Glory and Majesty

Jude 1: 24 – 25

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

To God be glory, majesty, dominion and authority. Amen. That is enough of a prayer on its own, a really great prayer in fact. Still, Jude paired it with other concepts. He gives us reasons to praise God and exalt Him because of the miracle of these gifts. Significantly, that we might be able to stand in His presence, in His glory, and though that would be enough, there is still more. Because of the great miracle of substitutionary redemption, we can stand in the Lord’s presence perfectly blameless. That’s amazing! Thank you, Jesus,!

So let us meditate on standing in the presence of our beloved savior and our Father seeing ourselves clean and pure, standing there with them in the fullness of joy. Lord, may your kingdom here on earth reflect the glory and majesty of your kingdom in the New Jerusalem and thank you for allowing us to be citizens therein. Amen!

Splendor and Majesty

Job 37: 22

Out of the north comes golden splendor; Around God is awesome majesty.

I have just returned from fifteen days in the great northern expanse of Alaska. For the life of me I just don’t understand how anyone can experience the majesty of Father’s creation and not acknowledge the creator. I don’t know how they don’t feel Him tugging at their heart strings or singing in their spirits. The majesty and awesomeness of our beloved Father is beyond words and I have found that it is beyond photography. I would send you a hundred photographs and still fall far short of capturing the grace and power of our Father’s creation. 

I was overwhelmed with one simple thought, “My Dad created all of this!” Wow! And the quiet whisper I hear in my soul is, “Yes, and I knew when I created it that you would be here today enjoying this rare beauty.” How precious we are in the sight of the Lord.  The mountains and the sea, the glaciers and the wildlife cannot hold His attention. He is more gratified and engrossed by the wonder reflected in our eyes. 

Truly awesome majesty follows in the wake of our Father and God but the greatest wonder of all is that He loves us so much. In His eyes, there is nothing on this earth which compares with us. Is that not amazing? David said it this way, “What is man that You take thought of him?” (Psalm 8: 4). In the shadow of the of the imposing mountains such as this one, Denali, which means, The Great One, who is man that God even notices us? And yet, not a hair falls from our head that He does not notice (Matthew 10: 30). Surrounded by the majesty of Denali, the splendor of the fjords, and the power of the glaciers one feels instantly like an ant amongst the landscape … and yet, the grasp of insignificance never quite takes hold for in that moment our oneness with the Holy One, God the Almighty and Creator of all we behold becomes bigger in our hearts than the Great One herself, Denali. Greater by far is our God and Father and greater still is His devotion to us, deeper than the fjords is His love. The greatest wonder, the majesty of the age is God’s love for us.