The LORD Spoke to Eliphaz: God Desires to Communicate with Us

By - Pastor Daniel Inghram, National Capital Bible Church

Adapted from: Job 42:7, Lesson 52, 20 January 2021 

We often wonder how God communicated to His human creation prior to the text of Scripture. Yet Scripture is very clear how that happened; we just tend to read or skip over it. 

In Genesis, we read that God spoke to Adam and the woman, then Cain, and other humans like Enoch and Noah. In fact, God made Himself available to the human race personally in some form; He did not simply speak to humans, He appeared to them. These appearances are known as theophanies and are often in human form. The word theophany is a compound word of God (theos) and appearance (phania), which is defined as “a visible manifestation to humankind of God” (https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/theophany). Theophanies are preincarnation appearances of the Lord.

Let’s explore some examples: 

1. We read that God walked in the garden (Gen 3:8). This tells us that God walked with the first couple. 

2. God also walked with Enoch and Noah (Gen 5:24; Gen 6:9). Although some theologians interpret “walked” figuratively, there is no justification for limiting “walked” to a figure of speech. There is ample, literal, biblical evidence that God, in some form, appeared to men.

3. God appeared as a man to Abraham, walked to his tent, spoke, and ate with him (Gen 18:1-5).

4. God appeared and spoke to Moses from the burning bush (Ex 3:2).

Though the Book of Job comes after the Torah in the Old Testament, we believe that the events in the book of Job occurred prior to Moses writing the Torah. Therefore, at the time of Job there would have been no text of Scripture for people to follow.

In Job, we see God speaking to Job from the whirlwind or storm (Job 38:1; 40:6). We also see that He spoke to the other members of the group as well—God spoke to Eliphaz in Job 42:7 and probably to Bildad and Zophar (v. 9). So, God speaking to Job was not unique.

As human history progressed and God’s words were recorded in the written text of Scripture, His appearances diminished in number. We do not see any theophanies after the incarnation of Jesus Christ. 

Today in the Church Age, we have the completed canon of Scripture—the written Word of God—as our complete source of divine revelation. Therefore, we do not believe that God appears or speaks to individuals today.

However, there are those today who believe that God or Jesus has spoken directly to them in dreams or visions. If that is true, then what God says to them would be new revelation. To accept that God or Jesus appeared or spoke to them would require us to accept other information they might have received during that appearance or hearing. We simply cannot accept this new revelation as from God. To do so would create a slippery slope that inevitably leads to distortions and deceptions.

Several years ago, there was a young boy who supposedly died and went to heaven, encountered Jesus, and spent time with Him. The story and subsequent book created a sensation within the Christian community. A few years later, he retracted his entire experience. Therefore, we must be careful not to define the Christian life by experience, but by the Word of God.

We may not have the best explanation for those who say that God or Jesus appeared or spoke to them, but we can say with certainty that we do not believe that God has provided any new revelation since the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation during the final years of the 1st Century AD.

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book (Rev 22:18-19, NJKV).

In summary: “The Lord said to Eliphaz” (Job 42:7). When we read that statement in Scripture, and others like it, we should stop and realize the significance of it—God desires to communicate with us as well. Throughout human history, He has revealed Himself to us. Today, God speaks to us through His Word, the completed canon of Scripture.

This post was written by Pastor Daniel Inghram of National Capital Bible Church. If you have questions about this post or Christianity in general, please contact us today!