What a contrast!

The ineffectual raging of the heathen and the effectual speaking of Jehovah God.

The proud pretention of the ungodly that they will by their raging overthrow the rule of God, and the awesome sovereignty of God, who controls all their raging for his purpose to overthrow them and bring his kingdom.

The tottering kingdoms of men and the eternal firmness of Jehovah and his purpose.

With the melting of the earth, the evaporating hope of man and the appearing of the eternal hope of the church.

The heathen make themselves mighty kingdoms in the earth. They strengthen themselves in the earth. Earthly strength—the strength of man, the arm of flesh, the sword, the shield, the chariot, the gun, and the bomb—is their only strength. The hope of the wicked is in the earth. The hope of the wicked man is in the success of his earthly plans, the enrichment of his earthly bank account, the vigor of his earthly life, and the grandeur of his earthly kingdom.

Most miserable!

Firm in their strength, the heathen rage. Malicious, murmuring, contentious, lying, and impudent rage. With their kingdoms and with their strength, they set themselves against God and against his anointed. When they rage they utter their contempt of God, his people, and his truth. They are driven by the speaker of evil himself, who moves man in his insane rage against God, his Christ, and his church.

The church, as Zion of old, stands as a besieged city. The enemies of God’s church surround her. With their proud tongues they threaten, abuse, intimidate, and utter their promises of destruction. They breathe out malice and cruelty and speak their evil minds. They boast of their power. They marshal their forces to make war on Zion. They gather mighty armies, retire in secret to take wicked counsels, and employ tricks that come out of hell.

Jehovah is in the midst of Zion.

He utters his voice.

The earth melts.

Always that is the result of the uttering of Jehovah’s voice: the earth melts.

Who has a voice like Jehovah’s voice?

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. With his voice a man utters the thoughts of his mind and reveals the deepest feelings of his heart. With his voice he speaks tenderly his love for his children. With his voice he expresses his anger at a dog that threatens his children. The raging of the wicked is the expression of the vain imaginations of their wicked hearts and evil minds. In their black hearts they hate God and his truth. In their hatred they rage.

Jehovah utters his voice.

He is the God who speaks. Jehovah speaks as the living God. Absolutely independent, he lives in himself and has his life of himself. The idol cannot speak, for the idol does not live, has no thoughts, and possesses no will. Jehovah lives. He lives as the triune God. In himself he lives the perfect life of covenantal fellowship and friendship: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His life is begetting, being begotten, and breathing. In his life he loves, hates, wills, takes counsel, and decrees.

His eternal speaking is his decree. He spoke eternally of his good pleasure to reveal himself as the only good, ever blessed, covenant God by establishing a covenant of grace with his elect people in Christ. His thoughts toward his elect church are thoughts of peace. He speaks peace to his people eternally. He wills that they may know him and experience him as their God to his glory. He wills all things in order that all things serve this purpose. 

He utters his voice. His voice expresses his perfect will, the thoughts of his mind, and the desires of his heart. All things he wills he brings to pass by his voice. The very raging of the heathen and the shaking of the kingdoms of the earth are results of his speaking. All that comes to pass is nothing but the utterance of Jehovah.

The voice of Jehovah brings to pass. As the absolutely independent one, who has his life of himself and who takes his counsel within himself, his voice is absolutely independent. Never can his voice be an offer. Never can his voice be an expression of a wish unfulfilled. Never can his voice go from him and return to him void. When he speaks he carries out his perfect will and unfolds his living decree. Because it is the voice of Jehovah, it is a voice full of power. There is no resistance to what he speaks. He accomplishes all his pleasure.

Because it is the voice of Jehovah, who eternally willed the salvation and peace of his people, it is a voice full of grace toward them. Whenever he speaks it is with grace toward his people. All of his speaking is always with grace toward his people.

In that voice there is no grace to the ungodly. It is the voice of Jehovah, the only good. In his goodness he cannot speak grace to the wicked. Whenever he speaks it is in wrath against the ungodly.

He spoke in the beginning. He spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. He called into being the heaven and the earth, the sea and the dry land. He called out of the sea and from the land all plants, fish, beasts, and birds. He commanded the sun, the moon, and the stars in their courses. By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. Everything he made was good, perfectly sinless. All was exactly as he had purposed.

To be melted…

To melt something is to change its form. Solid snow melts and becomes water. Solid iron melts and becomes molten. Solid rock melts and flows as lava. When Jehovah utters his voice, the earth melts. The melting of the earth is the total destruction of the earth’s present form. The mountains fall. The seas roar. The ground shakes. With the melting of the earth, there is the shaking of the kingdoms of the earth and all that is of the earth. With the melting of the earth, there is the total destruction of the power of man, for his power is in the earth. With the melting of the earth, there is the total evaporation of the hope of man, for his hope is only in the earth.

Jehovah utters his voice.

The earth melts.

His voice expresses his eternal will for the earth. He created the earth to melt. He willed that the earth melt. When he speaks, then, the earth melts. Always that is the case.

In the perfect universe that God created, the evil one raged. He broke the peace of heaven with his rage, and with his lies he shattered the serenity of Eden. In the shattering of Eden, too, Jehovah uttered his voice to melt the earth. His counsel was carried out.

All in his will for perfect peace. Not the peace of the earthly, but that the earthly be melted and fashioned after and bear the image of the heavenly. Jehovah spoke of that peace. His voice uttered the promise of the woman’s seed to crush the head of the serpent. Jehovah uttered grace toward his people when he promised Christ to save them from their sins, to deliver them from all their enemies, and to give them everlasting peace. Jehovah spoke in Eden of enmity, war, and raging between Satan and Christ, between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Jehovah brings that to pass.

