Hear the Voice of the Lord Thunder

As I read Psalm 29 for us today, I invite you to follow along in your own copy of God's Word in the English translation.

And we'll do our best through the language to grasp the meaning of this ancient Hebrew poetry, this lyric that's been breathed out by God.

And I encourage us to keep it open in front of us and follow along as we work through this passage today.

I'll read it trusting that it's God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, sufficient, powerful Word for you and me, His people.

And I pray that you'll receive it in that way as well.

Psalm 29, a Psalm of David.

Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones.

Give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Give unto the Lord the glory due His name.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters.

The God of glory thunders.

The Lord is over many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful.

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.

Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes them also skip like a calf.

Lebanon and Syrian have a wild young ox.

The voice of the Lord divides the 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.

The Lord strips the forest bare.

And in His temple everyone says, glory.

The Lord sat enthroned at the flood.

And the Lord sits enthroned as King forever.

The Lord will give strength to His people.

The Lord will bless His people with peace.

The word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Please be seated.

The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of the Lord stands forever.

Please pray with me.

Amen.

Oh Lord, we thank you for who you are and for what you have done.

We thank you that you've recorded your wondrous deeds in the scripture.

We thank you that your Holy Spirit breathed out every word of the Bible.

That everything you breathed out is useful for building up and building up your church.

Lord, we pray that your voice will go forth powerfully today through the preaching of the word.

Because your word is alive in the hands of the Holy Spirit.

We pray that your Holy Spirit, Lord, will cause us to hear your word.

And hear the voice of our Lord, Jesus Christ, through Psalm 29 today, Lord.

For your glory alone we ask.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

The voice reveals the person.

Have you ever been surprised when you maybe you just you cough or clear your throat or just just do something that's not even a word

and people instantly recognize who you are just because of that little sound coming out of your voice, your throat.

Just like our voice gives it away to people who know us of who we are.

the voice of the Lord reveals who he is to us, his people.

Psalm 29 is a majestic psalm.

It's a song of confidence in God.

And it's a song that establishes his majesty, his sovereignty over all his creation.

And it calls for one response.

Respond by saying with his people, glory.

My prayer today is that the Lord would cause you and me to hear the voice of the Lord thunder.

With his help, we'll walk through this psalm and you can hear the voice of the Lord thunder in five different places.

Hear the voice of the Lord thunder.

Five different places.

The first place is this.

Hear the voice of the Lord thunder in the highest heavens.

Hear the voice of the Lord thunder in the highest heavens.

Beyond the visible realm of the clouds and the atmosphere and the stars.

Beyond that, so to speak, in the spiritual realm.

Psalm 29 begins there.

It begins in heaven.

In verses 1 and 2, we see this.

And before this literal thunderstorm hits the earth in verse 3,

David is commanding what we can call the heavenly council.

The angels of heaven.

Those spiritual mighty ones.

Those beings that live to worship God day and night.

Crying forth, holy, holy, holy.

And giving him the glory that is due his name.

So in Psalm 29 verses 1 and 2, here's a man under the inspiration of the Spirit.

Psalms 29:1

Recognizing that's the reality in heaven.

And he's commanding them like God's anointed king.

Directing the choir of angels to worship God.

Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones.

Literally, it's sons of God.

Give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Give unto the Lord the glory due his name.

Ascribe unto him.

Recognize this is who God is.

He says, worship the Lord in the beauty or majesty of holiness.

Around the throne of God, there's no room for sin.

The beings there are holy.

They are ones who God has brought in and accepted to be in the presence of the God, the creator.

Undefiled.

The reason we know that this phrase, sons of God, refers to the angels.

Is by looking at the rest of scripture.

Where else is this phrase used?

The most clear example, though there are many others, is Job chapter 1 verse 6.

Job 1:6

And he says exactly the same thing.

The sons of Elim, the sons of God, present themselves before the Lord.

And they shout for joy at creation.

So here are the angels in heaven.

The highest of heavens.

The voice of the Lord calling them through scripture to give him glory and honor that is due to him.

And then we read of heaven coming to earth.

In verse 3, it tells us that the voice of the Lord is over the waters.

The God of glory thunders.

The Lord is over many waters.

Well, most likely this is a literal reference to thunderclouds forming from evaporated water over the Mediterranean Sea.

On the west coast of Israel.

