7. The Lord, Jehovah: King Forever!

Text:  “The Lord sitteth upon the flood (the nations of the world); yea, the Lord sitteth King forever.”

                                                                                                                   Psalm 29:10.

          “And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom (Christ‘s Kingdom), which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”

                                                                                                                    Daniel 2:44.

Good morning, Christian subject of the everlasting King!  Throughout the nations of the world today we find many temporal kingdoms, and many temporal rulers and kings.  However, while earthly kingdoms and kings may rise and fall, come and then go - the Kingdom of Christ Jesus, our Saviour and Lord, shall continue Supreme forever.  Hallelujah!  We worship and praise Thee, King Jesus; King of all kings, and Lord of all lords.  Glory to Thy Name!

All true, Spiritually regenerate, Christians; all ‘born again’ of God the Spirit into Christ’s Kingdom, should always be ready to cry out from our hearts: “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the Heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the Kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all.”  (1 Chronicles 29:11) 

Let us shout this from the rooftops right now wherever in the world we may be!   Glory to the Lamb, our King of kings!  Our God reigns over all!  Hallelujah!

Is it not literally ‘wonderful’ to know that you and I - as Spiritually regenerate Christians - have been blessed of God with Salvation in Christ Jesus, and permitted to be part of His Eternal Kingdom?  Amazing grace indeed, my friend!

Let us pray all the more, and witness all the more, to those around us day by day who are not presently subjects of Christ’s Kingdom.  If we love the lost with the love of Christ Jesus, we will desire deeply that they too might enter His Kingdom.  If we truly love those still lost in sin, we should be bold enough, and honest enough, to tell them God’s message of truth - that they too might turn from their sin, repent, and receive Christ as their Eternal Saviour and King.  (Romans 10:13)

“Jesus answered and said unto him (Nicodemus), Verily, verily (truly, truly), I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  (John 3:3)

Praise and all thanks be to God, for He has provided this great Salvation for us - through the Cross of Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son, our Saviour and Lord.

Verse 10.  “The Lord sitteth upon the flood.  The ‘flood’ here mentioned is the nations of the world, and the Lord God Jehovah, the Creator of the world, sitteth (sits, and continually sits) as Supreme Lord and Ruler over all the nations.  Our God reigns.

Verse 10.  “The Lord sitteth.  A temporal king can only reign when he sits upon the throne of territorial authority, in any given land.  He sits, to show his subjects that his war to win the kingdom is now accomplished; that he is now resting in the seat of total lordship and authority over his temporal subjects.

King Jesus Christ is even at this moment seated ‘…on the right hand of God…’ His Father - showing that His work of Eternal Salvation is totally accomplished; that His Victory war cry from the Cross is fully vindicated; that He has redeemed ‘…His people from their sins…’  Hallelujah!  We honour Thee, King Jesus Christ!  Glory to Thy Name!

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar; He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.”  (John 19:30)

“So then after the Lord had spoken unto them (the eleven disciples), He was received up into Heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.  And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following.  Amen.”  (Mark 16:19-20)

Throughout the world today, we find gross sin and Sodomy being promoted militantly across our sin-soiled nations.  Every perversion is applauded as being ‘right’; every smear and insult of the Holy Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, is written into television soap operas and movies; so much so that even the church worldwide seems to be steeped in apostasy and gross unbelief.  It seems like the kingdom of Satan, the arch-deceiver, is prevailing, and sincere, Bible-believing Christians are subject to the most vile taunts and ’legal’ restrictions.  However, all this has already been prophesied in God’s Word - the Holy Bible - and it will all be judged by the Lord when He returns for us, ’His people’.

Remember the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah!  (Genesis 19:24-29)

“But that which ye have already hold fast until I (Christ Jesus) come.  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of My Father.”  (Revelation 2:25-27)

Thought:  Rejoice, Christian subject!  “The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King forever.”  Our Lord God is in Sovereign Control of all things.

