Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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OMG: God’s Glory

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Introduction

Good morning, how are you? I got a text this week. Someone said, after the sermon last week, “If that’s how you preach when you’re sick, I’m going to pray that you stay sick.” Well, their prayer was answered. So I’m still sick. So, when I’m weak, pray God is strong. Amen.

Today I’m going to continue to talk about God’s attributes, and today we’re going to talk about God’s glory. And let me just say up front what a difficult thing this is, because it’s like staring into the sun. You can’t really do it. And as we’re going to see, God even says in His Word that there are definite limits to our ability to see Him and to understand Him. And this is such an overwhelming topic when we contemplate it. Our minds just boggle at the thought when we really talk about God’s glory. So we’re going to look at a number of texts. We’re not just going to look at one, but we’re going to look at a number before we actually try to understand just a small amount what we mean by God’s glory. Go to Exodus 33. We’ll start there.

Show Me Your Glory

Now you probably know the context of this section of Exodus. Moses had already gone to the mount, got the Ten Commandments. He’s returning. When he comes back with the Ten Commandments, the people are committing idolatry. They’re worshiping a golden calf. He gets mad. He throws the tablets down. They break. So he has to go back up and get another set, if you will. And so he intercedes for the people. And then he pleads with God to be with the people. In other words, he knows they offended God. And he knows that if God’s presence doesn’t go with them, they’re not going to make the journey. And so he pleads with God, intercedes for the people. And it says here, we’ll start in 33 verse 7:

Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought Jehovah went to the tabernacle of meeting, which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and Jehovah talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door.

(Exodus 33:7–10)

Why would you have a tent for meeting outside the camp? The point of the camp is to meet. Well, this is a meeting with God. He took his tent and instead of pitching it in the midst of the people, he pitched it outside the camp of where the people were. This is the place he was going to meet with God. So Moses went out to this tent, the people stood up in reverence, because they knew when he went to the tent, God was going to show up. So he goes to the tent, and then you see this cloud, this image, this weird thing. And it says here in verse 11:

So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

(Exodus 33:11)

My version says “face to face”; yours may read differently. So then Moses prays for God’s presence to go with them, and then he says in verse 18, talking to the Lord, he says, “Please show me Your glory.” Now it’s interesting here, because the text already says that Moses and God are talking in such a way that my verse says they’re talking face to face. But of course that’s a proverbial expression, it’s not literal, as we see here, because in verse 19 God says this:

I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

(Exodus 33:19–23)

So we know in verse 11, it’s not literal when it says that God and Moses talk face to face, because here in the same passage God says you cannot see My face. I mean, here’s a guy who’s talking to God so intimately, and there’s another text near this passage where it says that Moses talked with God intimately like a friend. And that made him different than all the other prophets, because the other prophets God would give a vision or God would give a dream, but when He talked to Moses He talked intimately, face to face. And what that means is that God came down in a form, it’s described as a cloud, and out of this cloud a voice spoke. So when God and Moses were talking, it was as if two friends were simply talking back and forth. But he couldn’t see God’s face. And that’s what he wanted to see. He wanted to see His glory. So the Lord says, no one can see My face and live.

Unapproachable Light

Now go to 1 Timothy. And we’re going to jump around before we jump down. In 1 Timothy, Paul says in verse 13—oh, chapter 6, did I say chapter? That helps, doesn’t it? 1 Timothy 6:13, he says:

I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

(1 Timothy 6:13–16)

And all God’s people said, Amen.

The Vision in Ezekiel

Now, go to Ezekiel, chapter 1. Now if you haven’t read the book of Ezekiel lately, you should at least read the first 10 chapters. Because this is some wild stuff. Just saying. It says here, Ezekiel 1 verse 1:

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I [audio unclear] visions of God.

(Ezekiel 1:1)

So this sets the tone. The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. Verse 4:

Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it, and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces.

(Ezekiel 1:4–11)

Well, we already know we’re in strange territory, right? Now I just want to make a passing comment about these living creatures called cherubim. If the creatures that are around the throne are so different, how different is the One who sits on the throne? And I say this because many people, when they contemplate what the Bible really teaches us about God, they complain because they can’t understand these things. They can’t understand God. And we find this come up very often when there’s a discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity, which I may address later in this series. “Well, the Trinity doesn’t make any sense. You can’t understand it. It’s not logical,” etc., etc., etc. Let me say this, that God is not—this is real important. I’m getting ahead of myself. Just hold on to that thought. We’re going to get to that.