And as they form, you can see those clouds.

They're getting darker and darker.

They're building up.

They're moving with the wind.

A charge is forming inside of them.

And the sight of that thunderstorm that's about to blow into the kingdom.

It's getting closer and closer.

Maybe that's what reminded David of how little he is.

It reminds him of God's power.

And he says in verse 4,

The voice of the Lord, even as it begins to thunder, is powerful.

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

Seven times this phrase is used.

The voice of the Lord.

And in scripture, in the Hebrew tradition, seven is the number of completeness.

It's God's number.

It's the number of divine perfection.

We could say seven million more examples of how the voice of the Lord speaks and thunders, couldn't we?

But by using this phrase seven times in a concise, poetic way, that number seven stands for all the countless ways the Lord speaks.

Brothers and sisters, the next time that you get to hear thunder in the clouds, let it remind us of the voice of the Lord.

Remember how the voice of God, it goes forth from heaven and it's full of power and majesty.

No matter what you're doing in that moment, if you're looking out the window or driving or washing the dishes, pause and worship the Lord.

Let it stir your heart to remember who our mighty God is.

We sing a great song today that that that can fill those words when he stirs our heart and reminds us of his majesty.

We sing the splendor of the king.

Clothed in majesty.

Let all the earth rejoice.

All the earth rejoice.

He wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide, but it trembles at his voice.

It trembles at his voice.

We join our voices as a church when we gather with these voices in the highest of heaven.

Revelation 4 and 5 gives us a glimpse into the throne of God in heaven.

And it's described by the apostle John this way.

As a roaring.

As many waters.

The voice of the angels that surround the throne.

The living creatures.

The elders.

He says the number of them was 10,000 times.

10,000 of thousands.

Saying with a loud voice.

Holy, holy, holy.

Lord God almighty.

Who was and is and is to come.

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.

For you created all things.

And by your will they exist and were created.

The Lord is holy, holy, holy.

Cherubim and seraphim fall down before thee.

Who wert and art and evermore shall be.

Hear the voice of the Lord thunder in the highest of heavens.

Number two.

Hear the voice of the Lord thunder in the tallest mountains.

Hear the voice of the Lord thunder next in the tallest mountains.

So that thunderstorm that began to form over the Mediterranean Sea.

It's on the move.

And it begins to invade the land.

It begins at one tip of God's kingdom on earth.

And it moves its way all the way down to the other far extreme.

It starts in the northwest.

And it moves its way all the way down to the southeastern border.

Look at verse 5.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.

Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

Lebanon was the land up north of Israel.

Up in the mountains.

It was the land that was possessed by the Canaanites and the Phoenicians.

Outside of the kingdom of Israel.

And these were Baal worshippers.

Verse 6.

David says that God makes them skip also like a calf.

Lebanon and Syrian.

Like a wild young ox.

Lebanon and Syrian on the two highest mountain ranges.

On the northern border of Israel.

Syrian is the Phoenician name for Mount Hermon.

And it towers over 9,000 feet above sea level.

In the ancient mind, these mountains were the ultimate symbols of stability, permanency, and raw physical power.

Mountains are completely immovable.

We know those driving around them here in Colorado, don't we?

And these Phoenician Canaanite Baal worshippers, as well as the Philistine worshippers of Baal.

They believed that Baal was the cloud rider.

He was the god that lived up on one of those mountains in their land.

And from there, he orchestrated and directed the rain and the thunderstorm.

They gave Baal glory for the rain that would bring the crops and their food.

They were worshipping a demon, a false god, in the place of the creator.

Worshippers of Baal believed that he ruled over all the earth and controlled these storms that were blowing in over Israel.

And here in Psalm 29, it's David, the king, who is a shadow of the king Jesus, reclaiming Yahweh is the lord of the storm.

Yahweh, not Baal, is the true king who commands the heaven, the thunder, the rain across all borders.

David compares these mountains of the enemies of God up north to a calf and a young wild ox.

He says they're skipping and leaping and bounding like they're full of terror at Yahweh's voice.

Verse 7 says the voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

It's a mysterious poetic description, but it's actually perfect.

The literal word there, the verb, is that the voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire.

He's saying if you take a big massive boulder like a rock and you picture a giant chisel striking the top of that rock,

you would watch that rock splinter and crack all the way down.

