless, divine wisdom inspired the evangelists to record the history of the birth of Jesus and the events of Calvary, of His perfect life and undeserved death, of His teachings and actions. Every new generation should know the facts about redemption, so they may surrender their lives to the Saviour and receive His pardoning grace. VOTS 70.2

Heaven uses both means to communicate the message, orally for the generation privileged to experience the presence of God’s messenger and in written form for those who will appear later. Both forms are inspired; both fulfill the divine purpose of “teaching ... reproving ... correcting ... instructing” (2 Timothy 3:16). VOTS 71.1