Does God Work in Different Ways? (Sermon: Acts 2:5-13)

The Bible tells us that God does not change (James 1:17). The book of Hebrews tells us that: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). However, can God remain the same and yet work in different ways at different times in history? Hebrews points out that God speaks in different ways at different times: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world (Hebrews 1:1-2).

We must remember that a change in the way God is working does not necessitate a change in His character or nature. The way in which a father interacts with his son will change drastically from the time that child is a preschooler to the time that he is six-teen. Yet, the change in the way the father interacts is not a reflection of a change in the father’s character, but of a change in the circumstances of his son. In the same way, believer’s today do not sacrifice lambs—not because God has changed His mind about the need for sacrifice, but because Jesus fulfilled that need when He died on the cross (1 Cor. 5:7). God walked and fellowshipped in the garden with Adam, yet no one after the fall experienced this relationship. Why? As a result of the fall, the circumstances of the relationship between God and man changed.

What does this mean for us today? It first of all means that we should not view everything we see taking place in scripture as normative for today. In particular, we should not expect the miracles that God did as signs to establish the credibility of the early believers and apostles to be taking place today. Does this mean that God is no longer working? Absolutely not! It simply means that God is working in a certain manner, because of where we stand in history. God has always been at work, today is no exception.