And the sound that that would make and even the jagged cutting down, that's exactly like a strike of lightning.

And that's what he's describing it at.

This flame of fire that God has smashed down through the atmosphere.

The Lord, by his voice, his thundering voice, divides the flames of fire.

He hews them out in the atmosphere.

As these dark storm clouds roll in and thunder begins to crack and lightning begins to strike on the land up on these mountaintops,

everything seems to tremble and quake at the voice of the Lord.

The sky is violently split open by bolts of lightning that come from the mouth of God, so to speak.

The voice of the Lord is so sharp and powerful that it carves out these flashes of fire like a stonemason.

This false god that the neighbors worshipped, Baal, when they would make an icon of him, you know, on a coin or something like that,

they would put in his hand a lightning bolt.

So a lightning bolt was the weapon of Baal.

You see what Psalm 29 does.

It says that lightning is God's tool.

It's made by the spoken word of the living God who spoke and brought everything in creation into being.

He is the one who deserves to be praised.

And the voice of the Lord thunders across all borders.

Even those outside of the kingdom of God in Israel at this time,

they could not deny the power of the creator.

God has revealed himself sufficiently in nature so that all may know that he is God, the creator.

We all owe God worship and obedience.

This is what God is due.

Romans 1, 2, and 3 says that no man is left with any excuse.

We know we must worship our creator.

We sing how great is our God.

His is the name above all names.

No one else compares.

He alone is worthy of our praise.

And when his voice reaches the ear of a sinner like you and me,

and he calls us into his kingdom,

we can sing how my heart rejoices in this great God.

I love his voice.

Because his voice thunders among the tallest mountains,

calling all to bow their knee to him.

Number three, the third place.

Hear the voice of the Lord thunder,

not only way up there in the tallest mountains,

but also next in the lowest wilderness.

Hear the voice of the Lord thunder also in the lowest wilderness.

That's where verse 8 takes us.

Look at verse 8.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.

The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord in the thunderstorm,

it's now blown all the way across the kingdom of Israel.

From the northwest up by the Phoenicians and the mountains of Lebanon,

it's blown all the way south to the very border with Egypt now.

And it's just south of the Dead Sea is where this wilderness of Kadesh is.

Remember those mountains up in Lebanon where the cedars grow?

We see that here too on the top of the hills.

You see all the beautiful tall trees, the hardwoods.

But remember the Dead Sea, it's below sea level.

You go from the mountains 9,000 feet above sea level all the way now to the wilderness below sea level,

the wilderness of Kadesh.

It's swept across the entire domain that God has given Israel at this moment in redemptive history.

And the voice of the Lord now in this desert, this wilderness,

the winds, the storm, the thunder,

it's like it's making the sand in the wilderness dance.

He shakes the wilderness.

They shake in the terror of this mighty voice.

The lightning-filled thundercloud from which the voice of the Lord thunders,

it pictures God's power and majesty overshadowing every inch of His kingdom on earth at that time.

And the voice of the Lord in this cloud,

it envelops the entire length of the land

that's wedged between the Mediterranean Sea to the west

and the Arabian Desert to the east.

That's modern-day Lebanon all the way through the land of Israel down to Egypt.

And so he's using one geographic extreme point and then the other.

He's not mentioning any other points of reference in between.

Again, he's using a concise tool here

to show from one extreme to the other

the totality of God's dominion.

And throughout the land of Israel,

this domain where he's put his people to live

and to know him and worship him,

through them he's revealed himself more clearly in his word

and he's told them how they can be saved.

Here is the kingdom of God and he provides for you.

He is the one that you need to give thanks when your crops grow.

Psalm 147 verse 8 picks up on this theme.

Psalms 147:8

The Lord covers the heavens with clouds.

He prepares the rains for the earth.

He makes the grass grow on the hills.

He makes peace in your borders.

He fills you with the finest of wheat.

He sends out his command to the earth.

His word runs swiftly.

He sends out his word and he melts the snow.

He makes the wind blow and the waters flow.

All of the created order from the highest forested mountain

down to the lowest, driest desert.

It all trembles under the sovereign voice of Yahweh.

And we sing his praise this way too.

Thou rushing wind that art so strong,

ye clouds that sail in heaven along.

Oh, praise him.

Hallelujah.

You can hear the voice of the Lord thunder in the lowest wilderness.

