Tag: voice

This episode highlights the imperative of Psalm 29:1-2, contending that Christians incorporate its mandate as an objective of holistic salvation. "Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name." The New Testament version of this imperative is 1 Peter 2:9, where believers are called to "declare God's excellencies." Glorifying God is therefore a principal objective of the Christian faith. Psalm 29:3-9 implicitly suggests the means of glorifying God. The resounding theme is the overwhelming "voice of the Lord" governing storms. The description culminates with the almost out-of-place comment that "in His temple everything says, 'Glory!'" The logic of the psalm is therefore the following: 1) Believers acknowledge the imperative of human existence, to glorify God, 2) Believers attune themselves to the sovereign VOICE of God, 3) Believers respond with their VOICE, crying out Glory. Christian salvation largely follows this pattern. Christians seek to glorify God by submitting to Christ. They abide in Christ, attending to His sovereign voice, bearing fruit as they verbally declare God's excellencies. The latter part of the episode emphasizes the imperative in the "shema," "HEAR oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." This basic axiom of Judaism is more than a confession of monotheism: the emphasis is on the response of believers who are called to hear and obey the VOICE of God. Interestingly, Jews often referred to God as "hashem" or "the name." So with respect to the imperative of Psalm 29:1-2, Christians are called to glorify Christ by eagerly LISTENING to His Voice, glorifying His name in response. It is, after all, the NAME of the entire trinity in which all Christians are baptized, and the basis for glorifying God.