From Noah's time until today, YAHWEH has spoken to men through angels, through prophets, through his Son and the Holy Spirit. He speaks to men in their dreams, in their visions of the night, when a deep sleep covers them. When the natural ear is shut, He opens the spiritual ear, and teaches truths that people would never know. Interestingly, the Bible highlights the audible voice of YAHWEH and describes it as the sound of many waters, a thunder or the roar of a lion.

• Job 37:2-4 "Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth. He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole sky and sends it to the ends of the earth. Then there comes a roaring sound; He thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His voice resounds."

• Psalms 29:3-9 "The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is heard over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon...The voice of the LORD strikes with flames of fire. he voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in His temple all cry, “Glory!”

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Does this mean that thunder is literally the voice of YAHWEH?

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Some say, "Come on, you can't take the Bible literally! This is just a metaphor for His power and a poetic description of His voice."

However, the Bible reveals that thunder is a very common vocalization of heaven. Amazingly, there are verses teaching us that thunder and lightning are literally the manifestation of the presence of ELOHIM.

 

In John's apocalyptic vision, he is shown the throne of the Lord and he describes what he saw. According to the author's literal statements there were thunder and lightning.

• Revelation 4:5 "From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven Spirits of God."

 

In John 12, YESHUA glorified the name of the Father and when YAHWEH answered, those who heard it literally thought it was thunder, others thought it was the voice of an angel.

• John 12:28-29 "Father, glorify Your name! Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The crowd standing there heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to Him."

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In Exodus 19 and 20, it is written that when ELOHIM came down to Moses to dictate His Law, His presence was literally felt by a deafening blast of thunder, lightning and fire. This spectacle horrified the people who begged not to hear His voice at all.

• Exodus 19:16-18 "On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. "

• Exodus 20:18-19 "When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.19“Speak to us yourself and we will listen,” they said to Moses. “But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

 

Others say, "Come on, these are just natural phenomena that are scientifically explained and have nothing to do with God!"

However, the Bible particularly makes a point of presenting many natural manifestations as tools that are literally under the authority of ELOHIM.

• Jeremiah 10:13-14 "When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses. Every man is stupid and devoid of knowledge;"

• Amos 4:13 "For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness"

• Job 38:22-23 "Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,23which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle ?" - This verse alludes to the Antarctica and the glaciers.

• Job 37:6 "For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the gentle rain, ‘Pour out a mighty downpour.’"

• Job 37:10-12 "By the breath of God the ice is formed and the watery expanses are frozen. He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them. They swirl about, whirling at His direction, accomplishing all that He commands over the face of all the earth."

• Psalms 78:26 "He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might."

• Psalms 107:33 "He turns rivers into deserts, springs of water into thirsty ground."

• Psalms 107: 35 "He turns a desert into pools of water and a dry land into flowing springs."

 

In the Testament of the 12 Patriarchs - a document of great educational value but unknown to the general public - the angel who visited Levi to instruct him on the importance of priesthood told him the following: "Now, therefore, know that the Lord shall execute judgment upon the sons of men. Because when the rocks are being rent, And the sun quenched, And the waters dried up, And the fire cowering, And all creation troubled, And the invisible spirits melting away; And Hades spoiled through the visitations of the Most High, Men will be unbelieving and persist in their iniquity."  

 

Several verses corroborate these statements by mentioning that nature is subjected to ELOHIM. And when nature is shaken by his presence, his voice or his gaze, we feel the impact through earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, etc.

• Psalms 104:32 "He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder." (volcanic eruption)

• Joel 3:16 "The LORD will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble."

• Nahum 1:4-5 "4He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.5The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers."

• Job 36:33 "The thunder declares His presence; even the cattle regard the rising storm."

• Psalms 46:6 "Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice." (earthquake)

• Judges 5:4-5 "LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.5The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel."

• Habakkuk 3:10-11 "The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high." (tsunami)

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Similar to YAHWEH, the voices and presence of angels are characterized by deafening sounds.

• Revelation 10: 4-5 "I saw another mighty angel, coming down from heaven, enveloped in a cloud; ... And he cried with a loud voice, as a lion roared. When he cried, the seven thunders made hear their voices.

• Ezekiel 10: 5 "The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, like the voice of Almighty God when he speaks."

• Ezekiel 1:24 "I heard the sound of their wings, when they walked, like the sound of great waters, or the voice of the Almighty; it was a tumultuous sound, like that of an army"

 

Also notice how YESHUA could speak to crowds of 4,000 or 5,000 men without a loud-speaker or microphone and could still be heard distinctly. This is an indication that He also had a stentorian or heavenly voice.

• Luke 4:32 "They were astonished at His teaching, because His message had authority."

• Revelation 1:15 "His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters."

• John 11:43-44 "After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!."

• Luke 8:54-55 "But Jesus took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up! Her spirit returned, and at once she got up. And He directed that she be given something to eat."

• Matthew 27:50-51 "When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit. At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split."

 

it is not a coincidence that YESHUA called James and John, sons of thunder.

• Mark 3:17 "James, son of Zebedee, and John, brother of James, to whom he gave the name of Boanergès, which means son of thunder"

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Scriptures also tell us that this mysterious shattering boom that startles even the strongest amongst us is only a mere theophanic manifestation symbolizing the audible sound of His voice and remains a whisper to YAHWEH because He' s only using an infinitely small amount of His power. If He was to speak directly to us with the full power of His voice we would not be able to withstand the impact and would die instantly.

• Job 26:14 Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power ?”

• John 5:37 "And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form"

• Deuteronomy 5:25 "But now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us, and we will die, if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer."

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