In the Word of God Amos 3:7-8 states that God does nothing unless He reveals His plan to the prophets. This kind of revelation is closely connected to the roar of the lion.

 

7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

8 The lion has roared – who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken – who can but prophesy?

 

It follows, then, that this concerns the principle of cause and effect. We know that there is no cause without an effect, nor is there any effect without a cause.

 

 

The lion’s roar represents the dynamic of God’s breath, which extends into the atmosphere —that is, into the spiritual realm above the earth — and is received by the prophets — men and women in this office — who translate the dynamic of the roar into understandable words.

 

It is the breath of God, which is not blown into the nostrils as it was during the creation of the first man – Adam, but rather penetrates the ears of the ecclesia as a loud, stirring sound through His prophets. It is the counsel of the eternal King, which resounds in the atmosphere above the earth and causes the prophets to prophesy.

 

This results in the presence of the Spirit of the fear of the LORD, which opens the way for the Spirit of wisdom, so that the hidden realities of the LORD may come to light and become more understandable (cf. Psalm 111:10 i.c.w. Proverbs 9:10).

 

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

 

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

 

To better understand the dynamic of God’s breath in the form of a roar, let us consider the principle of the seven angels who sound the seven trumpets after the Lamb opened the seventh seal. This is because a trumpet is a wind instrument associated with a louder volume and is not used to provide soft background sound (cf. Revelation 8:6).

 

6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

 

To place the correlation between the lion’s roar and the prophecies of the prophets on earth in a spiritual context, we can also say that there is an interaction between the lion and the eagle, both of whom are also found in God’s throne room (cf. Revelation 4:7).

 

7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.

 

When we consider this communication within the essence of God, the influence from the first position to the fourth and final position becomes apparent. These positions can also be viewed as representing an interaction between heaven and earth.

 

 

The situation is similar to that of the eagle, which appears in connection with the blowing of the fourth trumpet by the respective angel, who heralds the yet-to-come triune dynamic of the breath in the form of the three remaining trumpets yet to be sounded (cf. Revelation 8:12a.13).

 

12a The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, …

13 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in mid-air call out in a loud voice: ‘Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!’

 

Since the eagle flew through the sky and the fourth being of God is a flying eagle, it shows us with regard to the prophets of the LORD that they must move forward in the Holy Spirit, grounded in the truth of God’s Word and His holiness, in order to understand what God, the LORD is communicating — ‘roaring’ and thereby seeking to make known (cf. 2 Peter 1:19-21 i.c.w. Hebrews 12:14).

 

19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.

21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

 

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord.

 

Within the spiritual realm of the ‘breath of God’ in the form of the seven trumpets, the ‘roar of the lion’ is also revealed at the sound of the sixth trumpet by the sixth angel (cf. Revelation 9:13a).

 

13a The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, …

 

Revelation 10:1-4 states that, at the sound of the sixth trumpet, a mighty angel came down from heaven into the spiritual realm, where John was located. This angel was clothed with a cloud, with the rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.

This one had a small open scroll in his hand, placing his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth. At this he began to roar loudly like a lion, so that the seven thunders sounded in the atmosphere, carrying within them revelation that John understood, but was instructed by God’s command to seal.

 

1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.
2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke.
4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

 

This process of revelation is accompanied by the stirring of the inner man through the fire of God (Note: spirit and soul => right foot of the angel on the water, left foot of the angel on the land) and the presence of His glory (Note: face was shining like the sun), faith (Note: cloud) as well as His covenant (Note: rainbow).

 

God’s covenant is related to the solid food in order to go forward with exercised spiritual senses in the maturity of the Spirit in Christ (cf. Genesis 9:3.12-13 i.c.w. Hebrews 5:14).

 

3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. …

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

 

14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

 

 

Since John was one of the sons of thunder (Note: Boanerges), it is evident from this that he understood the realm of the concealed powerful voice of God that accompanies the presence of the dark cloud (cf. Exodus 19:16).

 

16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.

 

The goal here is to legitimately and legally unlock the hidden realities of heaven. To be able to do this, we must have developed spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity involves becoming familiar with the principles of God’s Word and His realm of rule by learning them with integrity and living by them.

 

The sealed realities of heaven or sealed things act like the dark cloud that surrounds God. The explanation for this is because the divine darkness is designed to protect the hidden things of the LORD from profane influence and unholy acting.

 

This is what Jesus was likely expressing by naming the Boanerges. The Boanerges understood how to release fire from heaven because they were aware of and lived in the principles of God’s government and His work (cf. Mark 3:17 i.c.w. Luke 9:54).

 

17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), …

 

54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”

 

James and John were trained in this by their mother on the basis of the Tanakh or also called ‘Old Testament’, which is evident from her request, asking Jesus if their sons could sit next to Him on His right and left in His kingdom (cf. Matthew 20:20-21).

 

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

 

Based on this we can see that the sons of thunder – Boanerges were allowed to be spiritually in a certain area of the throne room of God and thus John understood the voice of the seven thunders and was instructed by God to seal the revelation.

 

We can learn from this that our proper response to the hidden realities revealed by God on earth through the words of the prophets — the ‘roar of the lion’—is crucial. Their words create a positive external pressure within the inner person and are also decisive in determining how God will respond to us.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm