Reprinted with permission from Truth & Tidings Magazine

They refer to it as a communication blackout at NASA. In the history of space travel, it was expected to occur for a few minutes upon re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. And for a few agonizing minutes, as the space vehicle was engulfed in searing heat, the crew on board would travel in the deafening silence of their isolation. There was a frightening disconnection. "Houston, we have a problem!" would have been spoken with no one to answer.

For the skeptic, world history is summed up in those few minutes of horrific silence. He claims that God has not spoken. To him, the world is an isolated sphere left to chance and fate. Life is a vacuum: meaningless, purposeless, and hopeless. Man is left to his own path of existence without direction from God.

Yet, the Scriptures respond with authority that God has spoken. And He has spoken with great concern for the souls of mankind. We recognize the infinite power of His Word in creation as "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Ps 33:9). And we cannot ignore the definite promise of His Word concerning salvation, that "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel (God with us)" (Is 7:14).

The title of this article leads us back through Scripture to Exodus 20 where God gave His law to Moses. God did not give the law to create sin; sin already existed. And God did not give the law to remove sin, for the law is impossible to maintain. The law was given to prove that we "have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." It is remarkable that with only ten requirements, God levels all of us to the same position of sinfulness. We have no response, and we "become guilty before God."

But God had not finished speaking. He has "spoken unto us by His Son," Jesus Christ, Who is the living Word. His destiny was the cross of Calvary. Amazingly, as we listen to the voice of a suffering Savior, we are reminded that "God spake all these words" also. All of God’s words at Sinai condemn humanity to eternal death for sin. All of God’s words at Calvary rescue believing individuals from Sinai’s verdict. Of all the sayings of Christ on the Cross, none was so significant to a world of sinners as His words, "It is finished!" The sinners’ highway from earth to Heaven was completed!

Finished? Can this be true? Is salvation "not of works" but only through "Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe"? How can we be sure?

We can be sure because it is God Who has spoken. His Word is fixed. He has given us "a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim 1:15).

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