“Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.”
Jn 12:20–23, 27-30
I was driving down the road the other day when a passage of Scripture shot into my mind.
It was the time when God the Father spoke to the Son Jesus Christ audibly in front of an audience. To some it was the clear voice of God, but to others it just sounded like it thundered. My mind began to race at the implications of this.
Imagine. God vocally speaks from heaven and some of those present, missed it.
As impressive as thunder is, after the age of twenty it kind of loses it’s awe. I’ve heard thunder thousands of times, but I can’t say I’ve heard the clear, audible voice of the Father. I’d like to think that I would know if I did, but would I? Would you?
Why thunder?
Surprisingly, a quick study of the word thunder in the Bible reveals that, thunder is a very common vocalization of heaven. Let me explain and then I’ll wrap up with my main point.
Voices From Heaven
Heavenly beings tend to sound like thunder when they talk. For example:
The Cherubim (Heavenly Beings) sound like thunder.
Re 6:1 – “Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!””
There are even forces and being(s) of heaven that sound so much like thunder when they speak that they are called, ‘the seven thunders’ (is this the voice of the Holy Spirit?).
Re 10:2–4 - “(A mighty angel) had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”
Even the saints of heaven in chorus sound like thunder.
Re 14:1–3 – “Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.” (cf. Rev 19:6)
As beautiful and marvelous as all of that is, my original bible passage called me to something deeper, something more awe-inspiring than even the voices of heaven. I began to wonder about the very voice of God. What may God sound like?
The Very Voice of God
Maybe I’m making too much of this. Maybe I’m reading something into Scripture that isn’t there. After all could it be that…
It’s merely literal thunder, sent by God from heaven but nothing more?
1 Sa 12:16–18 – “Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.”
Or His voice simply described poetically like thunder?
Job 37:1–5 - “At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place. 2 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. 3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. 4 After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. 5 God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.”
Or is it sometimes actually the Voice of God Himself?
Ex 19:16–20 – “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.” (cf. 2 Sam 22:14; Job 40:9; Ps 18:13; 81:7; )
To be honest. I don’t know.
But I do know that the John 12 passage that I spoke of at the beginning clearly said that God spoke, that it was an articulate message to some, but that others simply heard thunder. So it is possible that when God speaks, only those who have the ears to hear, truly hear the message? (Mk 4:9-23; Mt 11:15; Acts 28:27; Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22; 13:9). Is everyone else missing it?
Could God be speaking more than we think but no one’s listening?
What Do You Hear When it Thunders?
When God spoke to the enemy of Israel (the Philistines), they heard something confusing and scary and ran away.
1 Sa 7:10 – “As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel.”
But when sheep hear their shepherd, they draw near.
Jn 10:3–5 – “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
I want to be one who hears God. I want to know His voice. I don’t want to miss a syllable of my Heavenly Father.
How about you?
On a final note, all this study does make me reconsider why Jesus called two of His best friends ‘sons of thunder’. I thought it was because they were intense and fiery in spirit…but perhaps it’s because when they spoke, they spoke the voice of heaven, they spoke like God…they sounded like thunder…
Mk 3:17 – “James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder)”