Okay, so that was just their faces.

Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning. The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness; the appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

(Ezekiel 1:11–16)

Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. And you read this and you’re thinking, what is he talking about? What is he describing? What is he doing? He’s trying to describe in human language angelic beings which are fundamentally indescribable.

When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went. As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them.

(Ezekiel 1:17–18)

Wow, that’s getting really creepy. Full of eyes all around the four of them. And he goes on and on and on. Now that’s just the stuff going around the throne. We haven’t even gotten to God yet. Verse 22:

The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over their heads. And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body. [audio unclear] I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings.

(Ezekiel 1:22–24)

Now, you know, when you hear the word cherubim, I know some of you think of little pudgy little toddlers sitting in a cloud. But when you read Scripture, whenever angels appear, you know what people do? They fall down and tremble, because these are huge, majestic beings. As a matter of fact, if you remember, when Adam and Eve left the garden, God set up a cherubim to guard the entrance. So if they or anyone else tried to get back in, this large, awesome, awe-inspiring being was guarding the entrance. Verse 26:

And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah.

(Ezekiel 1:26–28)

Now we’re getting there. That was introductory. I looked up and there was fire, and I looked down and there was fire. “So when I saw it, I fell on my face.” Did you see God’s face? Because no one can see His face and live.

The Throne in Heaven

Now go to Revelation. You should read Revelation 1 through 7 every Saturday night before church. I’m serious. Or every Sunday morning, if you get up early. Read those chapters and meditate on those, and then come to worship. Revelation 1, verse 12:

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters.

(Revelation 1:12–15)

We read this last week. I mean, do you see the burden we’re placing on human language trying to describe what’s going on here? And then in chapters 2 and 3 we have the messages from Jesus. Then in chapter 4:

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

(Revelation 4:1–6)

Now remember Ezekiel 1:1, he says, the heavens were opened. So it’s as if God for a moment just removes the inability to see what is there that’s always there. There they are again, those living creatures. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, [audio unclear] and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures each had six wings. Now in Ezekiel they had four. In Isaiah chapter 6 they have six, and these have six. And so some argue that the cherubim have four, the seraphim have six, and they’re different orders of angelic beings. Verse 8:

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

(Revelation 4:8)

These angelic beings, day and night, day and night, day and night, day and night, forever, since their creation, stand around the throne, reflect the glory of God, and sing, “Holy, holy, holy.” What a job.

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

(Revelation 4:9–11)

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

(Revelation 5:1–8)

Man, when you pray, your prayers are being put in a vial and they’re being presented up to God. And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

(Revelation 5:9–14)

Praise God, Amen. Give God glory. Every creature, every creature. And they go on, and chapter 7 goes on. Shall we read more? Just one more. After these things I looked, verse 9:

Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

(Revelation 7:9–12)

This is what’s going on in heaven. Do you understand? This is what happens when people see the glory of God, when they see God the way God really is. The only natural response is humility, falling down, and worship. It’s the only response.

So when we talk about God’s glory, what we see in all these passages, human language is strained to the uttermost to describe what these men are seeing when God gives them just a glimpse, when He opens the door of heaven a bit and they can peer in and they see what’s going on. And when they try to describe God, we get these images of jewels and rainbows and light and lightning and thunder, and all of these descriptions, but we never get a description of a face. Because ultimately God’s glory, His intrinsic glory, His fundamental being, cannot be seen or comprehended by finite beings. And so when we understand that, it makes you want to stop. But what is there to say? What can I say? What can I say to help us see with the eye of faith the glory of God?

