Voice out of the middle of the fire

november 22, 2016

 

Dollywood employee finds burned Bible page after wildfires in Gatlinburg, TN 

 

GATLINBURG, TENNESSEE – The day after wildfires tore through Gatlinburg, damaging or destroying more than 700 structures, killing at least 10 people and displacing thousands, Isaac McCord was doing his part to help out, picking up debris from the Dollywood park grounds.

 

Gripping his rake, he revisited a spot in Craftsman Valley he had skimmed over after his co-worker, Misty Carver, quipped, “Is that how you clean your room?”   Provoked, he said he had started “really getting in the nooks and crannies” under a park bench when he caught a glimpse of a piece of paper lying in a puddle of water — soggy, seared and torn in two.

 

McCord, a University of Tennessee alumnus who now works as a human resources training coordinator at Dollywood, said he had no idea what the paper would read, but considering the circumstances, he was curious enough to pick it up.

 

“As soon as I got down on the ground, I noticed it was a Bible verse, and I was like holy crap,”   McCord said in a phone interview on Tuesday night. “It was in a puddle of water. I said, ‘I want to take care of this the best way I can,’ so I gently scooped it up and carried it out the best I could.”

 

McCord, 24, sat on the bench where he found the paper, and called Carver over. Their work partners, Dollywood wardrobe manager Angela Davis and employee Kimberly Moore, had left to go to the restroom, McCord said.

 

In silence, the pair pored over the page, the edges of which were burned black, rendering many words illegible. But parts of the right side of the page were preserved enough to get the message across: it perfectly reflected, McCord said, the tragic natural disaster that had thrust Gatlinburg and Sevier County into the national spotlight the night before.

 

“O Lord, to thee will I cry: For the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field,”  the page reads, according to a picture of the page posted on McCord’s Facebook.

 

“At first, we didn’t know what part of the book it was from,” McCord said on Tuesday night, “but we saw bits and pieces about fire and scorching the land, and how the beast groaned and roared for help.”

 

The page appears to be from the first chapter of Joel from the King James version of the Bible

 

“We were like this is unreal, this is unbelievable,” McCord said. “When we had both fully read it, we looked at each other — and I will never forget this moment — we both burst into tears. I was ghost white, and we just prayed. There was nothing else to do.

 

“Still to this moment, almost four hours after the fact, I don’t have words for it.”

The VOICE out of the MIDDLE of the FIRE

The Page from Joel was burned through verse 17 which was right in the middle of the page.

 

  The 17th letter in Hebrew is pronounced “PE or PHE”

means “MOUTH” from one which “SPEAKS”

and gives commands. 

 

 

ie…”A VOICE”

 

The Hebrew Language is written alpha-numerically

which means each letter, word, or phrase,

has a numeric value associated with it. 

 

The 17th letter in Hebrew has a numeric value of 80

God SPOKE to MOSES out of the MIDDLE of the BURNING BUSH

which was not consumed.  Moses was 80 at the time.

 

Exodus 3 : Moses at the Burning Bush 

1Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb ^[h2722].  2And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5And he said, Draw not near here: put off your shoes from off your feet, for the place where on you stand is holy ground. 6Moreover he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look on God.  

After Moses led the Israelite’s out of Egypt, he led them to Mount Horeb or Sinai where God had originally appeared to Moses in the burning bush.   God declared to Israel his covenant here and the mountain burned with fire to the middle of heaven and the Lord SPOKE to them out of the MIDDLE of the FIRE and they HEARD the VOICE of the WORDS.   They saw no similtude, they only HEARD A VOICE out of the MIDDLE of the FIRE.

Deuteronomy 4 : An Exhortation to Obedience (Leviticus 25:18-22; Deuteronomy 11:1-7; Deuteronomy 28:1-14)

1Now therefore listen, O Israel, to the statutes and to the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers gives you. 2You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. 3Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from among you. 4But you that did join to the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.

5Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do so in the land where you go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, who has God so near to them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call on him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

9Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life: but teach them your sons, and your sons’ sons; 10Specially the day that you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb ^[h2722] , when the LORD said to me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live on the earth, and that they may teach their children. 11And you came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the middle of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.  12And the LORD spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only you heard a voice.  13And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone. 14And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it.

WARNING AGAINST IDOLATRY (Deuteronomy 12:29-32; Ezekiel 6:1-7)

15Take you therefore good heed to yourselves; for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb ^[h2722] out of the middle of the fire: 16Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, 18The likeness of any thing that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has divided to all nations under the whole heaven. 20But the LORD has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as you are this day.

21Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance: 22But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but you shall go over, and possess that good land. 23Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

The page found in the middle of CRAFTSMAN Valley in Dollywood.

 

Gripping his rake, he revisited a spot in Craftsman Valley he had skimmed over after his co-worker, Misty Carver, quipped, “Is that how you clean your room?”   Provoked, he said he had started “really getting in the nooks and crannies” under a park bench when he caught a glimpse of a piece of paper lying in a puddle of water — soggy, seared and torn in two.

25When you shall beget children, and children’s children, and you shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD your God, to provoke him to anger: 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days on it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and you shall be left few in number among the heathen, where the LORD shall lead you. 28And there you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29But if from there you shall seek the LORD your God, you shall find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30When you are in tribulation, and all these things are come on you, even in the latter days, if you turn to the LORD your God, and shall be obedient to his voice ^[h6963]; 31(For the LORD your God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.

Gatlinburg was in direct line of the Great Eclipse that happened on 8/21/2017 and the Revelation 12 sign that marked the tribulation period 33 days later.

 

JOEL 2:27

“thus you will know I am in the midst of Israel,  And that I am the LORD your God,   And there is no other;   And My people will never be put to shame.  