The wilderness of Kadesh.

That term Kadesh is not by accident.

It's a pregnant point of reference as well.

It's loaded with meaning in special ways.

If you search your Bible for that word, Kadesh,

what else happened there in that wilderness?

This is the same wilderness where Moses failed to trust the Lord

when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it like God commanded.

Kadesh is also where the people then failed to trust the Lord

when they came back and heard the report from the spies

that had gone into this very land.

And they said it's possessed by giants.

Don't trust God and obey.

And the Lord punished them for it.

Kadesh, this wilderness represents two of the greatest failures of God's people.

Though he had delivered them out of slavery,

he had shown his covenant faithfulness to them.

The wilderness of Kadesh is a reminder of their failures to God,

their covenant breaking.

But even there in that wilderness,

that place where we're reminded of our greatest sins,

our greatest failures,

even there the voice of the Lord thunders.

When we're reminded of our sin, our weakness,

God still speaks to us.

The Lord still reigns there.

Our most devastating failures,

our worst sins,

our humbling mistakes,

mistakes.

They do not dethrone our great God.

The thunderstorm makes it undeniable

that we are so tiny,

so weak as creatures,

and that the Lord is the almighty creator,

and that he is not silent.

We cannot deny him.

We see his voice and his work everywhere.

This same creator God who rules over

the mountains and the wilderness.

He is the one through whom all things have their being.

He is the bringer of life by his word.

Notice within the dominion of the kingdom of Israel,

within the land where they are living with God as their king,

what verse 9 says about God,

what his voice reveals of him.

Verse 9 says that the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth

and strips the forests bare.

It's revealing two wonderful truths about God.

A fragile Bambi is born by the merciful voice of the Lord.

We can conclude the voice of the Lord works mercifully.

And also, those iron-like branches are snapped off the hardwood

by the mighty voice of the Lord.

We can conclude that the voice of our Lord

not only works mercifully,

it also works mightily.

And he's putting those two truths together,

side by side.

Our Lord is holy, holy, holy, merciful, and mighty.

All creatures of our God and King,

even you deer and you trees,

lift up your voices and with us sing hallelujah.

Let all things their creator bless

and worship him in humbleness.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

While the voice of the Lord in creation reveals God undeniably,

it does not reveal God sufficiently.

The voice of the Lord is heard in creation in the nature,

both inside and outside of his kingdom.

But this voice of the Lord in creation,

it only reveals him enough for all men to know we are condemned.

We know there is a creator.

He's mighty.

And I'm nothing.

It's not enough to know God savingly.

Where do we go to hear the voice of God

minister grace and salvation and redemption

the way he's ordained?

Well, that's where the psalm takes us next.

Look at verse 10.

Where do we go to hear the voice of the Lord thunder?

His grace.

It's in his holy temple.

We hear the voice of the Lord thunder next in his holy temple.

A person from any nation,

anyone who can see a thunderstorm,

you may go and hear the voice of the Lord clearly and savingly.

Hear him speak words of grace

and reveal himself, his plan of redemption.

Verse 10 says, in his temple.

When the people of God hear the voice of the Lord in his temple,

look how they respond.

It's a one word shout.

It's glory.

You behold by faith,

he is merciful and mighty.

And you say glory.

Why is this so?

Why is it in the temple?

The temple is the place where God's glory dwells on earth.

The temple is where the voice of the Lord speaks to you

through the reading and teaching of his word.

The temple is where the voice of the Lord ministers God's covenant faithfulness to you

through the blood that was shed for the forgiveness of sins.

The temple is where you and I can hear the voice of the Lord proclaim his gracious blessings

to you and me who deserve his wrath.

The temple is where you and I are reminded

of that God is our creator.

And he rules over the storm.

Verse 10 says,

the Lord sat enthroned at the flood.

Not sure what David was envisioning.

It could be in that wilderness setting,

these dry creeks of Israel,

just like we have here in Colorado.

When a flash flood of a monsoon hits the southwest where it's desert-like,

the dry creeks fill up very quickly.

You can get swept away with them like a flood.

But it's also a reference to the flood of Genesis,

the great floods throughout all of the Old Testament.

It's an allusion to this water of destruction and chaos.

The mighty works of God,

preserved in his word and the scriptures,

throughout redemptive history.

The waters at creation,

God hovering over them,

enthroned above the water that he created.

