When God speaks

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There used to be a series of TV commercials about a brokerage house.  There would always be two well-dressed business men in a crowded place, like a restaurant, or an airplane, or a bank.  The noise of the crowd would swell until the one man told the other, "Well, my broker is E.F. Hutton, and he says..."  At that, the whole room would go silent, and everyone in the place would stop what they were doing, and focus their attention solely on the speaker.  The business man would always look around uncomfortably, making sure that the viewer would notice that the once-busy marketplace had stopped, and that the crowd noise had been silenced by the mere name of his broker. The tag-line was, "When E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen."

I have been struck this week about what happens when God speaks.  Every time that God speaks, there is power in His words.

• He spoke out of the darkness, and created light (Genesis 1:3).  All of what was created was spoken into existence by God.
• He spoke out of a burning bush, and appointed Moses to free his captive people and lead them to the Promised Land (Exodus 3:4).
• He spoke out of thick darkness, with thunder and lightning, and a very loud trumpet blast, and thus gave His people rules to live by (Exodus 19:16-22; we will speak on this more later, when we look at Hebrews 12).
• He spoke through prophets, starting with the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan, between the Red Sea and the Jordan River, while Moses stood and watched.  (This is really cool, and someday I might do a whole study on this.  Read Numbers 11:24: "So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said.  He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the Tent.  Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders.  When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again." Does anyone other than me see the correlation with Luke chapter 10, when Jesus sent out seventy of his followers to heal the sick, cast out demons, and proclaim the Day of the Lord?  Hallelujah!)
• He spoke to the great fish, so that it coughed up Jonah on the dry ground. (Jonah 2:10)

I submit to you, therefore, that when the Bible says in the first chapter of John that Jesus was the Word made flesh, who dwelt among us, that this was the culmination of God's power.  "In the beginning was the Word," John wrote.  "And the Word was with God, and was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made."  From Genesis one, when God said, "Let there be light", the Light of the World (Jesus) was right there--He was the Word then, and He is the Word now.

Hebrews 12:25 says, "See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?"  When God speaks, people listen, or they regret it.  Sometimes, the Voice of God is so terrifying that people beg for it to go away.  This is what the writer of Hebrews said when he described God's giving Moses and the people the Ten Commandments.

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches touches the mountain, it must be stoned."  The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear." --Hebrews 12:18-21

 We can come boldly before the throne of grace, because God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and a sound mind. (2Timothy 1:7)

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.  You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.  You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and the the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. --Hebrews 12:22-24

We all have an instinct to call out to God.  What are the first words out of the mouth of even an atheist when tragedy strikes? "Oh, my God."  What is the thought of a first-time mother when she sees her baby? "God, you're beautiful".  Whenever we speak His name, we are brought into His presence.  We can come in peace, or we can come in hostility; we can reap His grace and His favor, or we can know His judgment and His justice.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks.  If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? --Hebrews 12:25

When God speaks, people listen.  You can count on it.