He Has Been Clearly Seen

This morning, we are going to continue our study of He Has Been Clearly Seen. We are going to learn more about who God is, and how he is seen in his creation. Specifically this morning, we will be looking at Hearing God’s Voice Through What He Has Made.

Why is it so important that we learn more about God and how he speaks to us?

It is important that we learn these things so that we may know Him, Worship Him, and Serve Him as his creation. Not let me ask you another question,

What senses has he given us that we may learn about him?

He has given us;

Sight - so that we can see His creation and his Word.

Hearing - so we can hear His creation and his voice through His Word.

Smell - so we can smell what he has created flowers, food, and newborn babies.

Taste - so we can enjoy the gift of food that he has given us.

Feel - so that we can lay our hands on what he has created, think of holding your Mom and Dad’s hand. Doesn’t that bring you comfort?

God has given us all of these senses in order that you may experience and learn about who he is through general revelation, what He has created, and special revelation, what He has said!

This morning we want to look specifically, at the sense of hearing, and learning about God through hearing from Him in creation.

What are some sounds that you hear that remind you of God?

Police Sirens - God’s Law and protection

Lion’s - roaring may remind us of Jesus as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. God created a powerful animal that pictures the power of our King.

Thunder - may remind us of God’s control over the weather, and how in Scripture God’s voice thunders.

Remember, God made everything. That means God made animals. God made many animal sounds that we can hear with our ears. God made animals able to make these sounds so that we can hear and understand that God is read and He is great. So when we hear a bird it is a way for God to speak to us in a way that will help us to understand Him. God wants us to listen and pay attention because He has something special to say to us.

Most of the time we think of God speaking to us how? His Word. The words in the Bible are true words that God has given to us. These words can be spoken and heard. We can come to know and understand God through these words. They are the most important words of all! But God also want to help us hear and understand Him through the sounds of His creation.

Listen to,

Job 12:7 ESV

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

Here Job speaks to his “friends” who are trying to help him understand why he is experiencing this season of great suffering. He is speaking about God’s sovereignty in suffering . He says, you can even ask the animals and they will teach you that God their creator is in control of all things.

When we hear the birds singing they are telling us something about God. God created the bird’s songs to help us understand what he is like.

Are bird songs scary or cheerful?

Bird songs are beautiful and happy sounding. They are pleasant and enjoyable to listen to. God speaks through His creation with a voice that tells us how happy He is being God. God’s voice speaks through his creation with a happy voice so that we can understand and enjoy His happiness.

Let’s read Job

Job 37:2–4 ESV

Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.

This Bible passage tell us that God’s voice is majestic.

What does majestic mean?

What might a majestic voice sound like?

To help us understand what majestic means, God uses something from His creation to compare his majestic voice to.

What has God compared His voice to?

Thunder!

When do we hear rumbling and thunder?

During a thunderstorm God is comparing his voice to the loud noises that we hear!

Who creates thunderstorms?

God does!

How do you feel during a thunderstorm?

Do you feel great and mighty during a thunderstorm?

Why not?

When I was a boy not much older than you, I was home alone when a great thunderstorm came up. The lighting was flashing and the thunder was starting to rumble when all of the sudden, I hear a loud boom, and the light in the house stared popping like machine gun fire, and the TV made a loud boom and smoke came out of the TV. I hit the ground in terror. I did not now what had happened but I felt weak, and small. I was overcome with fear. What had happened was lightning hit our TV antenna and ran down the wire into the house exploding lights and the TV. But the sounds were louder than anything I had ever heard and smoke filled the house, and I hit the floor!

When we hear things like this God is displaying his power, might, and majesty! His voice is not only powerful, but majestic!

What can God’s powerful voice do?

How powerful is God’s voice?

Let’s look at

Psalm 29:4–9 ESV

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

The psalmist explains that the voice of the Lord is so strong and powerful that it can do things that only God can do! But he does these things so that we can hear Him, and in hearing his Power and majesty we do what?