THE COVENANT IN HOREB

1And Moses called all Israel, and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and keep, and do them. 2The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the middle of the fire, 5(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD: for you were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Exodus 20:1-17)

6I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7You shall have none other gods before me.

8You shall not make you any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: 9You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, 10And showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

11You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.

12Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor, and do all your work: 14But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. 15And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out there through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

16Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

17You shall not kill.

18Neither shall you commit adultery.

19Neither shall you steal.

20Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.

21Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s wife, neither shall you covet your neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is your neighbor’s.

MOSES INTERCEDED FOR THE PEOPLE (Exodus 20:18-21; Hebrews 12:18-29)

22These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly in the mount out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice ^[h6963]: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them to me. 23And it came to pass, when you heard the voice ^[h6963] out of the middle of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24And you said, Behold, the LORD our God has showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice ^[h6963] out of the middle of the fire: we have seen this day that God does talk with man, and he lives. 25Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice ^[h6963] of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. 26For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice ^[h6963] of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27Go you near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak you to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to you; and we will hear it, and do it.

28And the LORD heard the voice ^[h6963] of your words, when you spoke to me; and the LORD said to me, I have heard the voice ^[h6963] of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you: they have well said all that they have spoken. 29O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! 30Go say to them, Get you into your tents again. 31But as for you, stand you here by me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. 32You shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God has commanded you: you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

Strong’s Hebrew Concordance

Voice ^[h6963] qôwl  occurs 506x in 436 verses

• from an unused root meaning to call aloud;

• a voice or sound:— 

Adam and Eve disobeyed the VOICE of God and were kicked out of Garden.  Relationship was broken.

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice ^[h6963] of the LORD God walking ^[h1980] in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

 

Abraham was chosen by God to be His new Seed.  Abraham obeyed the VOICE of God and because He did:

Genesis 22:18 KJV – 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Genesis 26:5 KJV – 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Genesis 27:8 KJV – 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.

Genesis 22:18 KJV – 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Genesis 26:5 KJV – 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Genesis 27:8 KJV – 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. 

 

The Pharaoh did not obey the VOICE of God and Egypt was plagued.  He could not hear the VOICE of God because he had a hardened heart. 

Exodus 5:2 KJV – 2 And Pharaoh said, Who [is] the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

 

God chose Israel as his new seed that would OBEY His VOICE and keep his covenant.

Exodus 15:26 KJV – 26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I [am] the LORD that healeth thee.
Exodus 19:5 KJV – 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is] mine:

Deuteronomy 4 : 22These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly in the mount out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice ^[h6963]: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them to me. 23And it came to pass, when you heard the voice ^[h6963] out of the middle of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24And you said, Behold, the LORD our God has showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice ^[h6963] out of the middle of the fire: we have seen this day that God does talk with man, and he lives. 25Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice ^[h6963] of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. 26For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice ^[h6963] of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27Go you near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak you to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to you; and we will hear it, and do it.

 

The Angel of the Lord was sent before them to prepare the way and they were to listen to his VOICE

Exodus 23:21-22 21 Beware of him, and obey his voice ^[h6963], provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name [is] in him. 22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice ^[h6963], and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

 

After the 10 tribes brought back a negative report and tempted God and did not listen to His VOICE, God caused them to wander in the wilderness and they did not see the PROMISED LAND.

Numbers 14:1, 22  22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice ^[h6963];

Joshua 5:6 6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people [that were] men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice ^[h6963] of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

Psalm 95:7 7 For he [is] our God; and we [are] the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice ^[h6963],8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:11To whom I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. 

Hebrews 3:7, 15 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice ^[g5456], … 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice ^[g5456], harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Hebrews 4:7 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice ^[g5456], harden not your hearts.

 

After 40 years in the wilderness and they finally were about to enter the PROMISED LAND, MOSES gave the Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 4:30 KJV – 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, [even] in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

 

They went into Babylonian captivity and were scattered among the nations because they did not OBEY HIS VOICE

Daniel 9:10-11, 14 10 Neither have we obeyed the voice ^[h6963] of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice ^[h6963]; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that [is] written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. … 14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God [is] righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice ^[h6963].

Strong’s Greek Concordance

Voice ^[g5456] phōnḗ  occurs 141x in 129 verses (44v in Gospel) (44v in Revelation)

• probably akin to G5316 through the idea of disclosure;

• a tone (articulate, bestial or artificial);

• by implication, an address (for any purpose), saying or language:—noise, sound, voice

Matthew 2:18 18 In Rama was there a voice ^[g5456] heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping [for] her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
Matthew 3:3, 17 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice ^[g5456] of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

John 3:8, 29 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. … 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice ^[g5456]: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

 

My sheep hear my voice and they follow me

John 10: Jesus the Good Shepherd(Psalm 23:1-6; Ezekiel 34:11-24)

1Truly, truly, I say to you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice ^[g5456] and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. 4And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice ^[g5456]. 5And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice ^[g5456] of strangers. 6This parable spoke Jesus to them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke to them.

7Then said Jesus to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. 12But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep. 13The hireling flees, because he is an hireling, and cares not for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ^[g5456]; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

19There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. 20And many of them said, He has a devil, and is mad; why hear you him? 21Others said, These are not the words of him that has a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

The Unbelief of the Jews

22And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. 23And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. 24Then came the Jews round about him, and said to him, How long do you make us to doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us plainly. 25Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. 26But you believe not, because you are not of my sheep, as I said to you. 27My sheep hear my voice ^[g5456], and I know them, and they follow me: 28And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and my Father are one 

John 18:37 37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice ^[g5456].

 

Voice (phone) 44x in Revelation, 44x in Gospel, Rachel (sheep) 44x

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