Perfect, Weighty, and Blessed

Let me just say a few words, and this is an introduction to more meditations on this subject in the future. And the first is this: when we talk about God’s glory, we’re talking about God’s absolute perfection, His absolute perfection. Now, we need to be careful here, unavoidably, because as we’ve talked about God’s attributes, we talk about God being good, we talk about God being loving, we talk about God being just, and the danger is to think of God as like the human quality, but just better. You tracking with me? I mean, think of somebody you know who’s really—think, wow, that person is really, they’re just so merciful all the time. And they exemplify that trait. And so we think of that trait or that virtue and then we multiply it a little bit and then we get to God. But that’s not what perfection means. When we talk about God being perfect, we’re talking about God being of a different order of being. In other words, God isn’t good times something. God is infinitely good. God isn’t holy times something. God is infinitely holy.

What this means is that when we talk about God’s glory, we’re talking about the fact that He is transcendent. That’s the big word for it. He’s transcendent. He’s apart from—not distant from, but apart from. There’s nothing like Him. There’s no one like Him. He’s in His own unique category of being. And so when we talk about God’s glory, we’re talking about Him being perfect, but not only is God perfect, He is the sum of all of His perfect attributes.

You know, it’s interesting, in the Old Testament there’s a number of different words for glory which are used, but the main word is kabod. If you remember, Ichabod means “no glory,” or “the glory is gone.” Kabod means glory. That word literally means heavy. Heavy. Weighty. And God is weighty, because God is not just perfect in one area, or He does not have one virtue and lack another. He has all virtues, and He has all virtues to an infinite degree. You’re like, I do not understand. I don’t either, because we’re talking about a being of a completely different order. You think the cherubim are weird? We cannot understand this, and this is why theologians talk often about the fact that God ultimately, when you talk about His intrinsic glory, is incomprehensible. We can only go so far with our minds. Only so far. And then at that point we bow down and we worship. So God is perfect, but He is also the sum of perfection.

But God is also blessed. God is blessed. When we talk about His glory, this means that God is—I don’t want to use the word happy, because that’s not the right word. Look at 1 Timothy. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul says he’s talking about the function of the law and the gospel, and we’re not getting into all that, but he says in verse 11:

according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

(1 Timothy 1:11)

The blessed God. And then in 1 Timothy 6, which you’ve already read, but go to it again, he says in verse 15 of chapter 6, “which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate.” And this is the same word that is used when Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the pure in heart.” And it is an idea of joy, an idea of contentment, an idea of fulfillment, and there’s not really one word that can really describe what blessedness is. It’s all of those things. It’s again like the idea of the sum of all good things. Peace, joy, contentment, all of these things, is to be blessed. So God in Himself is blessed. He isn’t stressed out. He’s not worried, right? He’s not freaking out. He is at peace. He is at rest in Himself. And I believe the reason that God is blessed is because God knows Himself. He knows Himself.

Let me ask you Christians, many of you are Christians: have you ever been filled with the Holy Spirit? That is a little bitty, little bitty taste of what blessedness is. You know, as I was reading the Word yesterday, meditating on Ezekiel and these passages, it’s like I felt like God just flooded my mind with light. And everything around me seemed bright, and I had this sense of the rightness of things. And if you’ve ever been filled with the Holy Spirit, you know exactly what I mean. Now my situation didn’t change, but my disposition changed. And again, incomprehensible as it is, in spite of the sin in the world, and in spite of the suffering in the world, God is at peace. And that’s one of the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, and peace. He’s blessed. He experiences those things, the love and the joy and the peace. How He can be this way in the face of these things I don’t know intellectually, but I do know experientially, because I do know that when I’m close to Him I feel that same blessedness. My situation hasn’t changed, but I feel blessed, and that’s part of His glory.

Beautiful and Majestic

Another aspect of His glory, in addition to being perfect and to being blessed, is that God is beautiful. He is beautiful. Now let’s go to the Psalms. Well, let me just mention two more aspects of this glory, and we’re going to read some psalms, and then we need to get on our knees. Amen. When we talk about God being glorious, we’re talking about the fact that He’s perfect. We’re talking about the fact that He’s blessed. We’re talking about the fact that He’s beautiful, and He is majestic. He is majestic.

