No. 54 - IT’S IN THE VOICE By: John J. Blanchard Sunday, October 03, 2004 Day four of the Feast of Tabernacles There are many beautiful sounding musical instruments, as you heard on our special music of Handel’s “Messiah”. There are many different instruments that come together to make a piece like that possible. You have your stringed instruments, and we know the strings as violins, harps or even guitars. The vibrating string makes beautiful sound that reaches the human ear. There are also woodwind instruments, which have a vibrating reed. The breath of the individual blowing over that reed causes it to vibrate so we can hear the sound. You have, of course, as we heard in that piece the brass, the horns. In those brass instruments, once again, you have the power of the human breath being expressed through the instrument causing sound that the human ear can hear. When that all comes together beautifully choreographed, it makes wonderful music. The most beautiful instrument that has ever been created on the earth is the human voice. As wonderful as that piece was, wasn’t it the human voices that made it spectacular? That makes a lot of sense because, since the human being is made in the image and the likeness of God, our voice is like God’s. We can make wonderful sounds with the human voice. The human voice can give us the highest form of human expression: praises to God. We do this in our hymns. We can also pray with a voice in our head, but we use words when we pray. We utter prayers, whether silently or out loud, when we pray, and that is another form of the human voice praising God. Probably the highest expression that a human being can do is to use the voice to praise God, whether in prayer or hymns or psalms. We will look at a few scriptures along those lines. Turn to Psalm 108:1. “O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Your glory above all the earth; that Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me.” Here we have the psalmist saying I will praise You with voice, I will praise You with musical instruments because You are so wonderful and Your truth reaches above the clouds to the heavens. Please save me and hear my cry to You. Hear my song, and hear my prayer. Turn, if you would now, to Psalm 150:1. “Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Eventually this will be the case where the entire earth will praise God for what He has done and what He is doing for mankind. We are not there yet, but we individually and as a group can certainly praise God with our voice, with the sound of music. We do this during special music and with our hymns at the beginning and end of services. This is all wonderful to God because we are using the gift of the human voice, which is like the image and likeness of God. It is like God’s voice coming back to Him with a language that He finds so beautiful. A TWO-EDGED SWORD If you would, turn back to Psalm 149 just back a page. We will read a little more. Read verses 1-9. Here we see God is telling us in His word to sing praises to Him, and He will beautify the humble who do this. But He takes it a step further. He says sing praises with your mouth and a two-edged sword. What is that two-edged sword? It is a beautiful thing to God, and we are going to discuss that today. But I want to emphasize here that the voice that we use to praise God is full of beauty. It is powerful as you can see here. It can help enslave the nations. In this case we are talking about Satan’s nations being enslaved in chains. Eventually the proper use of the human voice in God’s hands in utilizing His thoughts will accomplish this. It is a wonder to understand, and this is tremendous knowledge to possess. These thoughts of God must be expressed. Since Christ is not physically walking on this earth today, it is His Church (the body of Christ) and the voice that they possess that is to utter this knowledge. It speaks these truths. It brings beautiful thoughts to the world and expresses beautiful thoughts to God. God sets the standard in the Bible that we are to follow. He sets the standard for the proper use of the voice and sound. I want to look at a few scriptures that will emphasize that for us. Turn, please, to the Gospel of John chapter 1. This is a very famous scripture. Mr. Armstrong used to often quote this. Read John 1:1-5. The word there “Word” comes from the Greek word Logos, which actually means word. If you remember, Christ uttered, “let there be light,” and there was light. When He created the earth and all that we see, He said let it happen and it happened. He could create by the power of His voice, and that is why He is called the Logos or the Word. That word also brings light in the darkness. It brings light because it is the truth. Turn, if you would now, to Revelation chapter 1. Here is another clear description of Jesus Christ. Read Revelation 1:12-17. I am the Alpha and the Omega in the Greek. Continue reading in verse 18-20. John saw Jesus Christ, and he heard His voice. When he turned to see this tremendous God of ours, He was shining like the