6. Lightning: A Sign of New Hope Psalm 29:8-9

 Text:  “The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kaddesh.  The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calf, and discovereth the forests; and in His temple doth every one speak of His glory.”

                                                                                                                 Psalm 29:8-9.

Good morning, shook up and remade Christian!  In order to awaken you soul and mine out of the utter darkness and deadly slumber of sin, the Lord had to shake us up and remake us as His new creation in Christ Jesus.  We are, thus, ‘shook up and remade Christians’.  Hallelujah!  Let this reality shake us up a little more today!

“And you hath He quickened (shook up and remade) who were DEAD in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation (entire lifestyle of sin and disobedience) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature (natural birth) the children of wrath, even as others.  But God Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  (Ephesians 2:1-6)

The Lord God Almighty was compelled to ‘shake up and remake’ the nation of Israel, none so much as at the times they were in and around ‘the wilderness of Kadesh’.

Kadesh, or Kadesh-Barnea, meaning consecrated or holy, was located north of The Sinai Peninsula between the Wilderness of Paran and the Wilderness of Zin. It is first mentioned in The Bible during the time of Abraham, and later, during the Wilderness Journey after the Exodus. The Israelites remained for many years at, and in the vicinity of, Kadesh.  (Wayne Blank)

Verse 8. “The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kaddesh.  Kadesh in Holy Scriptures is often associated with a place of sin and disobedience, where the children of Israel - recently freed from Egypt by the miraculous hand of God - refused to go into the land promised by Him, because of their fears of the people that dwelt there.  They wandered around the wilderness of Kadesh for forty years as a dire consequence of their disobedience and mistrust of God’s Word.  All people above twenty years perished, except for Caleb and Joshua, chosen by God to live and continue on into the Promised Land.  (Numbers 13:25-33)

“And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against Me…your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against Me, doubtless shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun…But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness.  And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredom, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.”  (Numbers 14:26-33)

The children of Israel wandered and were wasted in Kadesh until the voice of the Lord spoke again unto them His Words of Atonement and reconciliation - and just like a sudden thunder and lightning storm, the disobedient were shook up and remade by God’s Sovereign grace, and became obedient servants of Jehovah God once more.

Verse 8.  The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.  Unless the voice of the Lord shakes up the sinful soul, that soul shall never awaken Spiritually and be made fit - by the precious Blood of Christ - to enter the Promised Land of Heaven.  ’Ye must be born again!’  (John 3:3-8)

“But God Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  (Ephesians 2:4-6)  Praise God for His great Salvation through Christ, His Son!

When wandering in the wilderness of sin’s darkness - only the Lord God can bring us true and certain HOPE.  He shakes us up in order to sort us out in holiness and grace.

Verse 9.  “The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve.  Our first parents sought a refuge among the trees but the voice of the Lord soon found them out and made their hearts to tremble.  The Gospel has a like revealing power in dark hearts and bids the soul tremble before the Lord.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, pages 142-143)

“Doth the Lord take care of hinds?  Then certainly He takes care of those that particularly belong to Him.”  (Joseph Caryl 1602-1673)

Verse 9.  “…And in His temple doth every one speak of His glory.  There is far more royal power in the thunder of the Word than in the word of thunder.  This terrifieth only to conviction, but that terrifieth to Salvation.”  (Joseph Caryl 1602-1673)

Thought:  Eternal new hope is heralded by ‘the voice of God…’, and new creatures in Christ are produced for Eternity by its sound.  Ever speak to our hearts, dear Lord God, we beseech Thee.

5. Lightning: Fire From Heaven! Psalm 29:6-7

 Text:  “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.”

                                                                                                                 Exodus 19:16.

Good morning, God-fearing Christian!  You and I fear God with a godly fear; a humble reverence; a full and total respect for His Person and the power of His Holy Presence.  Thus, fearing the Lord God in this reverent manner, we have nothing else to fear upon this old earth.  Our Father God is in full control of every aspect of our lives and being.  Praise and all worship to His glorious and wonderful Name!  Amen.

