Voices from Heaven Revelation 1:10; 14:2
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like
the sound of a trumpet...And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many
waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like
the sound of harpists playing on their harps. Revelation 1:10; 14:2
What a momentous Lord's Day: John heard voices from heaven (sometimes the voice
of Deity, other times the voices of the heavenly host) and wrote down what he
heard. These voices still speak and their messages are as relevant to us today
as they were when first heard on Patmos. Listen to what they say:
There is but one God---And I saw another angel
flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on
the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with
a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment
has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of
waters." ...After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great
multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong
to our God;" 14:6-7; 19:1. Political correctness, the rise of the Islamic
religion, and postmodernism (there is no ultimate truth to which all are
amenable) have created a culture making it mandatory that this message be
repeated with frequency and fervor. There is a God. There is but one God. That
God is the One revealed in the Bible.
God and His kingdom are supreme---Then the seventh
angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the
world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign
forever and ever." 11:15. God's rule (kingdom) is unlike those of men. The
latter rise and fall (Daniel 2:36-43) but God's rule shall never cease (Daniel
2:44-45). Whatever civil citizenship we may enjoy, that society will eventually
find itself spoken of in the past tense in history books. Not so with those
ruled by God.
Come to heaven for ultimate truth---After these
things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice
which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up
here, and I will show you what must take place after these things."... And they
heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." Then they went up
into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. 4:1, 11:12 There is
but one ultimate and objective truth. Those desiring knowledge of that truth
must "come up here", i.e. to heaven, the one and only repository of wisdom
(Proverbs 2:6-7; Colossians 2:2-3).
Come out of the world---I heard another voice from
heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in
her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as
heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities."18:4-5. Citizens of heaven (those
who heed the voices from heaven) will not pattern their lives after worldly
standards. They will be "children of God without blemish in the midst of a
crooked and twisted generation," and will "shine as lights in the world"
(Philippians 2:15)
By David Smitherman
From Expository Files 16.6; June 2009