sun. Jesus Christ said write the things I am going to tell you which will take place. That is what we have here in the Book of Revelation. This is His word, as is the entire Bible, and it is the sword that comes out of His mouth. If you would, skip down to Revelation 2:12. “‘And to the angel of the church in Pergamos, write, “These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword…”’” So Jesus Christ said write this down. The One who talks to you has the two-edged sword. Continue reading in Revelation 2:13-17. There is quite a bit there. If you will notice, when Jesus Christ points out the faults in the church of Pergamos (as He does with the other churches) He says I will fight you with the sword of My mouth if you are not careful. He will fight us with the sword of His mouth. Turn, if you would, to Revelation 19. Read verses 11-15. If you notice, the word of God and the sword that proceeds from His mouth are one and the same. It is what He says. The word of God is what Jesus Christ says. He will fight those who hold false knowledge, ignorance or sin. He will fight them with His word. This starts to open up a lot of understanding for us. It certainly points out that we must listen to the voice of Jesus Christ. Let’s examine this sword a little bit. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 6. This is a scripture we often quote to see the armor of God. Now let’s take a look at this sword. Read Ephesians 6:10-17. We see that this sword of the Spirit is without a doubt the word of God. The word of God, of course, we have in our hand, which is the Bible. Turn to John chapter 17:14. “‘I have given them Your word…’” (Jesus Christ said) “‘…and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.’” He is talking to His Father. Continue reading verses 15-19. He is praying to His Father to keep His disciples from the evil one. We are descendants of those disciples. What does He say we can have to fight? The word of God, that sharp two-edged sword which is the truth, is what we can use to stay out of the clutches of the evil one. Continuing in John 18:36 “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.’” He is answering Pontius Pilate here. Verse 37: “Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’” If we want to understand the truth, we must hear God’s voice. Since His voice is the two-edged sword, we must pay attention to the Bible. We have to have His help obviously, but the Spirit is there to help us understand the words of God and use them to stay out of the clutches of the evil one. We need to overcome the evil principalities that are above this earth. That is how important these words are. It is what we fight with. Turn to Psalm 119 please. Read verses 145-152. God’s commandments and His words are going to last forever. With them we can fight off the wicked and evil thinking. We can keep evil deeds out of our lives and overcome Satan and all of those evil principalities that surround the earth at this time. FIGHTING SATAN’S LIES Turn, if you would, to II Timothy 3. This is a further proof that this Bible is that word that is spoken of here. Read II Timothy 3:14-17 where Paul is talking to Timothy. That term is “God-breathed”. The scriptures are God-breathed. Jesus Christ’s breath uttered the words that we hold in our hand when we hold the Bible. With a proper understanding of those scriptures of the truth of God, we can have good works for we understand what to do. Part of that understanding is to fight off the wicked one and get rid of his works in our lives. We need to be overcomers. That is how important the sword of God is (the word of truth). The importance of truth cannot be overstated in the life of a Christian. The opposite of truth is a lie. The fall of man and the condition of the earth that we see all around us started with a lie. Let’s read about that incident in Genesis chapter 3. All the pain and suffering that we see in the world today and all the temptations and trials that we endure, started with this lie! Read Genesis 3:1-6. That is the lie. This really angered God, of course. Drop down to Genesis 3:13. “And the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” When her eyes were opened, she realized she had been tricked. She had been tricked by a lie. Along with her husband and the human race that followed, she had been given permission to rebel. She was given permission to decide what was right and what was wrong. She was given permission to use her free will in which ever way she wanted. While under Satan’s influence, of course, he is always there pushing the wrong. He is always pushing the lies further. He is always deceiving mankind into tricking him continually to do Satan’s will. If you would, turn to John chapter 8 where Christ is speaking to the Pharisees. Read John 8:37-43. He said why don’t you hear My voice? Why don’t you comprehend My breathed words? He goes on to answer His own question. Read verses 44-47. A very, very powerful indictment and why we want to hear the voice of God. This is why all through Revelation it says for he who has an ear