Why did God make us and all things? To glorify Him!

Let’s break this Psalm down,

First we see,

God’s voice breaks cedars!

I don’t know about you, but I have never seen anyone who can speak and make the trees break have you? God’s voice is so powerful he can thunder out loud and cause full grown trees to splinter into pieces.

Let me give you another illustration. Years ago when I was still in the field inspecting utility poles, a thunderstorm came up about lunchtime so we knocked off and went to lunch. When we finished eating and the storm passed we went back to work. Well a friend of mine working on a different line drove up and showed me a picture. It was a wood power pole that had been hit by lightning in the storm. It looked like you had dropped a stick of dynamite in it! The lightning hit the pole type, ran down the pole, and exploded the center fo the pole!

Who sent that lightning? God did.

God’s voice makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox!

God speaks and entire cities and nations, do whatever he wills.

Next we see,

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire!

Thing about lighting again, sometime lighting flashes and starts a fire. Especially, out west these fires turn into these massive forest fires. These fires get out of control and burn thousands of acres before man can stop them. This is showing the power of God’s voice. Whatever he speaks in his creation has a purpose for pointing us to his majestic rule, his powerful rule and providence!

The psalmist continues,

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness!

What do you think of when you think of the wilderness shaking?

Earthquakes, God has the power and control of the whole earth to the point he can shake it at its foundations. There can be an earthquake in California that shakes the earth so hard trees snap and on state over, they don’t fell a thing. God has the power to shake and hold steady. No one else can do what God can do!

What does the psalmist say next?

The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth!

God has a voice so powerful that he causes animals to give birth. He can do it in peaceful calm ways, and He can also stir the creation to a point where animal give birth out of shock and fear and their bodies go into labor.

The next example of God’s powerful voice is,

The voice of the Lord strips the forest bare!

I am going to give you one more visual illustration. One of the things we do at work is go in to cities after hurricanes and help the power companies restore power. Well, years ago we were heading down to South Florida after a hurricane and when we got there I was amazed by what I saw. As I drove down HWY 95 I looked across the horizon and there were no leaves left on the trees. The landscape which was usually covered in greenery was stripped bare. The powerful wind that God had sent had literally stripped the trees bare, and all you saw was bare wood sticking up in the air! It was an amazing sight that again pointed to the power of God and the way His voice thunders throughout the earth.

Now, what is God’s purpose in displaying his majesty and power?

The voice of the Lord makes his temple all cry, “Glory!”

In the old testament God’s temple was his place of worship. It was where his people gathered to praise, honor and glorify God. The psalmist tells us hear that God’s voice makes His temple cry “Glory!” This is the purpose of Gods’ voice singing through the birds, and sounding off in a thunderstorm. He speaks to us in creation that we might come together as the New testament Temple of God, His church and praise and glorify Him!

God speaks to us through the sounds of His creation to help us know and understand who God is and what He is like. The sounds of creation help us to know God and understand that the words of the Bible about God are really true. The Bible says God is happy, majestic, and powerful. The sounds of God’s creation show that to be true. God wants us to stop and pay attention to His happy, majestic and powerful voice.

God want us to know Him so that we love Him, serve, Him, and obey Him. He wants us to know since He has created us in his image we were created to be under his authority. The problem is we have all rejected his authority and broken his rules. So out of his steadfast love and mercy he has spoken to us in another way, through Jesus Christ his Son.

Hebrews 1:1–3 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

God has spoken to us through Jesus, he is calling us to confess our sins saying we agree with God that we have broken his law and disobeyed his commandments. Therefore we are under his judgment and condemnation. But he has sent His only Son Jesus, to pay for our sins, by dying on the cross in our place, and being raised from the dead on the third day. He calls us by grace to trust in Christ alone for salvation by faith. When we hear God in creation we must remember he has not only given us general revelation, but special revelation through Jesus by His Spirit that we might believe in Him and have everlasting life!