Now, we tend to not think of God as being beautiful. I think we don’t think that, because I think that we have distorted views of good and evil, and we have distorted views of holiness and sin. Now the whole job of the world, the whole job of the media, is to make that which is ugly look beautiful. So watch TV and you see the commercials about drinking vodka and about carrying on and partying in the world. All of them, they make it all look very romantic and attractive, and they want evil to look good. They want it to look beautiful, right? But what the Bible tells us is that holiness is beautiful. It’s beautiful. Now what I think we think of holiness as is a guy in a white coat, kind of the doctor in the sterile room. Clean, antiseptic. You know what I’m saying? And it’s, oh, it’s clean, but it’s just uncomfortable. And so I think our idea of holiness is distorted. When you see God’s holiness, when you understand God’s holiness, it is something that is attractive.

Now Jesus, when He walked on the earth, was the holiest man alive, right? And there were two responses to Jesus. People either loved Him or they hated Him. There really was no, “Yeah, He’s cool.” That’s not the reaction to Jesus. When Jesus was ministering and the power of God was operating through Him, and He was preaching, and He was healing, either they loved Him or they hated Him. And the holiness of God was being manifested in Him and through Him. And to some who saw that holiness, that holiness drew them and attracted them. You think of the woman who came and literally washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and her hair. Jesus was beautiful to her, not physically, morally. Other people hated Him, and wanted to kill Him, because His holiness revealed their sin, right? And they didn’t like that. The Pharisees especially, who had the distorted view of holiness. Their holiness was the antiseptic view. When they saw real holiness, many of them hated that. So holiness is beautiful, but it doesn’t mean we’ll see the beauty of it if our hearts are not right, you see.

Psalm 96 says:

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; the world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.” Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and all its fullness; let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth.

(Psalm 96:1–13)

So here we are told that beauty is in God’s sanctuary. Well, are the cherubim beautiful? I don’t know. I thought they were kind of ugly, actually. All those weird wings and feet and hands and eyeballs everywhere. The Lamb is beautiful, though. And as much as we can see God in the Word, as much as the inspired writers attempt to describe Him, they use images which would be considered things of value and beauty, like precious stones, right, or a beautiful rainbow, or a beautiful sea, because God’s beautiful. But He’s also majestic. God is high and lifted up. He is high. Look at Psalm 92. We’re just going to read a few of these. It says in 92:1:

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.

(Psalm 92:1)

That’s one of His names, O Most High.

To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night, on an instrument of ten strings, on the lute, and on the harp, with harmonious sound. For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep. But You, Lord, are on high forevermore. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

(Psalm 92:2–8, 12–15)

Now there’s a verse you need to meditate on. Being planted in the house of the Lord. That means you’re spending time in God’s presence. Lots of time. Because you’re planted there. Then you’re going to flourish in the courts of the Lord. Look at 93:1:

The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.

(Psalm 93:1–2)

Look at Psalm 95:

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods.

(Psalm 95:1–3)

He is majestic. He is high. He’s lifted up. He’s not like idols. He’s not even like the best thoughts that we can think, because He is so exalted. O come, in verse 6, let us bow down and worship. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Look at Psalm 96. “O sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name. Proclaim the good news of salvation from day to day.” Why? Because in verse 4, “for the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised. For He is to be feared above all gods, for all the gods of the peoples, they are idols.” Our God isn’t an idol. Our God is the true God. Our God isn’t a small God. Our God is a great God. Our God is the great God. Our God is the God of gods. Our God is the Lord of lords. Our God is the King of kings. Our God is on His throne. Is anybody hearing me? Our God is glorious. Verse 6: “Honor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” Psalm 97:1:

The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad!

(Psalm 97:1)

Why? Because He’s reigning, because God is on His throne, and this is why God is blessed, because He knows who’s in control. He is.

Clouds and darkness surround Him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes before Him, and burns up His enemies round about. His lightnings light the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory.

(Psalm 97:2–6)

Remember the vision in Ezekiel, the cherubim come. There’s lightning and there’s clouds and there’s darkness in this—man! Chapter 99, verse 1:

The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name—He is holy.

(Psalm 99:1–3)

Closing Prayer

Father, we need Your Holy Spirit to open our eyes to who You really are. Lord, we have sinned against You in making You too small, in making You weak, and making You impotent. Lord, we’ve sinned by changing Your glory into a faint image of our thoughts. You are the only God. You are the true God. Forgive us, Lord, for feeble worship, for careless worship. Grant us, Lord, through the ministry of Your Spirit, grant us, God, the knowledge of You.