“The Lord is my light and my Salvation: whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”  (Psalm 27:1)

Thunder and lightning storms are, truly, something to bring us down to our knees; a phenomenon that humbles the mightiest hearts and reminds us of just how puny we are in comparison to such Heavenly powers unleashed.  Flash!  The lightning lights up the sky.  Then, boom!  The peal of thunder blasts its cry throughout the skies. 

However, as Spiritually regenerate Christian believers, we have nothing to fear when the lightning flashes and the thunder peals its explosive noise throughout the world - for this is the voice of our Heavenly Father, and our Heavenly Father loves us very dearly.

“He/she that dwelleth (dwells, and continues to dwell) in the secret place (in Christ Jesus) of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him will I trust.”   (Psalm 91:1-2)

Yet, the ungodly, the unredeemed, cannot claim this Divine promise, for the Lord has spoken in His Word revealing that the power of His Holy Presence is a terror to them.

“The Lord also thundered in the Heavens, and the Highest gave His voice; hail stones and coals of fire.  Yea, He sent out His arrows (lightning) and scattered them; and He shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.  Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at Thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils.”  (Psalm 18:13-15)

Verse 6.  “He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.  The voice of our dying Lord rent the rocks and opened the graves; His living voice still works the like wonders.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 142)

I cannot help but read Psalm 29: in the context of a violent thunder and lightning storm - each verse builds in crescendo to the next, the lightning flashes across our minds, and the thunder of God’s Almighty voice proclaims His Divine and Sovereign truths.

Verse 7.  “The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.  The same power of God goeth forth by His Word, ‘quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,’ penetrating, melting, enlightening, and inflaming the hearts of men.”  (George Horne 1730-1792)

When the lightning flashes, can we not hear the voice of the Lord, as spoken by John the Baptist, declaring what is to come? 

“I indeed baptise you with water (total immersion) unto repentance; but He (Christ Jesus) that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire; Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  (Matthew 3:11-12)

Verse 7.  “The voice of the Lord.  The voice of Jehovah sendeth out divided flames of fire.  This is very descriptive of the Divine action at Pentecost, sending forth ‘divided flames’, in the tongues of fire which were divided off from one Heavenly source or fountain of flame, and sat upon the heads of the apostles, and which filled them with the fire of Holy zeal and love.”  (Christopher Wordsworth 1807-1887 )

Boom! The Word of God is heard in our hearts like the peal of thunder.  Flash! the extreme light of His truth suddenly enlightens our darkened hearts of sin! Then, ‘…faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God…’, and we are quickened by the Holy Ghost and saved. 

Spiritual regeneration is often performed by Almighty God during a great inner turmoil of the human soul, akin to the unleashing of a powerful thunder and lightning storm.  And after the storm, we find Divinely granted peace.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  (John 14:27)

Verse 7.  “The voice of the Lord divideth (or controls) the flames of fire.”  The Living Lord, the Creator of all things, is in full Sovereign control of all things He has Created.  Thus, His Word divides the ‘sheep’ from the ‘goats’ - He grants faith only to ‘…all those that the Father hath given unto Him…’; and His elect souls are Eternally saved.  (John 6:37)  ‘Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth…’  Amen.

Thought:  In the storms of life - let us listen carefully for ‘…the voice of the Lord…’!  He will encourage us and direct our paths towards His peace.

4. Thunder: High Trees Fall First! Psalm 29:5

Text:  “The voice of the Lord breaketh (breaks, and continues to break) the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.”

                                                                                                                     Psalm 29:5.

Good morning, politically oppressed Christian!  Unlike the author and many others here in the Western Hemisphere, you are perhaps compelled to worship Christ in some secret place away from the eyes and ears of political tyrants who in their rebellion against the Living Lord God have embraced false religions, and now seek to persecute all those under their tyrannical power who dare to call themselves Christian.  Well, this morning I have a message of encouragement especially for you: having read to the end of God’s Book - the Holy Bible - I can fully assure you that YOU are on the winning side!  Hallelujah!  The Lord will soon deal with all such persecuting tyrants.  Amen.

