Now if what is written is what was breathed by God, there is no interval in which the

prophet or the writer may, by meditation, incorporate a vision of his own heart. However

intelligently the writer might co-operate with the divine Spirit, or however mystified he

might be by the words given him to write, when it was a question of the making of

Scripture, and the receiving of the oracles of God, the writers ceased to act merely in the

capacity of thinkers, theologians or philosophers, they became willing instruments. Thus

while personality is stamped upon every page of Scripture, Moses differing from Isaiah,

Paul from Peter, Matthew from Luke, yet all its writers were instruments in the hand of

God. The readers of The Berean Expositor will never see the actual words written by the

Editor that later appear on these pages, neither will the printer nor the proof readers. The

manuscript will be turned into type-script, to save the time and temper of the

compositors, and the type-script into the printed page. Each stage will have had its

peculiar characteristics, yet each will convey the same message. It would be but a

quibble to say that the Editor did not actually write the article, simply because only the

matter set up in type is read.

So with the writing of Scripture, "God, at sundry times and in divers manner, spake in

time past by the prophets" (Heb. 1: 1). However divers the manners, one thing remained

constant, it was "God" Who "spoke". Moses was peculiarly favoured by God. "Hear

now My words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known

unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so,

who is faithful in all mine house.  With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even

apparently, and not in dark speeches: and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold"

(Numb. 12: 6-8).

Into the question of how the revelation of truth was given we will not enter further

here, but turn to the testimony of Peter, as given in the first chapter of  II Peter.

Speaking of the second coming of the Lord, Peter declares first of all: "We have not

followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and

coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Pet. 1: 16). His testimony now divides into two

parts: (1) His own personal experience, and (2) The testimony of the word of prophecy.

Peter's experience on the mount of transfiguration was blessedly real and true. So far

as Peter was concerned nothing could remove the impression he there received. But he

was commission to preach, not his experiences, but the Word.  Experiences are of

secondary importance when compared with one clear statement of Scripture. Yet many a

child of God is misleading himself and others by so-called experiences. And strictly

speaking, the value of these experiences often becomes very small when stripped of all

associations and sentiments, and submitted to a cross-examination. Peter, therefore, turns

even from the true experience of the mount of transfiguration to something "more sure":

The word of prophecy is "sure", sure as the promise (Rom. 4: 16); steadfast as the

word spoken by angels (Heb. 2: 2), fast as the anchor of hope (Heb. 6: 19).