Several years ago, the biblical scholar Richard Friedman wrote a fascinating book called The Hidden Face of God, in which he chronicles how Yahweh seems to be less and less evident as you make your way through the Old Testament. At the beginning of Genesis, for example, God plays a very active role in the lives of Adam and Eve. God converses with them, God gives them explicit instruction on what to do and what to avoid, and perhaps most important, God visits them in the Garden of Eden almost on a daily basis.

However, says Friedman, after the story of the Tower of Babel, God is never again visible to humankind—at least not all at the same time. The Lord still appears, but only on special occasions and only to certain people. The last time that Yahweh speaks to a group, for instance, is when the children of Israel are being presented with the Ten Commandments. But they are so overwhelmed by the experience that they quickly turn to Moses and say, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” And so, wanting to respect their wishes, the Lord never speaks to them again.

As the biblical story goes on, God continues to retreat. According to Friedman, Moses is the last person who actually “sees” God … Samuel is the last person to whom God is “revealed” … and Solomon is the last person to whom God “appears.” Even God’s mighty acts and miracles seem to withdraw. The last public miracle recorded in the Old Testament is at Mount Carmel, when God helps Elijah single-handedly humiliate the prophets of Baal. But after that, God assumes a much lower profile, working miracles for smaller and smaller audiences. Friedman suggests that perhaps the reason God keeps stepping back from humankind is so that we will have room to step forward.

Of course, as Christians, we believe that all of that dramatically changed with the birth of Jesus Christ—the clearest revelation of God’s presence on earth since Mount Sinai! In Jesus, God was once again made both audible and visible. In him, the Word of God was translated back into the action of God.

But even then, not everyone could see and hear God in Jesus. His miracles tended to be intimate ones. They did not change the political destiny of the people, as Moses’ had, nor did they immediately bring Israel’s oppressors to their knees. With a few exceptions, he saved people’s lives one at a time as he laid hands on their sick heads, or opened their blind eyes, or evicted demons and freed their souls.
In other words, the voice of God in Jesus Christ was not a loud and unmistakable shout. It came to us more as a whisper. Some people heard it and others didn’t. But make no mistake—if you wish to catch what God is saying in Jesus, you have to quiet your own voice, lean forward, and listen carefully.