June 9

“lf Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, l cannot go beyond the word of Jehovah.” Numbers 24:13

Only when the Word of God was voiced by Balaam did his words become a prophecy. He spoke as the Spirit of God came upon him and irrespective of his own moral condition, for he spoke in spite of himself. God was merely employing the man’s mouth to utter his word. Had Balaam attempted to add his own thoughts and feelings, it would at once have ceased to be the Word of God.

How different is the way God’s Word was proclaimed through the Lord Jesus! Earlier, God had engaged men’s voices to propagate his word. Even John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, was but a voice in the wilderness. When we come to the Lord Jesus, however, his consistency of character compels us to speak of him as the living Word of God. When he opened his mouth, there was God’s Word; but even when he kept it shut, that Word was still living there in his wonderful Person.