Whether it be the recent case of the Christian woman, Meriam Ibrahim in Sudan; or Christian believers being burnt in their churches in Nigeria (see below) - one thing is certain - political tyrants worldwide, in the highest of political offices, are either encouraging the most violent persecution of Christian believers, or turning a blind eye as others carry on this slaughter of Christian innocents. Beware, tyrant!  God is watching you, and will not be mocked by your pathetic cruelties towards His people!

True Church, waken up! Pray fervently now for these our brethren!  Lift the telephone!  Write to your government! Sign email petitions! Demand that all Christian Aid packages to oppressive countries be suspended until Christian believers can worship Christ and practice their Bible-believing Christian faith in freedom!  Act NOW!

“Persecution of Christians in Sudan

Meriam Yahia Ibrahim was sentenced to death in Khartoum on 11 May for 'apostasy' (converting to Christianity), and up to 100 lashes for committing adultery. She refused to renounce her Christian faith. According to reports, the judge told her: "We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death." Meriam calmly replied, "I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy."

Nigeria: More Sunday attacks

30 June 2014

Four churches were torched and worshippers killed during Sunday services when suspected Boko Haram insurgents attacked Kwada village close to Chibok in Borno State on 29 June. Three other villages were also attacked; the bodies of at least 40 civilians and six militants have been recovered from the region so far.

Churches attacked

The attackers sprayed gunfire at worshippers and torched four churches, including the Protestant Church of Christ, the Pentecostal Deeper Life Bible Church and Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa (Hausa for 'Church of the Brethren' in Nigeria). A witness said the attackers then went on to neighbouring Kautikari where they shot at villagers and burned homes. It is believed that suspected Boko Haram militants delivered a letter to Kautikari in April threatening imminent attacks.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) estimates that there are between 350,000 - 470,000 internally displaced people and refugees who have left home due to the violence in northern Nigeria. Open Doors is supporting Christians facing violence to stay and serve their broken communities. Find out how you can strengthen widows and pastors in Nigeria here.”

Source: Open Doors; BBC; UN OCHA

Verse 5.  “The voice of Jehovah.  It is a diabolical science, however, which fixes our contemplation on the works of nature and turns them away from God.”  (John Calvin 1509-1564)

Here in Ulster, Northern Ireland, UK, we have a wise old adage that teaches, ‘The bigger they are, the harder they fall.’; and this is especially true concerning political tyrants, and physically powerful bullies of all description.  No matter how powerful, or how physically strong tyrants and bullies seem, there is always someone or some other entity more powerful to overthrow the tyrants and humble their overbearing spirits.

“He (the Lord God) shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.”  (Psalm 72:4)

Verse 5.  “…The cedars of Lebanon.  These mighty trees of God, which for ages have stood the force of the tempest, are the first objects of the fury of the lightning, which is well known to visit first the highest objects.”  (Robert Murray M’Cheyne 1813-1843)

“The voice of the Lord breaketh (breaks, and continues to break) the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.” (Psalm 29:5)

Notice it is ’the Lord’ that breaks, and continues to break, down these high tree tyrants, but He often uses other human forces to do so.  Look, for example, at the long list of dictators throughout the world who have been suddenly renounced, deposed, and brought down into the depths of death and Eternal doom: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Nicolae Ceausescu;  Saddam Hussein; Muammar Gaddaifi; etc.

Thought: These tyrants - and many others from all over the world and throughout history - rebelled against the Living Lord God, and dared to set themselves and their political ideologies and regimes above the Lord God; and went on to persecute His people.  Yet, suddenly, the voice of the Lord thundered from the Heavens, and down they came, and the fall of their cruel dictatorships was terrible and devastating.  God is not mocked!   Christian, take heart!

3. Thunder: The Voice of God's Grace Psalm 29:4

Text:  “And He (the Lord) said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?  And I answered, O Lord, Thou knowest.  Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.  Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.”