Also the worldwide flood

that we read about in Genesis

as a foreshadowing of the coming judgment,

the eternal punishment

where God will pour out his wrath

and bury all the sinners under his judgment

when he comes again.

It's a reminder of

the time when the Lord delivered his people from slavery

and he led them across the Red Sea

and then there he covered the enemies of God's people.

He buried them in a flood at the Red Sea.

And then he did the same with the Jordan River,

crossing over into the Promised Land

through those waters of judgment

into his blessing.

Verse 10 says,

The Lord sits as king forever.

What is David envisioning by faith

as the Lord sitting?

He says,

The Lord sits as king forever.

And the setting in verse 10 is the temple.

It's a vision of a priest in the temple ministering God to us

and it's a vision of a king ruling over his people.

The temple in the time of David had not yet been built.

So is this the temple of the highest heaven

that by faith the Lord is letting him trust this promise?

And what is David envisioning of how God will actually bring this

to be accomplished and fulfilled?

See, David never got to build the temple himself.

He never got to see the temple

or enter the temple.

He never got to join in the temple

and shout glory.

So I believe David is trusting in a future event,

a future promise that's yet to come.

The temple was on David's mind

incessantly as the Holy Spirit led him

to compose this entire cluster of psalms.

As you remember,

this summer we've been going through Psalm 25

all the way through this one.

There are numerous references.

It's laced with allusions to a temple,

a tabernacle,

or a house of God.

This is what David's meditating on.

It's what's filling his mind.

A friend of mine

who's studied this carefully,

he pointed something out so helpful to me.

He pointed out how in Acts 2,

the apostle Peter cites David.

He cites Psalm 16.

It's a Psalm of David.

And then Peter interprets that

and he says,

David was speaking of Jesus Christ.

So in 2 Samuel chapter 7,

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

the Lord gives David the promise

of what his seed, his son, will do.

And Peter tells us

that by faith David trusted the Lord.

This is referring to Jesus Christ.

So that answers these mysterious allusions

beyond David's own lifetime

and vantage point then.

He's getting glimpses

and the Spirit's breathing out a promise

of the future work of Jesus,

the voice of God,

the prophet,

the priest in the temple,

the king ruling over his people.

God fulfilled his promises

to build the temple

first through Solomon,

but ultimately through Jesus Christ.

Let's not skip over Solomon entirely.

Go back to verse 5.

Look at again what it says in verse 5.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.

Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

The next generation,

what would happen is this.

The voice of the Lord

would direct Solomon

and the kings of the Phoenicians in Lebanon

to supply the lumber

to build the temple.

Cedar was used

because it's prized for that fine grain,

its resistance to insects,

durability,

and the pleasant aroma.

It was used to line

the interior walls,

the ceilings,

and the innermost sanctuary,

the Holy of Holies.

Can you picture

a beautiful cedar box

just built immaculately

and then gilded with gold?

And it came from these very mountains,

9,000 feet above sea level

that once trembled

at the voice of the Lord.

And now the voice of the Lord

brings that lumber

to represent the Holy of Holies

where His glory dwells.

So we get to hear

the voice of the Lord thunder

in the holy temple by faith.

But here's the fifth and final place

where we hear most clearly,

most undeniably,

the voice of the Lord thunder.

It's in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the place

where we hear the voice of the Lord

thunder most powerfully.

King David foreshadowed

the work of Jesus Christ

in His first coming

as a shepherd,

a warrior,

a suffering king,

a man anointed by God

to conquer through obedience.

Solomon foreshadows

the work of Jesus Christ

in His second coming

to rule with peace

over all the kingdom,

to expand the borders

till it covers the whole world.

Jesus Christ fulfills

Psalm 29.

Our scripture reading

in the New Testament today

was from Matthew 17.

Did you pick up

on the similar language?

A bright cloud

overshadowing this mountain

where Jesus,

John and Peter and James

are standing with

Moses representing all the law,

Elijah representing all the prophets,

all which point to Jesus.

And Matthew 17 tells us

in the midst of that cloud

on the top of a mountain,

suddenly a voice

came out from the cloud.

It's the voice of the Lord

thundering.

This, Jesus Christ,

is my beloved Son

in whom I am well pleased.

Listen to the instructions.

Hear Him.

Jesus is my voice.

Listen to Him.

Hear Him.

