Revelation: A Voice from Heaven

 Revelation: Justification by Faith

A Voice from Heaven

Revelation 4:5 (ESV)
"From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God."

John entered the heavenly temple and was allowed to take a look. There he saw the throne of God. From this throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and voices.
This is a very clear reference to what happened in Exodus, when God spoke from Mount Sinai on earth and declared the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 19:16–20 (ESV)
"On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.
Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.
And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up."

Exodus 20:1, 18–22 (ESV)
"And God spoke all these words, saying..."
[The Ten Commandments are listed.]
"Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off
and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.’
Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’
The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: “You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.”’"

These Ten Commandments were the essence of the old covenant:

Deuteronomy 4:13 (ESV)
"And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone."

That covenant was: "Do this and you shall live."
These words were spoken on earth by God.

But now we see this same thunder, lightning, and voice again—this time in heaven, in Revelation. Now there is a new covenant, where Jesus offers forgiveness through His blood and writes the law on our hearts instead of on tablets of stone.

But what Israel once feared so greatly is now echoed in Revelation.
Hebrews, which is full of contrasts between the old and new covenant, says:

Hebrews 12:18–21 (ESV)
"For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest
and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.
For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.’
Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’"

The old covenant was already serious. And yes, the penalty for sin is still death. This was evident in the nation of Israel through capital punishment. Even Moses was afraid.
But the new covenant is even more severe:

Hebrews 12:22–29 (ESV)
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’
This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
for our God is a consuming fire."

Breaking the old covenant was serious, but breaking and rejecting the new covenant is even more serious.
In the old covenant, God spoke on earth from a mountain. Now He speaks from heaven, from His throne.
He is already speaking the Gospel to us now. He commands us to accept this salvation and be delivered from death. He commands us to receive His grace.
Everything that does not accept this, and does not belong to the Kingdom of God, will fall and fail by the very same voice that now speaks the Gospel to us.

And how could we ever stand before God with a clean conscience, knowing that we have rejected His death, blood, and humiliation in our place?

Hebrews 10:25–31 (ESV)
"...not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God,
and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

This "sin" is not merely breaking God’s law out of ignorance or even knowingly—it is deliberately despising the blood of the new covenant and the sacrifice of Jesus, while fully aware of it.
We know it. We understand it. We see it. But we consciously reject it and turn our backs on God for good.
In doing so, we reject the very thing that could bring us to God and write His law on our hearts: the Holy Spirit.
It’s not a rejection of the new covenant due to ignorance or a lack of understanding. If we later return with true repentance, then we haven’t permanently rejected the new covenant.
But if this rejection is willful and final, we can only imagine what kind of punishment we deserve.

Rejecting the Gospel is no small thing. The new covenant is not less weighty, powerful, or holy than the old one.
No, rejecting the new is far more serious than rejecting the old.
Because here, we are no longer rejecting only God’s law—we’re rejecting a clear expression of His love and the gentler side of His character that was revealed at the cross.