Do You Hear What I Hear?
Jesus was the expression of God come to earth. Heaven’s voice if you will. He brought a sound that was contrary to the world He came into. He was full of grace and heavenly truth. He brought the sound, not of a vengeful judge, but of a loving Father. The sound of Jesus broke dividing walls and revealed the equality of all people in God’s sight.
Everything about the Christmas story brings this gracious sound. Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, telling her of blessing and favor. The angels telling the shepherds about God’s pleasure and good will towards all of His creation. In the Psalms it says, He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions (see Psalm 107:20).
That sound came to us in Jesus and it is still here today. You can hear it if you will just listen for that still small voice that speaks in our hearts. It’s the sound that came when Jesus was baptized saying that He was God’s beloved son. And God is pleased. The voice of heaven tells us the same thing and it testifies the same thing for all of humanity.
Heaven speaks things that are very contrary to even the world’s religious ideas. We see the religious of Jesus’ day combatting Him because it seemed that what Jesus did and said went against the religious laws and ideas. The apostle Paul was caught up to heaven and he said he heard things that were unlawful for man to utter. I love this. This is such a gracious truth. It tells us that there is a freedom in heaven that humans are afraid to give each other.
Jesus did things that seemed unlawful. When He opposed religious authorities, when He healed on the Sabbath, when He spoke to women of bad reputation, when He forgave sins, when He called God His Father and so many other things.
The heart that hears the sound of heaven is a joyful peaceful and loving heart. The Bible says Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! (see Psalm 89:15.) Heaven is full of joy, love and peace. That’s the sound that we trumpet to the earth, unafraid of religious traditions and political opinions. We are proclaimers of LIFE with a sound that declares that God and sinner are reconciled once and for all.
If the earth could hear this powerful sound, fear would fade, love would rule and there would be peace on earth. Let’s all be echos of the heavenly sound that glorifies God, declaring peace and goodwill to all men. Do you hear what I hear?