                                                                                                                 Ezekiel 37:3-5.

Good morning, Christian saved by God’s grace!  Of ourselves, we are and always have been, and always shall be - NOTHING.  We had absolutely no desire to hear the voice of God, nor to be a part of His Body, the church worldwide and international. Yet, by His Sovereign grace alone; through God-given faith alone; given by His grace alone, you and I are Eternally saved.  Wow!  Hallelujah!  What a gracious Saviour!

Verse 4.  “The voice of the Lord is powerful.  As the voice of God in nature is so powerful, so is it in grace; the reader will do well to draw a parallel, and he will find much in the Gospel which may be illustrated by the thunder of the Lord in the tempest.  See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.  If His voice be thus mighty, what must His hand be!”  (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 142)

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Nothing in God’s original Creation was created without God’s voice - the Word of God.  Likewise, nothing concerning the Eternal Salvation of our souls was regenerated within us, except by that same Divine Word of God being proclaimed.  Thanks be to God.

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  (Romans 10:17)

“Chaos knows not how to resist Thee, it hears Thy voice obediently, but the obdurate heart repels Thee, and Thy mighty voice too often calls to it in vain.  Thou art not so great and wonderful in creating worlds out of nothing as Thou art when Thou dost command a rebel heart to arise from its abyss of sin, and to run in the ways of Thy commandments.”  (J.B. Massillon 1663-1742)

The heart of fallen mankind is totally depraved.  Only a fool would refuse to acknowledge the fact that Adam’s fall into sin in Eden’s Garden was a fall into total depravity, not merely a partial fall from grace, that would leave some yearning for Spiritual fellowship with his Creator Lord.  When Adam/Eve disobeyed God’s commandment - all Creation reeled under God’s curse for sin; all future generations of mankind would be born of woman, fallen, in the image of fallen Adam, as opposed to the sinless image of his Creator Lord God.  That is why we ‘…must be born again…’!

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who (but God Himself) can know it?  I the Lord search the heart, I try (test) the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”      (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Yet, the Lord God takes the initiative to go seeking His fallen creature, like the story of the Prodigal son in Luke chapter 15:, “…when he (the Prodigal son) was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”  (Luke 15:20)  Now, this is what I call ’Sovereign grace’!  Hallelujah!

“Man became God’s enemy wantonly, without the slightest offence given on God’s part, but man did not make advances towards reconciliation, or express regret because peace was broken.  The first overtures for peace are not made by man the offender, but by our aggrieved and offended God…Reconciliation of man to his Maker is never achieved by man, but is the work of God from first to last, and to God must be all the glory.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Expository Encyclopaedia, Minister’s Redemption, page 9) 

Today, throughout the nations that have been utterly blessed by the proclamation of the glorious Gospel of Christ and Him Crucified for sinners - millions have now turned their ears and their hearts away from the One true God, Jehovah, and His dear Son, Jesus Christ.  Apostasy reigns where once Scriptural truth presided - as the full filth of Sodom is exalted throughout our sin-sick societies, and political leaders wallow in the mire of corruption and immoral sleaze.  Only the thunder of God’s voice can awaken our nations once more from the Eternal sleep of Hell’s doom that is upon our people.

Verse 4.  “The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.  The King of kings speaks like a king.  As when a lion roareth, all the beasts of the forest are still, so is the earth hushed and mute while Jehovah thundereth marvellously.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 142)

“Oh may the evangelical ‘Boanerges’ so cause the glorious sound of the Gospel to be heard under the whole heaven that the world may again be made sensible thereof; before the voice of the Son of Man, which hath so often called sinners to repentance, shall call them to judgement.”  (George Horne 1730-1792)

Thought:  You and I are the Lord’s evangelists - let us renew our efforts to be the voice of God; proclaiming boldly the glorious Gospel of Jesus the risen Christ.

2. Thunder: The Voice of God! Psalm 29:3

                                  

Text:  “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth; the Lord is upon many waters.”

