Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
I wrote a song many years ago titled, They Make Too Much Noise For Me. It is a satire of the attitude of those who complain that holy Ghost filled people make too much noise when they praise God. These are the words:
-Chorus-
Oh, they make too
much noise for me.
With all those tears in their eyes they cannot see.
I
don't want to get involved
with that old time Pentecost
'cause
they make too much noise for me.
-2-
Oh, yes, I know
that Jesus cast out the demons.
And, yes, I know that Paul and Peter spoke
in tongues.
Oh, but when it comes to now,
all those things are gone,
somehow,
And it makes too much noise for me.
-3-
Oh
yes, I know King David danced in the power.
And, yes, I know the prophets
spoke of things to come.
But today when grown-up men
start to
act like them back then,
They just make too much noise for me.
For those who feel that God's people make too much noise when we rejoice before the Lord, the Bible contains some very bad news; to wit, even with all the shouting and singing and praising God that the saints sometimes offer up to Him whose power saves us, this is still the quietest world that any will ever know.
Jesus said that those who are condemned in the Final Judgment will be cast into a place of torment that is terrifying to consider and that "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Earth has never heard such a volume of lamentation as the souls of the damned make. People on earth have felt great fear; people on earth have been in pain; people on earth have felt hopelessness and remorse; but nothing in human experience has ever produced such screams of horror and agony as the flames of God's damnation will produce.
On the other hand, the saints who are faithful and who will be carried by Jesus into the loving presence of our God will be shouting with utter joy as they have never shouted before. They will be singing loudly in the holy Ghost new songs "never heard by mortal men". Moreover, the innumerable angels and other heavenly creatures will be praising God there with us.
Anyone who thinks that Spirit-baptized people on earth are excessively loud are suffering from a blindness to reality caused by an ignorance of the future. They don't know what lies ahead. This is the quietest world they will ever know. Even at their loudest, God's people are just a pale imitation of the mighty worship that is going on in heaven right now, much less the worship and praise that will take place when we finally see our Father's face. And even at their loudest, the screams of suffering men, whether caused by war or anything else, is also just a shadow of the loudness of the screams to come.
This is the quietest world we will ever know.