Voice of Great Thunder

Preached on 01-28-01

THE VOICE OF GREAT THUNDER

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps." (Rev. 14:2)

THE WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH might be described as quiet books. Within their pages we find ideas ideas expressed in a rational, logical, analytical fashion. Indeed, the Writings are written in such a systematic, calm and quiet way, that it is easy to overlook the fact that what they contain has power, power beyond that of any other books, to change the course of human history. In these books the Lord Himself is speaking, and however unassuming they might appear at first glance, there is Divine power within them, infinite power. They are nothing less than a Divine Revelation; indeed, they are a revelation of the Divine Human Itself.

Some idea of the true power and strength of the Writings may be gained from the Book of Revelation. With his spiritual eyes opened, John the apostle saw into the other world, and was given to see many wonderful visions. In one of these visions, he saw a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, surrounded by a hundred and forty-four thousand. At the same time he heard a voice from heaven, and what he heard was not quiet, but a powerful and truly magnificent sound. He heard the voice of roaring waters; there was also the sound of mighty thunder; and then there was music -- happy and joyful harp music. Imagine what this must have sounded like: a majestic chorus of sound filling the sky, sound that had the power to move the very heart itself.

What John heard was a representation, a representation of Divine Revelation. It symbolized the voice of the Lord Himself, speaking Divine truths through the New Heaven. It was a revelation, by the Lord out of heaven, of Divine truths for the New Church. Though these truths descended through the heavens, the revelation was not from the angels, but was from the Lord. What John heard as the sound of thunder was the Lord Himself speaking from the third, or highest, heaven. The sound of mighty waters was this truth descending through the second heaven. And the sound of harpers was its reception -- the reception of the Lord's truth itself -- by spiritual angels in the lower heavens.

At times we tend to forget the power and strength that lies stored up in the Heavenly Doctrines. We forget that here is Divine truth, Divine truth that has the power to move and transform the hearts and minds of men, Divine truth which, in time, has the power to bring light and joy to all nations and all peoples of this earth.

In the spiritual world, though, there was no mistaking the power of this new revelation. There, by the power of Divine truth, whole mountains were overturned, imaginary heavens were dissolved, and wicked men were made to flee, with terror, into the hells where they belonged. Through this same Divine truth a New Heaven was formed, and thousands upon thousands of good spirits were raised up into the sphere of peace and happiness. The descriptions of the Last Judgment found in the Writings show clearly the omnipotent power of Divine truth. And it is this same omnipotent truth, revealed within the pages of the Writings, which can, in time, transform also the lives of those here on earth.

It is easy to forget this, though. At times we can begin to wonder about, and even doubt, the effectiveness of the Writings. Those who have tried to make the Writings available to the public at large know that it requires great patience. At times it can appear as if hardly anybody else is interested in these wonderful books. What is more, we can occasionally notice a similar apathy within ourselves. There are times when our interest in reading these books is not as great as it should be. Then, we may well ask ourselves, where is this power? Why is it that these books seem at times incapable of really affecting people?

Appearances, though, can be deceptive. Consider, for example, the weather here on earth. We can go out on a warm, calm, spring day. Perhaps there is a gentle breeze, and though there might be a few small clouds, we see lots and lots of blue sky. The weather seems gentle, peaceful, innocuous. Yet that blue peaceful sky can so quickly take on another appearance. A storm can blow in, a huge, powerful, and dangerous thunderstorm. Nature is not always calm and peaceful; it can wield enormous power. Lightning can strike with a force of up to 100 million volts. It can reach temperatures five times hotter than the surface of the sun itself. And the noise, the thunder, it can produce, can be truly frightening. In the distance it can seem like a gentle rumble. Close up, it is heard as a deafening explosion.

This was one of the sounds heard by John: the sound of mighty thunder. It was the sound of Divine truth from the Lord, issuing forth from the highest or celestial heaven, with incredible force, incredible power. There is weather in the spiritual world as well -- real weather (AE 704). The rain there will make you wet. Sunshine will make you warm. Lightning there can dazzle your eyes. And thunder there can sound just as loud, indeed more loud, than thunder in this world. It is just as real, but it is produced in a more immediate way, having a direct and immediate correspondence with spiritual things. Therefore, when the Lord makes a revelation, when He speaks from the highest heaven, it produces the sound of thunder in the heavens below, as His speech descends. This is why it was that thunder was heard when the Lord descended to give the Ten Commandments upon Mount Sinai. The lower this truth from the Lord descends, the louder it becomes, so that, by the time it reaches those in evil, the Lord's voice is heard as a terrifyingly loud noise which makes evil spirits flee in terror.

This was the very means by which the Last Judgment was effected. The Last Judgment was a graphic illustration of the power of Divine revelation. Specifically, the Last Judgment was effected in the spiritual world upon evil spirits who had remained in the world of spirits after death, and had begun to accumulate there in huge numbers. These men were hypocrites. They were evil within themselves, but on the outside, they appeared good. Exteriorly they were closely associated with other, simple spirits who were interiorly good. For the sake of these simple spirits the Lord for a time allowed these evil spirits to remain in the world of spirits, where they formed what were called imaginary heavens. Eventually though, the time came, inevitably, when the increasing numbers of these hypocrites threatened the happiness and peace of the heavens themselves. The time had then come for the Lord to act. By the powerful influx of Divine truth, the real nature of these hypocrites was made manifest. There was lightning, thunder, hail and earthquakes, and those evil men cast themselves, in terror, down into hell.

This judgment was accomplished by the power of Divine truth. What is important to realize though, is that though this power was exercised by Divine truth, the origin of the power was Divine love. It was Divine love that, for the sake of the simple good, had permitted evil men to remain in the world of spirits. It was this same love which now had to act to protect those in good from the rising tide of evil. The Last Judgment, by which thousands upon thousands of evil people were cast down into the hells, was, in essence, an act of the Divine love. This is why that influx, by which the judgment took place, first proceeded from the Lord out of the celestial heaven, the heaven of love, before it descended through the spiritual heaven, and from there into the world of spirits.

The power of love is a mighty power indeed. Now it is everywhere taught in the Writings that love, by itself, has no power. It executes its power by means of truth. The origin of the power, though, is always in the love itself. Without love, truth would have no power whatsoever.

The appearance can be that love is weak. Love appears gentle and unassuming. But love is also powerful, and this power can be exercised when the need arises. This is what is involved in the powerful sound of thunder. Thunder has a number of related significations in the Old and New Testaments. In general, though, it relates to love. In the spiritual world, speech from the celestial heaven is heard below as thunder. Thunder, in the spiritual world, is the sound of celestial love (AE 821).

Thunder is an inarticulate sound. The Writings point out that in human speech there is both sound and the articulation of that sound into words. The words we articulate convey our ideas. But underlying these words there is the sound, the tone, of our voice, and this tone is what expresses our feelings. The pitch and the volume of our voice changes as our feelings, our emotions, change. And when what we love is attacked, the force of love can be heard in our voices as we begin to speak louder and louder. Indeed, the zeal of love in our voices can sound . . . like thunder. Love is by no means weak, for, when necessary, it can act with terrifying power.

Something of this power can be seen in the animal kingdom. All you need to do is get between a female animal and her offspring -- between, say, a bear and her cubs -- and that powerful force, the love of a mother for her offspring, attacks in deadly earnest.

The power of love is most evident when it is threatened. But love is active at other times too. We can see its power, its constructive power, operating quietly, as a latent mighty force for good, in many areas of human life. Now we need to realize that celestial love itself is a rare love, a love that might seem almost unimaginable to people here on earth. Celestial love is not charity; it is more than charity. We are taught in the Arcana Coelestia that: "it is the celestial of love not to desire to be one's own, but to belong to all; so that we desire to give others all that is our own: in this consists the essence of celestial love"(AC 1419). We have some idea of charity, of loving others as much as we love ourselves. This, though, is spiritual love. Celestial love goes beyond this. If it were possible, and if it were useful, the celestial angel would give away everything he had in order to help others, for he loves others far more than he loves himself. This degree of love is almost unimaginable in this world. However charitable we might be, however much we may wish to share with others and make them happy, we do like to keep something for ourselves. Not so the celestial angel. In fact, he would give up everything, even his own presence in heaven itself, if it would save just one devil from hell (AC 2077:2). It is, of course, impossible to save a devil this way, but if it were possible, a celestial angel would do this.

Celestial love -- completely unselfish love is indeed very rare upon this earth. Even in the other world it is found, in fullness, only in the highest heaven. And yet the influx of this love from the highest heaven can effect and influence even ordinary men and women here on earth, causing them at times to forget themselves for the sake of others. The love of infants called storgé in the Writings is an example of this. There is a Divine celestial sphere which causes even evil people to love their own offspring. Even an unregenerate parent is capable of forgetting himself and risking his life to save one of his children from danger. Patriotism is another example. The power of patriotism to move the hearts of normally callous men is well-known; even unregenerate men can be moved, and moved powerfully, by the sacrifices made by those who have given up their lives to defend their country in war. This is an image of celestial love -- a love which gives up everything for the sake of others.

The influence that celestial love can have over the hearts and minds of even ordinary men arises from the fact that all men begin life as infants. As infants, they come under the sphere and influence of the Lord operating through the celestial heaven. These states remain, stored up deeply within the mind, and these remains, or remnants, of infantile states, are what give all of us the power to feel and to think as human beings. However evil, and however inhuman, a person might become, these remains still provide the means, and the channel, by which the Lord can flow in, making possible at least a semblance of humanity. Without these remains we could not think, we could not speak, and, indeed, we could not even live.

Herein lies the essential power of the Writings. Through the remains of celestial states from infancy, the Lord provides that all people might have a potential for what is good. Through remains the Lord can provide for free choice -- can provide an inclination towards good which serves as a counterbalance to the inclinations of hereditary evil. The Writings appeal to these remains. At their very heart, the truths found within the Writings are of celestial origin, that is, they are spoken by the Lord Himself out of the celestial heaven.

Yes, the Writings do speak calmly, deliberately, analytically. They speak quietly. On the surface they appear unassuming. But this is for the very reason that when the Lord speaks, when He reveals truth to people, He is speaking from love. He loves us. The Lord is not trying to force something upon us. He is asking us, quietly and gently, to consider and think about something -- to think about love. He talks to us about the love He has for us. Every single truth in the Writings, in one way or another, either directly or indirectly, speaks about the Lord Himself. The Writings reveal the Lord Jesus Christ, and they reveal the need for us to give up thought for ourselves, and to humble ourselves, humble ourselves before our Lord and God. And, in the same breath, as it were, these books speak, time and time again, of the need for us to live the truth we know, and so to serve, not ourselves, but our fellowman, and to express in this way our love for the Lord Himself.

If we consider within ourselves why it is that we accept the Writings, we may well say a number of things. They make sense to us; they answer our questions; they explain things. All of these answers are true. But the deepest reason why we accept the Writings is a simple and a powerful one. We accept them, if we truly accept them, because they speak of the Lord and of His love. We are moved by this, moved by the power of love itself. We may not be able to put this fully into words, for remember that celestial love in itself is tacit, it is inarticulate. But it has power nevertheless.

This is power, real power. The Lord, in making His Second Coming, could, if He were willing, have executed dramatic miracles here on earth, paralleling the drama of the Last Judgment in the spiritual world. But the Lord comes quietly, and gently. He speaks calmly and deliberately of love, unselfish love, celestial love. This is why the church will not grow with dramatic speed, neither in the world at large, nor within ourselves. Its growth is slow, but it is also sure. Insofar as anybody is willing to give up that insanest of all loves, a love for himself alone, then he can respond, indeed, the deepest things within his heart and mind will respond, to the teachings of the Lord.

So it is that we, in our hearts, must be moved by the sound of thunder, the sound of love, the sound of the Lord speaking to us within His Word. We must be moved, by the mighty power of the Lord's love, to forget ourselves, and to dedicate ourselves, not only in our minds, but in our very hearts and actions, to a life of unselfish love, the life of heaven itself.

Amen.

Lessons: Exod. 19:16-25; Rev. 14:1-7; AR 614-15