to hear. We need to be able to hear the voice of the Almighty God. Every time someone on this planet does wrong, they believed a lie first. Every time! They always have followed a lie. It is the same lie. You can do this; you shall not surely die. It feels good. It will make you happy. Go ahead and do it. This has been believed over and over again countless times to the misery, the sorrow and the pain of the human race. We have reaped what Satan has sown. We continue to sow it whenever we tell and repeat his lies. The only way to fight lies is with the truth. There is no other way. That is why guns cannot defeat our enemies. Bombs cannot defeat our enemies. It is the truth that defeats our enemies. God’s word is the truth. Therefore, we must know and understand the sword of God (the words of God) if we are to stand a chance fighting the evil principalities that surround us. Continuing with John 8:31, Jesus went on to say the following. “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” It is the truth that will make us free. We have to be able to hear and understand the words of truth to ever have a chance to stand up against Satan and his wiles and lies. HELPING OTHERS DEFEAT SIN Read Psalm 51:1-6. We are to learn the truth inside, within our minds and hearts. Continue reading verses 7-13. We saw in Ephesians that Spirit is the word of God. Strengthen and revive me by Your words so that I may in turn teach others. The suffering, pain and sorrow that we go through in our lives and defeat with the truth enable us to help others defeat the sin in their lives. It is a principle we must understand, and we must let Jesus Christ and His word live within us in order to be able to accomplish that. It is a tremendous goal for us to set for ourselves, but it is the goal that Jesus Christ first set for us. If we call ourselves people of faith, we must pursue that goal and learn so that we can accomplish it. We are being prepared to teach the truth to the entire world. We are being prepared to use our voice as the voice of God so that the world can hear and understand what God has to say. The body of Christ must embody the truth. We are His voice at this time. Jesus Christ is not walking the earth. We cannot turn on a radio and hear Jesus Christ making announcements to us. The Church (the body of Christ) is His voice, and the words that we have in the Bible are the breath that blows across our vocal chords making the beautiful sound and the beautiful truths that the people in the world need to hear. Indeed, at this time the rest of the Church needs to hear. RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD Turn, if you would, to II Timothy chapter 2:14. “Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” If we do not want to be ashamed some day of the things we have taught people, we need to rightly know how to divide and use this book. We need to know how to put together the truth and the thoughts of God and present them to people to give them hope. Then we will not have to be ashamed some day of the things we have said. Continuing with II Timothy 2:16. “But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort…” He is speaking of two individuals here. God does not want us arguing and fighting and pushing the truth on one another, often in error, as we see in the Church of God today. It was happening back then to these people’s shame, and it is happening today to the shame of many in God’s Church. Continuing in verse 18: “…who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.” Their particular argument was with the resurrection. Continue reading II Timothy 2:19-26. Those who fight, argue and dispute amongst one another and bring the brethren down as we see throughout the Church today are obviously tools of Satan. This is done unwittingly, and we are not blaming them. But we must never descend to their level and fight, argue and profane God’s name. This is done when people who are looking at the body of Christ say this cannot be the body of Christ. Look how they teach one another and talk about one another. Look what they do to one another. If we learn how to rightly divide the truth and be patient, kind and gentle, we will project the image that Jesus Christ wants us to project to the world. Turn to Matthew 4. Not only do we have to learn to rightly divide the word of truth, Jesus Christ went before us and did the same thing. By the word of truth, He defeated Satan in a monumental battle in Matthew chapter 4. Matthew 4, verse 1: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ But He answered and said, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”’ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: “He shall give His angels charge over you…”’” Satan had the audacity to start quoting scripture back to Jesus Christ! It goes on to say, “…and ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Verse 7: “Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”’ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”’ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” Did they get into a