About a hundred years ago, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) gave the following dramatic account of the voice of a madman running through the streets of the cultured city:¹

The Madman. – Have you ever heard of the madman who on a bright morning lighted a lantern and ran to the marketplace calling out unceasingly: “I seek God! I seek God!” – As there were many people standing about who did not believe in God, he caused a great deal of amusement. Why! is he lost? said one. Has he strayed away like a child? said another. Or does he keep himself hidden? Is he afraid of us? Has he taken a sea-voyage? Has he emigrated? – the people cried out laughingly, all in a hubbub. The insane man jumped into their midst and transfixed them with his glances. “Where is God gone?” he called out. “I mean to tell you! We have killed him, – you and I! We are all his murderers! But how have we done it? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the whole horizon? What did we do when we loosened this earth from its sun? Whither does it now move? Whither do we move? Away from all suns? Do we not dash on unceasingly? Backwards, sideways, forewards, in all directions? Is there still an above and below? Do we not stray, as through infinite nothingness? Does not empty space breathe upon us? Has it not become colder? Does not night come on continually, darker and darker? Shall we not have to light lanterns in the morning? Do we not hear the noise of the grave-diggers who are burying God? Do we not smell the divine putrefaction? – for even Gods putrefy! God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife, – who will wipe the blood from us? With what water could we cleanse ourselves? What lustrums, what sacred games shall we have to devise? Is not the magnitude of this deed too great for us? Shall we not ourselves have to become Gods, merely to seem worthy of it? There never was a greater event, – and on account of it, all who are born after us belong to a higher history than any history hitherto!” – Here the madman was silent and looked again at his hearers; they also were silent and looked at him in surprise. At last he threw his lantern on the ground, so that it broke in pieces and was extinguished. “I come too early,” he then said, “I am not yet at the right time. This prodigious event is still on its way, and is travelling, – it has not yet reached men's ears. Lightning and thunder need time, the light of the stars needs time, deeds need time, even after they are done, to be seen and heard. This deed is as yet further from them than the furthest star, – and yet they have done it!” – It is further stated that the madman made his way into different churches on the same day, and there intoned his Requiem aeternam deo. When led out and called to account, he always gave the reply: “What are these churches now, if they are not the tombs and monuments of God?” –

The heart of this impassioned and prophetic speaking is an urgent cry for the emancipation of mankind from the yoke of morality, religion, and God. Everywhere the madman sees signs of decay around him, and so testifies to a society which can no longer believe in God. It has outgrown its own religious basis. But he certainly does not call for a return to an ancient faith. Rather, he heralds a new future in which men become gods, and man becomes the master of his own destiny.

Nietzsche's diabolic parable, it must be noted, is more descriptive than argumentative. Indeed, Nietzsche himself was more of a prophet than a philosopher. At the dawn of the twentieth century, he prophetically described what this tumulteous age would bring forth. But for him it all belonged to the future. That is why he also has the madman say, “I come too early. I am not yet at the right time.”

The remarkable fact is that many of Nietzsche's predictions have come true. At the close of the century, the vision he saw at its dawn has become reality. The churches have become monuments, and religious language has become unintelligible. The church has become politicized, and salvation is only spoken of in terms of this life. And many are those who state that the real problem for theology today is how we can speak of God to modern man. For them atheism remains the only real problem for the Church.²

In many ways Nietzsche was right. His prophetic voice still speaks, and dominates the cultural surge of our age. He was a prophet, and, as he himself predicted, modern man has not been able to dispense with him.

Long before Nietzsche, however, the Bible also described the voice of a man running through the streets. It was the voice of wisdom, the same voice that also knew and had considered the real import of the voice of madness and folly, cf. Ecclesiastes 2:12. It is the living voice of God Himself, as His public call runs through the world. Hear how this voice speaks:

Does not wisdom call, does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights beside the way, in the paths she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
“To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the sons of men.
O simple ones, learn prudence; O foolish men, pay attention.
Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right;
for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge.
Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold;
for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
I, wisdom, dwell in prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
I have counsel and sound wisdom, I have insight, I have strength.
By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;
by me princes rule, and nobles govern the earth.
I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and prosperity.
My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice,
endowing with wealth those who love me, and filling their treasuries. Proverbs 8:1-21

This is the voice that hates perverted speech, vs. 13, the voice that was in the world long before the philosophers of the modern era. In one sense, Nietzsche was ahead of his time. But in another more poignant sense he was far behind it. He refused to listen to the voice of Wisdom, and so became the spokesman for the madman and the fool. And what does the Bible say? It is the fool who says in his heart: “There is no God,” Psalm 14:1.

These two voices still speak, the voice of Wisdom and the voice of the madman. They are the voices that make up the striving of our age. The voice of Wisdom came first, and endures forever. The voice of the madman feeds off the voice of wisdom, despises and negates it, and so attempts to build its own world. But it remains the voice of the great Lie, the universal deception through which man believes that his golden age is dawning. Claiming to bring life, it actually brings death.

These two voices still speak – and they are both public voices. Their cry can be heard in the street. It is the voice of the pulpit and the stage, the message of reconciliation by faith through Christ, and the pseudo-triumphant exclamation of emancipation from Him, and from the authority of the one who sent Him.

These two voices still speak – one in lowliness, the other in pride; one grows fainter, Revelations 12:14, while the other pretends to be triumphant in its tumult and clamour. But another prophet preceded Nietzsche, and he was the true prophet. Exiled on Patmos, he predicted the demise of the voice of wisdom in a secular age. Two witnesses would lie slain. Where? In the street, Revelations 11:8. Deception will proclaim it as total victory! But this is not the end! For after the silence in heaven, (Revelations 8:1) the Voice from above speaks again, and then the truth is manifested to all.

These two voices still speak – one from above, one from below, one of life, the other of death. Which voice do we hear? and obey? Which voice are we ultimately drawn to? For “wisdom is justified by all her children,” Luke 7:35.