God uttered his voice and the earth melted. He said to man, “Return to dust!” Man, who was perfect, became corrupt in his whole nature. The very nature of the earth and of the entire creation was changed. The natures of animals were changed so that now they lust for blood and meat. The wolf ravages the sheep. The bear eats the ox. The lion devours the antelope. The strong preys on the weak. The creation that enjoyed perfection now groans and travails in bondage.

Especially at the cross of Christ, Jehovah uttered his voice to accomplish his purpose. The whole cross and every detail of the cross were the uttering of Jehovah’s voice. Oh, there the heathen raged and the rulers imagined a vain thing as never before in history. They would break Christ’s bands and cast his cords away! They would put an end to Messiah’s reign! The kingdoms were moved: the kingdom of the false church; the kingdom of Rome; the kingdom of Herod; the kingdom of Satan uniting them all. In all their raging they did nothing more and nothing less than what Jehovah willed.

And the earth melted!

Jehovah laid in the cross the foundation for the total melting and transformation of the earth. There he gave signs and wonders pointing to that melting of the earth. The very powers of the heaven were shaken. The sun was darkened, the stars stopped shining, and the moon did not give its light. There was a great earthquake. There Jehovah bruised the head of the enemy. There he broke their bows and cut their spears and burned their chariots in the fire. There he defeated the devil, the world, sin, death, hell, and the grave.

Jehovah spoke at the cross his will that salvation be accomplished for his people. The Word became flesh, the very Word of God embodied in Jesus Christ. The Word of God accomplished the salvation of his people and said, “It is finished.” As the reward for all his suffering, God raised Christ from the dead and set him at God’s right hand. And through it all he brought peace for his people. Peace with him, the living God. He reconciled to himself those who were enemies in their minds.

That Word of salvation at the cross God speaks to his people in the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified. Preaching is not the voice of man. If the voice of man is not full of hatred toward God and breathing out cruelty toward his people, that voice of man is impotence itself. Powerless to accomplish God’s purpose or bring to pass God’s will. The voice of man accomplishes nothing. But the preaching is in truth the very Word of God.

By that means Jehovah speaks into the hearts and lives of his people all the blessings of salvation. Sovereignly, with the living and abiding Word, he regenerates them. He speaks salvation into their possession. He draws them to himself and causes them to come to Jesus Christ. He utters his voice and melts hard hearts and makes them soft. He says, “Let their sins be forgiven,” and they are forgiven. He calls his people out of darkness into his marvelous light. He commands the glorious light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ to shine in their hearts. He speaks peace to them in the gospel of the forgiveness of their sins and life everlasting in heaven.

Jehovah speaks to them and creates salvation in their hearts because he is the God who spoke from all eternity concerning their salvation. The salvation that he bestows with his voice is the salvation that he spoke concerning them in eternity. The God who utters his voice in the earth is the God of Jacob. The God who said eternally, “Jacob have I loved.” Out of his eternal love for his elect church, he appointed his people to salvation. Out of his eternal love he also speaks to them the word of grace and salvation and realizes that in their hearts
and lives.

And when the heathen rage against the church…

Jehovah utters his voice.

The earth melts.

He hardens men in that sin. He gives them over to a reprobate mind. He speaks against the hardness and impenitent hearts of men. He speaks and judgments fall on them. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall. Nations shake. Countries tremble. Economies totter. Society is altered. The very climate of the earth is changed. Industries, plans, and routines are all changed. In the melting of the earth, the very foundation of their kingdoms and the hope of their hearts evaporate. Men are full of despair. The hearts of men quake with fear, anxiety, worry, trouble, and turmoil.

That, too, because Jehovah spoke against them in eternity. The God who said, “Jacob have I loved” also said, “Esau have I hated.” Jehovah’s voice carries out his perfect will and just decree for the judgment and destruction of the world of sin and darkness and for the salvation and eternal blessedness of his people.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he has wrought in the earth.

In all that speaking he brings to pass his decree for the perfection of his kingdom in Jesus Christ and the destruction of the kingdom of Satan.

In all that speaking he speaks as the God of Jacob, who is with and in the midst of his people and stands in wrath against the ungodly.

When he speaks and the earth melts, kingdoms and nations tremble, and the hearts of men fear and quake at the voice of the Lord. He preserves his people by his perfect power and grace so that they cannot be moved. In the melting of the earth, their eternal hope is more and more revealed.

God will continue to speak, and the earth will continue to melt until he utters his voice one last time in this age. He will utter his voice, and the very elements of the creation will melt with a fervent heat in order to cleanse the world with fire. The very form of creation will be changed forever. The earthly will bear the image of the heavenly. Heaven and earth will be joined together and made one as the everlasting dwelling place of God and of his covenant people in Christ Jesus our Lord. Again, though far more gloriously, the cow and the bear shall feed with each other; their young ones shall lie down together; the wolf and the lamb shall feed together; and the lion shall eat straw as the ox.

So now, when we hear Jehovah’s voice and we see the earth melt, the heathen rage, and kingdoms moved, let not your hearts be troubled.

God is in the midst of us. He is our very present help in time of trouble.

Know that the mighty voice of God heard in all these calamities is the voice of the God of Jacob, who in all his speaking is for his people and is never against them.

When Jehovah speaks and the earth melts, let us understand that he is working all things after the counsel of his own will to bring to pass the eternal kingdom of Christ and our everlasting salvation.

Let us be still and know that he is God.

We have nothing to fear.