Has Any People Heard the Voice of God Speaking . . . And Survived? Part One
Albert Mohler
Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Deuteronomy chapter four is one of the great touchstone passages in all of Scripture. As we come to this passage, my heart and soul are absolutely struck by the question--a rhetorical question, but a very real question--asked in verse 33: "Has any people heard the voice of the Lord, the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, and survived?"

What brings us here? What brings us to this institution, to this campus, to this hour, ready for learning and study? Something summons us here. There is some mandate, some basis, some foundation. This is a theological seminary and college. We dare to speak of God. We even dare to define what we do here as Christian education. What an audacious claim! We actually say that here we teach what God has taught.

This would be a baseless and foundationless claim, an incredible claim, if God had not spoken from the midst of the fire and allowed us to hear. On what authority are we here? To dare to speak of these things, we must speak invoking the authority of God, who alone could speak these things, reveal Himself, and tell us what we must know. This is the answer to the question that haunts the postmodern mind--on what basis can we claim to know anything? the rest