Focus: Stop The Noise

Text: Ex.20:24,25

"An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me… And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it."

For the making of the tabernacle God makes it clear to Moses that He does not want man's noise. He tells Moses to make the altar of earth to avoid noise. Then He adds, 'If you decide to build an altar of stone, make sure you do not use hewn stones to build it.' This informs the reason why Solomon avoided noise in the building of the temple. The Scripture says, "And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building" (1Kgs.6:7).

The altar and the temple are entirely God's. The temple is God's sacred space for His sole manifestation. No human noise should be heard in God's sacred place. Carnality is full of noise, and noise is a way of covering an inward emptiness.

The flesh is fond of noise. The flesh prides in noise. Self-praise is noise. Pride is noise. Self-projection is noise. When man feels empty he makes noise. When he accomplishes something he makes noise. When he feels or thinks he is something he makes noise. When he convinces himself that he knows something he makes noise. God hates the noisomeness of our ignorance and arrogance. The flesh is very noisy.

The flesh loves competition. It loves showmanship or showing off. Hezekiah shot himself in the foot when he showed off his majesty, military might and wealth of his kingdom to strangers from Babylon (2Kgs.20:12-19). It was his greatest undoing and an act of immense stupidity. By that show of shame he ended himself.

In 1Sam.4, Israel made so much noise when the ark of the covenant was brought to the battlefield. The earth shook at the intensity of their noise. The excitement was incredible and indescribable. Fear gripped the Philistine soldiers upon hearing the noise and getting a wind that the ark of God was in the camp. But in the end their noise amounted to nothing, for the Ark was taken away by the enemy, the army of Israel defeated, and the two sons of Eli died in the field of battle. Eli could not survive the sad news. He died, too! That was after all the noise. They succeeded in bringing the ark to the battle, but failed to bring the God of the ark. They replaced reality with ritual and went for shadow instead of substance. The defeat revealed the emptiness of their noise.

Anointing is not noisy. Nothing of God is really noisy. Samuel said to Saul, "What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" (1Sam.15:14). The animals' noise was a proof of Saul's partial obedience, which amounted to total disobedience.

Jeremiah, describing Pharaoh's arrogance, said, "Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed." (Jer.46:17). Noise is part of Satan's strategy of getting God's people to fidget or run riot. Satan is a noise-maker.

Speaking of pure love, Paul says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (1Cor.13:1).

That is the noise of empty love. Real love is not noisy. Fleshly or selfish love is known for the noise it makes. And God cautions, 'Don't pollute my sacred space with your tools - the tools of the flesh.' Let us stop the noise and restore the supernatural sound of God. Let us stop making the church a noisy place. The sellers and money-changers in the temple were noise-makers - desecrators of the sacred space. Let us avoid repeating their errors. Holy things are not for merchandising. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter