Can you hear me now? ∙∙

Can you hear me now? ∙∙

Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts . . . – Hebrews 3:7-8

Hebrews 1:1-3

 1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.

 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son, he created the universe.

 3 The Son radiates God’s glory and expresses His very character, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command.

Paul Marcarelli gained widespread recognition as the iconic “Test Man” in Verizon Wireless’s advertising campaign from 2002 to 2011. Dressed in a gray Verizon jacket and sporting his signature horn-rimmed glasses, Marcarelli became the face of Verizon’s commitment to nationwide cell phone coverage. He was tirelessly asking, “Can you hear me now?”

The ads often featured a voiceover asking, “How do you build America’s largest wireless network, by never being satisfied? So, no matter where you go, your call always goes through. Verizon Wireless, we never stop working for you!”

In a significant career move, Marcarelli switched allegiances in 2016, becoming a spokesperson for Sprint. In his appearances for Sprint, he made light of his history with Verizon, emphasizing Sprint’s enhanced network capabilities.

Introducing himself in Sprint commercials, Marcarelli would say, “Hey, I’m Paul. You might remember me asking, ‘Can you hear me now?’ with Verizon. Well, times have changed.” He highlighted the vast network quality improvements across the board, suggesting, “Guess what, it’s 2016, and every network is great. Sprint’s reliability is now within 1% of Verizon.”

Sprint leveraged Marcarelli’s switch to underline its pitch to consumers: You can get a network nearly the same reliability as Verizon’s, but Sprint claims the rates are half what you’ll pay Verizon.

The Father has spoken to the world through the Word of God. Being our Creator, He knows exactly what people need to know. The Father has disclosed truth regarding Himself and His ways in the Scriptures. The Word of God does not speak exhaustively on all issues but is always accurate, inerrant, and truthful.

Lord Jesus Christ did so many things in the presence of the disciples that everything could not have been included. So, the apostle John selected a small portion to include. We get some inkling of this in the Gospel of John, where he explains.

John 21:25 Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

John 20:30-31

 30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book.

 31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing in him, you will have life by the power of his name.

The apostle John was an eyewitness to what the Lord Jesus Christ said and did. So much more happened that is not recorded in his gospel. Using hyperbole, John says that even all the books of the world could not contain the full story of the Lord Jesus Christ. He carefully curated what to include for the benefit of all future generations. In no uncertain terms, he offers enough true truth that anyone who reads and accepts it will have eternal life.

REFLECT & PRAY

The Father has spoken and continues to speak. Are we listening? He asks, “Can you hear Me now?”

Father thank You for revealing the true truth! Thank you for providing enough information so anyone can believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God. When they do, they may receive eternal life in His name.

INSIGHT

The Father spoke in many ways over many centuries, using many people and culminating in the revelation of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible was written over two millennia. Yet there is remarkable unity and continuity to the message. The narrative is consistent and extraordinarily coherent. The theme of the Scriptures can be distilled into one word: Redemption. The main characters are the Father and the Son.

Hebrews 1:1-2

 1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.

 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son

Throughout history, civilizations and religions around the world have pondered profound questions about existence. These questions include: Is there a God? What is God like? How did the universe and planet Earth come into existence? Where did the animals and human race come from? How and when did it all begin?

In these matters, it is believed that only the Creator possesses direct knowledge, having been the sole witness to the act of creation. The Scriptures touch upon these inquiries, presenting responses as absolute truths rather than mere conjectures or hypotheses. They do not speculate or postulate conclusions based upon transitory, often fluctuating, or even conflicting scientific theories of the day. Instead, they accurately and succinctly answer them. The answers found in the Scriptures are unsurpassed in their sublime excellence and commonsense explanations.

With apologies to “Young Frankenstein,” by Mel Brooks, the Genesis record tells the Father’s story, How I did it.

In contemporary society, it’s disheartening to witness the Scriptures being disregarded or outright dismissed as a source of insight into life’s most profound questions.

The quest for truth is a common pursuit among individuals. Unfortunately, this search frequently results in what could be termed “truth for now,” which soon gives way to the next fleeting “truth,” lacking any enduring substance.

Consider a hypothetical scenario: if you were an employee at a bank and discovered at the close of business that the cash on hand was significantly less than expected, you might suspect foul play. While most of us aren’t bank employees, a similar situation has unfolded concerning our understanding of the cosmos within our lifetimes.

Before deploying the Hubble Space Telescope, many leading scientists estimated the universe to be around 25 billion years old. That was the best guess of many of the most outstanding scientists. However, following observations made by Hubble, something remarkable happened. The estimated age of the universe was cut in half to about 12 billion years. This massive discrepancy seemingly raised few, if any, eyebrows. It didn’t seem to trouble anyone. No one was arrested. There were no formal inquiries or uproar causing a scandal. Instead, new theories were offered to explain why the latest estimate was correct.

The prevailing estimate for the universe’s age, based on the Planck 2018 data, stands at approximately 13.787±0.020 billion years. According to current theory, the universe’s expansion rate can be used to calculate the universe’s approximate age by extrapolating backward in time. The assumptions involved in this new theory are not for the faint of heart. It is assumed that the expansion rate of the universe remains constant for 15 to 25 billion years. Is this assumption accurate? Some would say there is no way of knowing.

If I were president of the Bank of the Cosmos, I would be very suspicious. I would want to know what happened to the missing 12 billion years.

“It’s easy to take for granted what is commonly available, but we should never lose sight of the most valuable possession God has given us – His inspired, inerrant Word” (Stanley).

Hebrews 3:15 “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”

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© Dr. H 2024