Editorial February 1, 1947 Issue

"They that hear shall live"

Paul Stark Seeley

One of the words most frequently used in the Scriptures is the word "hear." Often it is used in the imperative, as when Moses said, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4). Christ Jesus used the parable of the sheep who hear the shepherd's voice and, hearing, follow him. But referring to those whose thought is deaf to the impartations of spiritual truth, he pointed out that there are many mortals who have ears but hear not.

The Master uses the verb "to hear" in his prophetic statement found in John 5:25, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." They that hear shall live! The corollary is that those who do not hear the words of Truth do not truly live. True living must include true hearing.

The common belief that the individual is separated from God carries with it the mistaken assumption that he is unable to hear the voice of God, and that too often God does not seem to hear him. The belief in lack of communication, or at best an uncertain, intermittent form of it, between God and man is the source of many human difficulties. Contrast with this the constant sense of spiritual unity between the Father and His son possessed by Christ Jesus, who, after his prayer for Lazarus' resuscitation, said, "I knew that thou hearest me always" (John 11:42). The Master understood the uninterruptibleness of man's reflection of God and of God's communication with man.

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