God has relied on messengers throughout history, but tracking the messengers of God through Scripture reveals some interesting things about God’s character and His word. It also has rather damning implications for “Churches” and individuals making claims about their own supposed “anointing” by God to speak His words today.
God hasn’t always used messengers. There are several examples in early Bible history of God speaking directly with man. For example, God speaks to Job and his friends in “the whirlwind” (Job 38) and God speaks to Moses in the “burning bush” (Exodus 3). But when messengers of God were used, who were they?
How Scripture answers "Who are the messengers of God?"
While there was a time in history that God spoke to man directly, that ended with Moses2. At that time, Angels communicated God’s first covenant1,10,14,15. Prophets then dominated the scene (roughly 1,500-400BC), speaking God’s words while reconfirming the Law to the people1,8,9,10,12,13. The final prophet1,5 and the One that all prior messengers pointed toward3,9 was Jesus Christ7. His Gospel message superseded the Old Law14 as He was superior to all prior messengers of God1,3,5,6…as well as messengers not from God11.
During Jesus’ ministry and especially after His ascension, Apostles carried His message forward9,16 during the first century. Building on Jesus and the Prophets before, they formed the foundation for “the household of God”4 – His kingdom – the church. All of these combine to form what we have today in the Bible, the complete and final word of God. As Christians, we are called to preach and teach it – God’s literal words – without adding to or taking away from it (Revelation 22:18-19).
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