1. When God Speaks. When God speaks, He speaks with a voice of undisputed authority. The Bible says that when God first called Moses to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt, He replied to Moses as to His own identity as follows: “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.’” [Exodus3:14b]. Later, in the Tent of Mee-ting, God spoke to Moses in another remarkable way: “When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard a voice speaking to him above the Mercy Seat over the Ark of the Testimony. He spoke to him from between the two cherubim.” [Numeri7:89].
2. The Voice of Authority. The Bible says:
►"God thunders with his wondrous voice; he does awesome works that we don't comprehend.” [Job37:5].
►“The voice of the LORD was heard above the waters; the God of glory thundered; the LORD was heard over many waters.” [Psalm29:3].
► “The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.’ [Psalm 29:4].
►”The voice of the LORD snaps the cedars; the LORD snaps the cedars of Lebanon.” [Psalm29:5].
►”The voice of the LORD shoots out flashes of fire.” [Psalm29:7].
►“The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.” [Psalm29:8].
►“The voice of the LORD causes deer to give birth, and strips the forest bare.” [Psalm29:9a].
►“You kingdoms of the earth, sing to God! Sing praises to the Lord … to the one who rides the heavens, the ancient heavens. Behold! He thunders with a mighty voice.” [Psalm68:32-33].
3. During the days of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus speaks to His Heavenly Father: “Now my soul is in turmoil, and what should I say—'Father, save me from this hour'? No! It was for this very reason that I came to this hour. 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 this and said that it was thunder. Others were saying, "An angel has spoken to him." [John12:27-29].
4. Esther and the Scepter of Gold. When Queen Esther was hard-pressed to speak to the king in connection with the plight of Jews, the Bible says: "Every servant of the king and every person in the king's provinces knows that for any man or woman who goes to the king in the inner court without being summoned there is only one law—that he be put to death—unless the king holds out the golden scepter to him. Only then he will live. For these last 30 days I've not been summoned to come to the king." [Esther4:11].
The plot thickens: “On the third day, Esther put on her royal attire and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace in front of the king's quarters. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the building. When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she won his favor, and the king extended to Esther the gold scepter that he was holding. Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter. The king asked her, "What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even if it's half of the kingdom, it will be given to you." [Esther5:1-3].
5. Kings just love to show mercy. Legend has it that when El Cid, the legendary Spanish knight and hero of Valentia was confronted with a decision where the death penalty for the accused (his enemy) was well-deserved, he mercifully granted the man a reprieve with these famous words: “Any fool can kill; only kings can show mercy!”
Today the God and Creator of Heaven and Earth still comes to us, though deserving of the death penalty, with the words: “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” [Exodus33:19].
The King is extending His Gold Scepter of Mercy in the shape of the Gospel of Jesus Christ today for us to touch. The Bible says: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Romans6:23].
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