                                                                                                                     Psalm 29:3.

Good morning, alert and listening Christian!  Because the Lord God has, by His Spiritual power, opened your ears and mine and enabled us to hear His powerful voice: we are saved; we are secure in Christ; we are Eternally grateful; and we are ever listening to hear ’the still small voice…’ of His every guiding whisper.  Praise God for alert and listening Christians!

“The Lord God hath given me the tongue of he Learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him this is weary; He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.  The Lord hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.”  (Isaiah 50:4-5)

Verse 3.  “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters.  No sight more alarming than the flash of lightning around the mast of a ship.

“The glory of God thundereth.  Thunder is in truth no mere electric phenomenon but is caused by the interposition of God Himself.  Electricity of itself can do nothing; it must be called and sent upon its errand; and until the Almighty Lord commissions it, its bolt of fire is inert and powerless.  As well might a rock of granite or a bar of iron fly in the midst of Heaven as the lightning go without being sent by the great First Cause.”         (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 141)

As an ex-Seaman, sailing on foreign-going ships, across the vast oceans of our world, I have experienced at first hand the power and unleashed atmospheric violence of an ‘electric storm’ at sea.  Bolts of power-filled lightning sizzle across leaden black skies, lighting up all across a thousand mile radius, as though it were the middle of the day.  Then, moments later - BOOM!  An explosive peal of thunder proclaims the reason for the flash, but not the Source.  God’s Voice is heard in the power of His Created elements; God’s glory is partially reflected in the sheer brightness of a lightning bolt.  Were His glory not partially concealed, I believe all the earth would shrivel up in an instant.  Our God is a Holy Lord God of Divine and omnipotent power.

“Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.”            (Hebrews 12:28-29)

Too many today, in this 21^st Century of increased apostasy and rebellion against the Lord God, dare to think of the Almighty Lord as a kind old man with a long white beard, who can be fooled by the worldly wise, and condescended to by those deeming themselves to be noble.  What a travesty!  What a dangerous notion to hold!  Let us begin for a moment to think again of the hint of God’s power unleashed in a thunder storm, and surely we must - as a nation, and as individuals - humble ourselves, seek His forgiving grace, and healing for our sin-sick land.

“If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Yes, great God, this heart hitherto so dry, so arid, so hard; this rock which Thou hast struck a second time, will not resist Thee any longer, for out of it there now gushes healthful waters in abundance.  The self-same voice of God which overturns the mountains, thunders, lightens, and divides the Heaven above the sinner, now commands the clouds to pour forth showers of blessings, changing the desert of his soul into a field producing a hundredfold; that voice I hear.”  (Jean Baptiste Massillon 1663-1742)

Verse 3.  “The God of glory thundereth.  God’s Word teaches us clearly that ‘The voice of the Lord is upon many waters…’; waters depicting diverse and changing nations of the world.  God’s Word is still being sent out to many diverse nations; nations that have not only rejected Bible-based Christian beliefs, but have openly rebelled against such God-given beliefs and are currently seeking the total destruction of Christian believers and the faith that they desire to openly practice.

In Nigeria, in Sudan, in India, and China, and Vietnam, and North Korea -  Christians are being first despised, then thrown into prisons, kidnapped and tortured, and martyred ruthlessly for holding Bible-based Christian beliefs and seeking to practice them.  Fact.

Never has there been a more worldwide, cruel and horrific persecution of Christian believers than today in this 21^st Century.  Pray, Christian, pray!

The Lord God has promised ‘His people’, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee…’  Soon the oppressing nations will be cut short in their puny rebellion against the people of God; soon those nations will indeed hear the voice of God thundering in the skies all around them His wrath against all who would dare harm His anointed people.  The Lord will ‘laugh’ at such rebellious persecutors as, in power, He delivers us from them.

“He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision.”  (Psalm 2:4)

Thought: Listen carefully for the voice of the Lord - Jehovah alone is God Almighty; He will not be mocked by persecutors of ‘His people’.  Speak, Lord.