Peter was one of those disciples.

And he turns around

to the church

in one of his letters

in 2 Peter 1.16.

And he writes this

to the church,

to you and me.

We were eyewitnesses

of His majesty.

The same language

used to describe God

in Psalm 29

is the majesty

of Jesus Christ.

He received from God the Father

honor and glory

when such a voice

came to Him

from the excellent glory.

This is my beloved Son

in whom I am well pleased.

Peter heard Jesus.

Peter turned around

and told the church

we heard His voice

which came from heaven

when we were with Him

on the holy mountain.

Brothers and sisters

and dear friends,

Jesus Christ

is the voice of God.

Jesus Christ

is the Creator.

Jesus Christ

is the Word,

the Logos

of God.

He is the mighty

voice of the Lord.

Lord.

Jesus Christ

is also the temple

of the Lord.

He said,

you can tear down

this temple,

my body,

and I'll rebuild it

in three days.

I'll rise from the dead.

Jesus Christ

is the radiance

of the glory of God.

He is the exact imprint

of God's nature.

Jesus Christ,

the Scripture tells us,

He is the one

who upholds

the universe

by the word

of His power.

Hear the voice

of the Lord

thunder clearly

and personally

to you and me

in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 29

began in heaven.

Remember that?

Verse 1,

Give unto the Lord,

O you heavenly beings.

Give unto the Lord

glory and strength.

Give unto the Lord

the glory due

His name,

which Jesus Christ

revealed.

It's the name

of the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

The name

which one day

every tongue

will confess

and to whom

every knee

will bow

and proclaim

that He is Lord.

David is telling

the congregation

and you and me

look up.

The highest,

most powerful

spiritual beings

in existence,

they bow down

and worship Jesus.

Seated at the right

hand of the Father

Almighty.

The Lord is holy,

holy,

holy.

Father,

Son,

and Spirit.

How much more

should we

who dwell on earth

give to Him,

ascribe to Him

the glory due

His name?

In Psalm 29,

though it began

in heaven,

it ends right here

with you and me

on earth.

The Lord in heaven

dwells with His people.

He's with His people.

Look at verse 11.

The Lord will give

strength to you,

His people.

The Lord will bless

you and me,

His people,

in His spiritual

kingdom now

with peace.

You're either

in His kingdom

at peace with God

or you're His enemy.

Jeremiah pointed out

that if you read

Psalm 29

and leave off

verse 11,

you're left

trembling in your boots.

You're left

fearing God

the Creator

with no hope

of ever approaching

that holy temple.

But if you approach

God through Jesus Christ,

the temple,

the way,

the path,

the meeting point

where God dwells

with you and me

because of the blood

of Jesus,

you are united

to the Creator God

and His power

and His might

and you receive

peace with God

and peace in your life

which can only

come from God.

Let's let these clouds

that form above us

almost every single day

remind us

that one day soon

the glory of the Lord

will cover

the new heavens

and the new earth.

just like these clouds

cover the earth today.

One day soon

all God's people

will get to hear

the voice of the Lord

speaking to us

audibly,

our own ears.

you will recognize

the voice of Jesus.

Just like you know

a voice of your loved one

around the corner,

you will hear Jesus

one day soon.

One day soon

the voice of the Lord

will fill

every corner

of His kingdom

and His kingdom

will have no end.

One day soon

there will be

no more

false worship

under the sun.

One day soon

there will be

no more memory

of our failures.

No more reminders

of Kadesh.

One day soon

there will be

no more fear,

no more shame.

One day soon

we will hear

the voice of our Lord

singing over us,

His people,

with delight in us.

And on that

great day

our Lord Jesus

will direct

the angels

and all the

great cloud of witnesses

to lift their voices

and sing

the praise of God.

On that

great day

you and I

will join

our

hoarse

weak voices

with that

great choir

in heaven

covering the new earth

and we will all

thunder back

our thanks to God

in response

to His voice

calling us

on that great day

and forevermore.

Let's praise

the Lord

and ask Him

to lead us

doing this

now by faith

longing for that day

when it will be

by sight.

Please pray with me.

oh Lord we praise you

for how you've come near to us

in the person of Jesus Christ

how your perfect love drives out fear

and how you reassure us that we belong to you

who know your voice and who follow you

please cause us to do that Lord

by your strength and for your glory we ask

Amen