Our Glorious God

When was the last time you were awed by the glory of God?  I firmly believe our view of God is pathetic in light of reality.  Our modern-day approach to God is often as flippant as when we turn on the TV or make our morning coffee.  "Routine" would be a blunt way to put it.  We have sterilized Jesus into a soft-spoken nice guy who always walked around in a white robe with a blue drape over His shoulder.  His fire, passion, and glory have been reduced and simplified into something we think we understand very well.

After the children of Israel were delivered with a mighty hand from bondage in Egypt, they experienced the glory of God from afar.  God commanded that all the people be sanctified and wash their clothes.  On the third day, He descended upon Mt. Sinai.  Exodus 19:16-18 reads, "Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. [17] And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. [18] Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly."  This was the mighty God who had just visited fierce plagues upon the Egyptians and slaughtered their army in the Red Sea.  Now He descends in fire upon the mountain with the sound of a trumpet blaring louder and louder!  The people in the camp trembled before God.  This is not a god who can be manipulated or controlled by man or any created thing.  He must not be taken lightly.

We are content to have "unglorious" gods.  We're happy for our god to "be a friend next to us" or something tangible we can enjoy.  And even when our God is the great I AM, we see Him not as He is, but in a way we are comfortable with.  We have a "love" filter, a "mercy" filter, a "grace" filter, and maybe even a "just" filter.  But we often don't see God how the Israelites experienced Him on Sinai.  This is not a rant aimed at making you feel bad about how you perceive God to be.  I believe God is more glorious than we give Him credit for.  I believe God is greater than our minds can grasp, more glorious than we can comprehend.  If you think God can be described by words, it is a god which can be confined to words on a page or an idea in your head.  No, my friends.  When Moses asked God, "Show me your glory" God told him no man could see His face and live.  Staring at the sun for a prolonged period of time can ruin your eyes:  to catch a glimpse of the glory of God for a nanosecond would kill us dead.  That's glory!

Another notable instance of God's glory is found in 2 Chron. 5:11-14 when King Solomon dedicated the temple.  "And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without keeping to their divisions), [12] and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets-- [13] indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying:  "For He is good, for His mercy endures forever," that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, [14] so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God."  I love this passage because it parallels the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.  As these sanctified priests were praising God as one, the house of the LORD was filled with a cloud "so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God."

These men were so overcome with the glory of God they had to get out of there!  It was overwhelming to be in the presence of one so holy, righteous, and powerful.  We should never allow ourselves to be casual about God.  This is the God who in His wisdom saw fit to place His glory IN Christians!  2 Cor. 4:5-10 says, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. [6] For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. [7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. [8] We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- [10] always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."  Unless we see God as glorious like the Israelites who trembled or the priests who praised, God's glory will be shrouded by our common flesh.  Though we have been given the Holy Spirit without measure, we tend to measure out our service to God.  We tell Him what we will do, and we tell Him what we will not do.  Oh brothers and sisters, this ought not to be!  The earthen vessel must be sanctified before it can be used, and it must be broken for the light of His glory to shine.

I would say "take a moment" and consider how great and glorious our God must be, but it would be better to spend our lives in such pursuit.  We have the privilege of not only serving God, but knowing Him.  May God reveal Himself to us so our faces might shine with divine radiance as Moses!  Moses had to cover his face with a veil because of the time spent with God as a man speaks to a friend.  Jesus calls us friends, but let us not rob Him of glory by making Him our peer.  He is our God, Savior, and LORD.  It would do us well to tremble before Him!