learned and what we believed, knowing from whom we learned it. Timothy already knows the Gospel, and yet he needs to . Why? It it. And it isn’t because he learned it from his grandmother Lois or his mother, Eunice (cf. ch. 1:5), though God be praised for using those dear saints, as he continues to do in so many covenant homes we ourselves are to continue in the Gospel because it is the Lord Jesus Himself who teaches it to us. In other words, the Scriptures–the sacred writings (v15) are the voice of our Savior (cf. v16-17 see next
If someone were to ask me how I can pick my son’s voice out of a crowd, even while he still doesn’t use words, the answer is very simple. I know it because I have listened to it every day that he has been on this earth. And God be praised for one of the great uses and blessings of technology in our lives. My wife and I have count- less little video clips with our son babbling and carrying on–I often wonder if that’s what the dear people in our church hear when And we rewatch them. And we share them. Because we delight in him. Is that how we think and feel about our Heavenly Father? Do we know His voice like this? If not, then simply pick up the sa- cred writings today and continue
The Need to Know That Our Savior Knows Our Voice Secondly (and probably more importantly), we need to know that our Savior knows our voice. It may not be as apparent on the
September/October 2022
surface of our text, but you and I need to be reminded of a profound Verse 11 teaches us that the Lord Himself rescued him from all of the suffering and persecution that he experienced. And importantly, as he explains in verse 12, suffering and persecution are not antithetical to the Christian life. Rather, they are a regular, ordinary experience for the follower of Jesus.
Why does this matter, and how is it possibly more important than knowing the Savior’s voice? Because our eyes and our experience will - ritan tradition has taken such a strong position on the priority of preach- ing. We do not use images to “show” the Gospel (not only because of the prohibition of the 2nd Commandment) but because God has prom- speak to us. Even when our lives around us may show us something very different (think: persecutions, sufferings), even when we are tempted by circumstances of providence to believe that no one hears, no one cares, when our eyes fail us in the whirlwind, we can still hear the God who speaks to us.
My dear friends, the Gospel of being prepared is the Gospel of know- ing that God is the prepared One. Much more than my supposed knowledge of Amos’ voice . . . and more than our feeble knowledge of the Lord’s voice . . . the LORD God, the Almighty One, hears and martyred, he was not forsaken by the LORD. He hears the voice of His Savior today in glory. And so, I’ll end with these two beautiful passages of Scripture–may they call all of our hearts today to be prepared.
Psalm 139:1-4: O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. John 10:27-28: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Rev. Philip Bunch, servant of Christ Jesus. Adoring husband of Courtney. Proud father of Amos. Pastor of Fayetteville ARP Church.
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