Jehovah's Voice
Jehovah is the living God, God Almighty the Father. In our degraded and sinful condition, we cannot see Him, but He has used His voice to speak to man, in both the Old and the New Testaments. Let's find out why this is important: "For who of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and has lived?" (Deuteronomy 5:26) The ones speaking were the Israelites after hearing the Ten Commandments, spoken by God's own voice from Mount Sinai. In verse 24, "and you said, Behold, Jehovah your God has revealed His glory and His greatness to us, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks to man, and He lives. Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah your God any more, then we shall die." (Deuteronomy 5:24,25). "And God spoke these words, saying, I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." (Exodus 20:1,2). From this account and many others, could there be any question that God Almighty speaks to man directly with a voice? I ask this because some believe that Jesus was not only the Word of God Jehovah, but also the voice for Jehovah. But there is more, "And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, God of Israel, who spoke by His mouth with my father David, and by His hand has fulfilled it, saying," (I Kings 8:15).
God's voice was first heard by Adam, but not only did he hear Jehovah, he also saw the one and only God Jehovah, His Creator and Father by creation, "And they heard the sound of Jehovah God walking up and down in the garden at the breeze of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of Jehovah God in the middle of the trees of the garden. And Jehovah God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:8,9). Abraham, Moses, Job, David and Solomon and His prophets, plus few others heard God's voice, but to others He sent a messenger angel to speak His words for Him, "And the Angel of Jehovah returned a second time and touched him and said, Get up, eat, for the way is too great for you." (I Kings 19:7). Some times the angel just supplied an image, "And Gideon saw that He was the Angel of Jehovah. And Gideon said, Alas, Lord Jehovah! Because I have seen the Angel of Jehovah face to face! And Jehovah said to him, Peace to you, fear not. You shall not die." (Judges 6:22). The "Angel of Jehovah" appears in the Old Testament, who most consider to be Michael (Jesus) because "angel" has been capitalized, but some "angels of Jehovah" are not capitalized, indicating these are not divine angels, only messengers of God. There are also angels of the Lord in the New Testament and most Bibles translations do not capitalized these "angel". There is however, no distinction in the Hebrew text as to capitalization, all "angels of Jehovah" are Strong's #4397 (and 2 in Daniel are #4398) both meaning a messenger. Sometimes the "angel" speaks a message and sometimes the "angel" is to capture someone's attention or just to show support, "And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire in the middle of the thorn bush..." (Exodus 3:2). Then God Himself spoke, "And Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him from the midst of the thorn bush, and said, Moses! Moses! And he said, I am here." (Exodus 3:4), and in verse 6 the voice distinguished Himself further, "And He said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he feared to look upon God." (Exodus 3:6). This was, without a doubt the voice of Jehovah God because there is only one God and there is only one with the name Jehovah, "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." (Deuteronomy 6:4), but Abraham only saw the angel of Jehovah, because man cannot see God in his present sinful state.
God, Jehovah, used His voice and spoke to man in the Old Testaments many times but only three times did God use His voice in the New Testament, "And behold! A voice out of Heaven, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found delight." (Matthew 3:17), "While he was yet speaking, behold, a radiant cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I delight, hear Him." (Matthew 17:5) and "Father glorify Your name. Then a voice came out of heaven: I both glorify it, and again I will glorify it." (John 12:28).
God uses His own voice but when He chooses not to, He sends an angel, whether it is Jesus or an angel from Heaven is not Biblically discerned. Jehovah used His voice or His spirit to speak many messages to His prophets, "Jehovah sent a man, a prophet, to the sons of Israel. And he said to them, So says Jehovah the God of Israel, I have brought you up out of Egypt; and I have brought you out from the house of slavery." (Judges 6:8), And to ask questions, men asked them of God's prophets and His prophets responded with God's answers, "And David rose up in the morning; and the word of Jehovah came to Gad the prophet, David's seer, saying," (II Samuel 24:11). In these 2 verses, it doesn't say that Jehovah God communicated by His spirit, but it also doesn't indicate that He spoke to the prophet with His voice, as it was indicated in other times of communication with men, nor did it mention an angel of Jehovah. Since Christ is now our Mediator, "For God is one, also there is one Mediator of God and man, the man Jesus Christ." (I Timothy 2:5) between man and God, we do not hear God's voice, nor do we need prophets to communicate God's messages to us any longer, now, that is the responsibility given to Christ, to speak to us all by His own personal spirit, in response to our questions in our prayers to God.
Below is a list of other times God Jehovah spoke with His voice:
Exodus 6:2 "And God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am God."
Exodus 6:28 "And it happened on the day Jehovah spoke to Moses in the
land of Egypt."
Exodus 19:3 "And Moses went up to God. And Jehovah called to him
from the mountain saying, You shall say this to the house of Jacob,
and tell it to the sons of Israel."
Exodus 19:9 "And Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in
a darkness of clouds so the people may hear My speaking with you
and, and in you they may believe forever. And Moses told the
words of the people to Jehovah."
Exodus 19:19 "And it happened, while the sound of the ram's horn
was sounding, and becoming very strong, Moses spoke. And God
answered him by a voice."
Numbers 7:89 "And when Moses went into the tent of the congregation
to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from the
mercy-
two cherubs and He spoke to him."
Deuteronomy 4:12 "And Jehovah spoke to you out of the midst of
the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you did not see a form,
only a voice."
Deuteronomy 4:33 "Has a people heard the voice of God speaking
from the midst of the fire, as you have heard and lived?"
Deuteronomy 5:4"Jehovah talked to you face to face in the mountain
out of the midst of the fire."
Deuteronomy 5:22 "Jehovah spoke these words to all the assembly,
on the mount, out of the midst of fire of the cloud, and out of the
thick darkness with a great voice. And He added no more; and He
wrote them on two tablets of stone..."
Deuteronomy 32:48 "And Jehovah spoke to Moses in that same
day saying,"
Joshua 5:6 "For the sons of Israel walked forty year in the wilderness,
until all the nation, the men of war who had come out of Egypt,
who had not listened to the voice of Jehovah, to whom Jehovah
sworn to their fathers..."
II Samuel 22:14 "Jehovah thundered from the heavens, and the
Most High gave forth His voice."
I Kings 8:24 "who have kept for Your servant David, my father,
that which You spoke to him; yea, You spoke with Your mouth,
and with Your hand have fulfilled it as it is this day."
Isaiah 6:8 "And I heard the voice of Jehovah saying, Whom shall
I send and who will go for us? Then I said, I am here, send me!"
Ezekiel 43:2 "...and the glory of the God of Israel came from the
way of the east. And His voice was like the voice of many waters
and the earth shone from His glory."
Amos 1:2 "And he said, Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter
His voice from Jerusalem. And the pastures of the shepherds
shall mourn..."
Micah 6:9 "The voice of Jehovah calls out to the city, and one of
sound wisdom will see Your name, hear the rod and Him who
appointed it."
Acts 7:31,32 "And seeing, Moses marveled at the sight. And he
coming up to look, a voice of the Lord came to him: I am the
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob..."