A study based on the song “Resonate”
by Tom Michael
Bass Player for Sonicflood
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’ Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
– I Chronicles 16:31-33
When naming our most recent album, the word resonate seemed to perfectly express what we are trying to do. To resonate means to make a sound more intense or rich by the vibration of its surroundings. Being a bass player I think of an electric bass guitar that’s not plugged in. You pluck a string and the sound is barely audible. But if you took a cello and plucked a string, the structure of the instrument’s body, the density of the wood, the size of the acoustic chamber would make a loud sound. We think this is a good analogy of God’s glory. Like wooden vessels, we have no desirable qualities in ourselves, but when God’s glory moves in us, His praises resound. When I look at scripture, I see three ways in which God’s glory is resonated.
The first way I see the glory of God resonating is in His character, particularly regarding the trinity. Our God is one God in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is not like a bass guitar string needing any help in resonating. He is completely self-sufficient, existing for His own glory. For example, our God can have the attribute of love without having anyone outside Himself to love. He is independent of His creation because He has the other persons of the Godhead. The Father has love for the Son, the Son for the Spirit, the Spirit for the Father, etc… The love of one Person resonates in both of the Others. He is a perfectly resonating instrument in and of Himself!
The second way is in His creation. As the scripture above says, creation proclaims His glory. Psalm 19:1-4 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands… Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Romans 1:20 says that “for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood by what has been made…” God’s world is a theater where he resonates His glory through all creation to His own delight!
My favorite way that God’s glory resonates is in Christ and His saving grace. All other religions in the world teach that salvation is something that we merit for ourselves by doing certain things. But God said through Isaiah, “My glory I will not give to another.” Christianity teaches our salvation is God’s work, His accomplishment, His resonating His glory in His people. We don’t earn salvation, God provides it for “whosoever believes in Him.” But, this saving faith is not just a believing in a historical fact, it is a casting of our souls on Christ. If faith were something by which we could earn God’s favor, then we would still be saving ourselves by our own works, robbing God of His glory. But that’s not it. By faith we acknowledge that He has already reached down, through His Son and that there is nothing we could possibly do to add to what He has accomplished by His blood. Then, having been born again into a new and lasting hope, our salvation resonates more of God’s glory in us as He molds us into the image of His Son, allowing us to express our faith through love to our Savior and back to our fellow man.
Questions:
- Read John 17:21-24. How does Jesus’ prayer demonstrate the Trinity resonating? (More on this at John 16:13-15)
- Read Romans 1:18-25. Using our “sound” analogy, is God’s resonating glory audible to every man? To what source do the wicked attribute the sound?
- Read Revelation 5:9,10. What favorite instrument has God made to resonate His glory in the earth? From what did He make it?
- Read Romans 4:1-8. How does Abraham’s salvation resonate God’s glory? (Read also verses 20-25)
- Read Romans 9:22,23. How does God’s glory resonate even through the unrighteous?
- Read Ephesians 2:8,9. When we go to worship God together with singing, what attitude should we have to best resonate God’s glory?
T4J would like to thank Sonicflood for granting permission to use this study.
Check out their site at http://www.sonicflood.com
Be the first to comment