I believe that just as the shepherds heard sounds from heaven that first Christmas, we are to hear the sounds of the season this year. Not the sounds of carols over loudspeakers in malls. Not the sounds of families in distress because of the economic pressures of meeting bills and buying gifts. Not even the sounds of children’s laughter or the hushed tones of a church choir singing “Silent Night.”
Hear the sounds of the season that are coming from the realms of God’s glory! Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1-2 unveil the divine dynamics through which the Christ will be revealed. As it was for those who were “people of His plan” in that hour, so it is with us who are today’s cast for God’s divine purposes on the earth. There are sounds to this season! Those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying will hear the sounds that are right now being released in the realms of glory.
As angelic hosts filled the sky over the hillsides near Bethlehem their “sound” was very different from the sounds on the earth. In the natural realm there were sounds of social unrest, of government decrees imposing inconvenient edicts, and of oppression and injustice.
Even among those called into the Lord’s plan there were likely sounds of expectation mingled with second-guessing: “Did God really say that?” “If such an amazing day of the Lord is planned for us, why are things so contradictory?” But the ears tuned to the Spirit were hearing something very different.
The story of a host of angels appearing to some shepherds near Bethlehem has become so familiar to us that it’s more sentimental than significant. Yet this is one of the few descriptions we have of the glorious sounds to be heard in the eternal realm of the Lord’s presence.
The prophet Isaiah heard the same sounds in his vision of the throne (see Is. 6). John, the Revelator, heard them, too! From the realms of glory there is a sound of His triumph and supremacy. There is the sound of authority. There is the sound of His prevailing purposes and power.
Choose to incline your ear to that realm. Go higher in your hearing to listen to what God will say and reveal. Triumph, authority, supremacy, divine activity, thrones and worship of the Enthroned One: All of these are available to us as the soundtrack of this season of God’s plans on the earth! We are a part of those glorious plans. Hear the sounds of the season!
About the author: Rev. Peggy I. Kennedy, conference speaker and author, and her husband, Jack, are two “silver trumpets” (see Num. 10:1-10) committed to hearing the “now” word of the Lord for His church. They reside in the greater Toronto area, Canada, and sound a prophetic voice to Canada and beyond. For more information, go to www.TwoSilverTrumpets.ca.