wrestling match? Did they fight with physical swords? Did they have a duel with six guns? It was a duel of the words of God. Jesus Christ knew how to rightly divide the truth (the word of God), and Satan crawled away back into his little hole. That is how powerful the words of God are when rightly used. That is why it is important for us to hear God’s voice, hear the truth and learn how to use it in our lives. Please turn to I Timothy 3:14. “These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” God is talking through Paul. He is saying I want to teach you how to be a pillar and solid ground of the truth, which means I want to teach you how to use God’s words to defeat evil. That is what he is saying. I want to teach you how to rightly use the truth. That is the same for us today. We are the Church of God, and we need to properly know how to use the truth to be well grounded and have the strength to fight off Satan, his evil principalities and the wicked lies that pervade the earth today. Turn to Zechariah 8. We have studied the concept that the Church is spiritual Jerusalem. We know Jerusalem will be the capital of the entire earth when the Millennium is here. Notice this in Zechariah 8:1. “Again the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; with great fervor I am zealous for her.”’ Thus says the Lord: ‘I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy mountain.’” Spiritual Jerusalem (the Church) is where Christ dwells now in the body and will dwell in person during the Millennium. That city and the people who compose it will be called the city of truth. There will be no lies and no deceptions in that city. People will come to that city on that holy mountain to learn of God. The truth shall yet reign in our time! It is awesome, brethren. It will reign in our time! SATAN’S OTHER LIE Satan’s reign started with the lie, “You shall not surely die.” His lies are going to be exposed. His reign is going to be concluded when he is done saying another lie. Because here at the end of time he is saying another lie: you shall all surely die! He took man captive by saying you shall not all surely die, but here at the end of time he is saying you shall all surely die unless you follow me! I can give you safety. It is the same thing he told Jesus Christ. Jump off the pinnacle of the temple. You are not going to get hurt. Just do what I say. Go ahead and do it. You won’t get hurt. Christ had to fight those lies with the scriptures. We have to fight the lie that is pervading this earth that the earth is God’s enemy and God is going to destroy it. That is another of Satan’s lies, but it is the last big lie he is going to tell, for the truth is going to defeat that lie in a huge way starting very soon. Right now the Church has a very weak voice. It is a whisper. It really is. But that whisper is going to get louder and louder until the entire world will hear it and answer the call of God. I am not afraid that God’s voice is a whisper right now. Satan may be jumping up and down because the truth is lying in the street. Satan and his demons are passing gifts out, it says in Revelation 11, because the truth is cast down. We can barely whisper or whimper anymore, but have no fear. Turn back, if you would, to I Kings 19:1. “And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.’ And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.” The great Elijah was scared for his life! RESERVED FOR GOD Continue reading I Kings 19:4-8. Mt. Horeb is Mount Sinai. Continue reading verses 9-12. In the Hebrew, a whisper. Continue reading verses 13-18. I tell you the same thing today, brethren. We are small and our voice, the voice of God, whispers, but it does not mean God will be defeated. He has reserved for Himself a number of people we have not found yet, but they have not kissed Baal, and they have not fallen down before the false god. God will bring them together in some miraculous way. The two witnesses will stand on their feet and be powerfully used by God once again. There will be a completion of God’s truths of His word. The Great God who created this universe and the earth by His voice, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End will win! He will win in a way we have never dreamt possible! He will win in a huge way, complete with an innumerable multitude of people on this earth singing His praises. No one can or ever will silence the voice of God! The following music was played entitled: “One Voice” Just one voice, singing in the darkness All it takes is one voice Singing so they hear what’s on your mind And when you look around you’ll find There’s more than one voice Singing in the darkness Joining with your one voice Each and every note another octave Hands are joined and fears unlocked If only one voice would start it on its own We need just one voice facing the unknown And then that one voice would never be alone It takes that one voice Just one voice, singing in the darkness All it takes is one voice Shout it out and let it ring Just one voice, it takes that one voice And everyone will sing