The background, of course, is the paganism of that day, the idols that were many and the idols that were silent. The silence of the idols is a pervasive biblical theme. 

Think of 1 Kings 18, Elijah’s battle with the gods.  Think of Elijah as he waits, watching the prophets of the Ashteroth and the Baal jump around the altar and lacerate their bodies so that the blood flows down into the ground.  They leap, of course, to get Baal’s attention, but as we are told in 1 Kings 18, there was no voice.  No one answered.  No one paid attention.  Idolatry is contrasted with the religion of Israel on the basis of revelation.  The idols do not speak.  The Lord God of Israel does.  The idols are seen but not heard.  God is heard but not seen. 

The background of this, of course, is the horrible thought that must be in the background of our thinking and in the foreground of our hearts this morning.  What if God had not spoken?  What if we had not received this word through Israel?  Part of what it means to be engrafted upon the tree of Israel is that this too is the word of God to us, too. 

So what if God had not spoken?  Well, we would not be here.  If God had not spoken, we might have a religion school.  It might be that human beings, just in the blindness of trying to figure things out, would come to some sense of transcendence, or would perhaps even be able to use some kind of argument from design.  Certainly human beings, possessing some ingenuity and intelligence, would be pondering these things. 

Of course, we need not speak hypothetically about this.  We see it.  All you have to do is listen to the cultural chatter to hear the kind of conversation that would take place if God had not spoken.  All you have to do is go to some divinity schools, some theological seminaries and universities in the academic world, and you will see the kind of discourse and the kind of teaching and the kind of philosophy and worldview that would emerge if God had not spoken. 

What if this really is a game that we are playing, each using whatever language game is convenient and handy in terms of our social and cultural and linguistic system, and we simply put it all together?  What if this really is something of a smorgasbord of worldviews in which we can just kind of put it together as best we see fit?  If God had not spoken, there is no end to that game.  And if God has not spoken, there is no one who is right, and there is no one who is wrong.  If God has not spoken, what you end up with is the end game of postmodernism — nihilism, no knowledge.  But if God has spoken, everything is changed. 

If God has spoken, then the highest human aspiration must be to hear what the Creator has said.  And though the revelation of God is not merely propositions, it is never less than that.  It is personal.  Hearing the voice of the Lord God is not merely to receive information, but to meet the living God.  We are accustomed to speaking and singing of the grace and mercy of God, and our redemption in the cross of Christ.  But we must also speak of the mercy of God in revelation.