Job 37 reads, [2] Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.
[3] He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
[4] After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
[5] God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
"When James, Peter and John are surnamed 'the sons of thunder' in Mark 3, it's talking about how their speaking is going to be as the voice of God; they're going to have a special kind of relationship in communicating God's message, speaking FOR Him," explains Jordan.
"John 12 reads, [28] Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
[29] The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
[30] Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
"Notice Christ heard what the Father said but for everybody standing around it was, 'Woah, it's thunder!' They don't understand it but they hear the sound.
"Acts 12 starts, [1] Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
[2] And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
"You know what Herod did? He silenced God's voice. God had been speaking through the apostles, the little flock, and the political leaders didn't like it.
"Verse 21 says, [21] And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. [22] And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
"Herod wanted the position of being the spokesman for God. Notice in verse 22 it's the god with the little 'g.' Verse 23: [23] And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
"The Jews were blaspheming; they didn't want to hear God's message to them. Politically and religiously they didn't want it.
"God sends an angel and opens the door and let's Pete out because God wasn't through with Peter. He wasn't through with John either. John writes the Book of Revelation. There was still something very special for Him to do with Peter and John.
"Revelation begins, [8] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
[9] I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
[10] I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
[11] Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book
"The common fable is John was in Patmos because he had been preaching and was exiled there. There's no reason to believe that, though, except that's what preachers say. He went there so God could GIVE him His Word. He went there to RECEIVE the Word.
"As we see in verse 10, John was literally transported in prophetic vision from the 1st Century into the last days. You talk about a time machine! He got the details about the last days.
*****
"The illustration in John 12 helps you ferret out what otherwise would seem like something that doesn’t quite fit together because it’s not an unusual thing for God to speak and for people to hear it as a thunder—as a noise . . . To know that God or an angel spoke but not know what the message was.
“Jesus gets the message in direct communication from God and the people just hear the noise, so Christ explains to them in John 12:30: ‘Jesus answered and said, 'This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.’ In other words, 'This voice came to remove any doubts in your mind that the Father is going to answer me. This is to strengthen your faith, to demonstrate to you that, ‘When
I pray, heaven answers.' ”
*****
“That's interesting in the context of the conversion
of Saul. Acts 9:3 says, ‘And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and
suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
[4] And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me?
[5] And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.’
[5] And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.’
“Acts 9 is Luke’s record
of the conversion of Saul. In Acts 22, you have the Apostle Paul himself giving
a testimony about what happened to him on the road to Damascus ( Acts 22:6).
Now Paul says, ‘I heard it.’
"In Acts 7, it says they were hearing a voice but seeing no man. You say, ‘Wait a minute, did they hear the voice or didn’t
they?’ One verse says they heard a voice but don’t see a man. Acts 22 says they
heard NOT the voice of him that spake.
"You say, ‘Why does one place say they
heard it and another place say they didn’t hear it?’ The logical observation is
the thing in John 12. They hear the noise, they hear the thunder (the voice)
but they don’t hear ‘the voice of him that spake to me.’ They don’t get the
words. Paul hears what the voice is saying. They just hear the racket.
"Acts 26:14 says, 'And when we were all fallen to the earth,
I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.'
“So when Paul heard the voice it was ‘the
voice of him that spake to me’; it was an audible voice talking intelligently
to him in Hebrew. When the other guys heard it, they just heard the commotion."
(new article tomorrow)
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