Calvary Lutheran Church

The Majesty of God

May the God of peace fill you with all joy in believing. Amen.

Psalm 97

Dear Christian friends:

Throughout the Bible, a great many passages describe our loving God who cares for each of us personally, who provides for all our needs, and who redeems and saves us in Christ Jesus. And that is the main message of Scripture—our God is a loving God.

In the Old Testament a special Hebrew name is given to depict these features about God. That name is “Yahweh” in the Hebrew, usually translated in the English “the Lord.” For example, in Exodus 34 we read, “The Lord, the Lord, (“Yahweh” “Yahweh”) the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6,7). What a beautiful truth that is—that God loves us and is love.

But the Old Testament has another Hebrew name for God that emphasizes a different aspect of him. That name is “Elohim” in the Hebrew, usually translated in the English simply “God.” And “Elohim” means full of power and glory and holiness and justice, which can all be summed up in just one word, “majesty.” For example, in Job 37 we read, “God (“Elohim”) comes in awesome majesty. The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power” (Job 37:22). This majesty of God we not only read about in Scripture, but we can see it directly in nature all around us. We think of God’s amazing universe and our own planet earth. We think of Yosemite and Redwood and Sequoia national parks. Here in California you especially are surrounded by God’s awesome majesty.

Now we know how to react to a loving God—we simply love him in return, as John wrote in his first epistle, “We love (him) because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). But how do we react to a majestic God? What are we to think, what are we to feel, when we peer out over the vast Pacific Ocean or hike up the Sierras Nevada Mountains? Psalm 97 tells us. Psalm 97 encourages five specific reactions when we see in nature or read Scripture

THE MAJESTY OF GOD

Verse 1, “The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice” (Psalm 97:1). Our first response to the majesty of God is to praise him. Oh, how glad we are that he is God.

And notice the psalmist doesn’t expect praise from just Christians or believers, but God’s handiwork in his creation should be so obvious that everyone and everything should praise him. The psalmist says, “Let the earth be glad.” Another psalmist writes, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6). Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen.

One of the most spectacular natural beauties in all the world is in my home state of Arizona—the Grand Canyon. Millions of tourists come from around the world to see it each year. Diana and I have been there several times. But when you read their signs and brochures or when you sit in on a ranger talk, God is never even mentioned, much less given credit for its beauty. There are no churches or chapels on either the north or south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Instead, the explanation as to the origin of the Grand Canyon is the typical evolutionary fantasy story of millions and millions of years which, of course, is totally void of any recognition of God’s majesty. Geology shows, however, that the Grand Canyon was formed quickly which would result from the Genesis flood. So as beautiful and as scenic as the Grand Canyon is, it is really evidence of God’s judgment on a wicked world in Noah’s day. But you see, God’s judgment is also part of his majesty, and we praise him for it.

Verse 2, “Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory” (Psalm 97:2-6). The second response to God’s majesty is that we tremble in our sin. You see, nature is not just all beauty. Sometimes things happen in nature that are outright frightening. We think of the many fires in California, most of which are started by lightening. We think of Death Valley. It is called “Death Valley” for a reason—people have died from the sheer heat of the sun. Children oftentimes are afraid of the dark or thunder and lightning. Martin Luther promised God he would become a monk if God spared him from a terrible lightning storm.

Yes, this “Elohim” God after the fall into sin is also the God of fire and volcanos and earthquakes and hurricanes and tsunamis. Psalm 7 reads, “God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day” (Psalm 7:11). Every day somewhere in the world natural disasters occur that show God’s anger against sin. And as a sinner I am frightened to think of facing the living God, knowing that he is righteous and holy, and I am so sinful and wretched.

Jonathan Edwards, the 18th century revivalist once said, “A little, wretched, despicable creature; a worm, a mere nothing, and less than nothing; a vile insect that has risen up in contempt against the majesty of heaven and earth.” Who is he talking about? He is talking about you and me and our sinful natures in the face of a righteous God.

Now we can shrug it off and say, “Oh, yes, we are sinners, God knows that, he loves us anyway.” Or, we can think, “This world will always be here, and we will never have to face a righteous judge.” But this text says we will. This text says that the day will come when the “mountains will melt like wax . . .  and all the peoples will see his glory.” Every terrorist, every murderer, every rapist, every adulterer, every liar, every slander, every proud or greedy person, yes, every sinner, will stand face to face before the glory of God. Oh, I tell you, on judgment day it will be a “dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). What could I possibly say to him that would turn his full wrath and anger away? Can I claim that I tried to live a good life, that I went to church most of the time, that I prayed to him on occasion? Jesus once said,

“Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Only by continually doing the Father’s will, only by obeying his law perfectly, will I be able to stand before the majesty of God and not be consumed. But I cannot do that. Isaiah wrote, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Isaiah 64:6). So I tremble at even the thought of sinning. Yes, because of my sin I tremble at his majesty.

Verse 7, “All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols—worship him, all you gods!” (Psalm 97:7). Our third reaction to the majesty of God is that it leads us to worship and especially to repentance. There are some things in life we simply must do, we have no choice. We must breathe in the next 15 minutes or we will die. We must drink in the next seven days in order to survive. We must eat food in the next three weeks to keep the body alive. And we must worship regularly to keep the soul alive. Every civilization in the history of mankind has been led to worship. Much of that worship has been directed to false gods. Or, much of that worship has been directed to earthly things like possessions, money, job, family, pleasure. Yes, even the atheist worships. He worships himself as god. Whatever it is that you fear, love, and trust in most, Luther would say, that is your god.  

So the psalmist isn’t discouraging worship. That would be hopeless. It is something that everyone must do. It is inherent in the human psyche. That’s the way God created us. But the psalmist calls on all to worship the true God, because all other worship will be put to shame. When I fear, love and trust in someone or something more than God, then I am put to shame. I feel guilt and sorrow. But by worshipping the true God of grace and forgiveness leads me to repentance. Worshipping the true God and repenting of our sins is a necessary reaction to the majesty of God.

Verses 8,9, “Zion hears and rejoices and the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, O Lord, are the most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods” (Psalm 97:8,9). The fourth reaction to the majesty of God is that it leads us to his Word. We are so awe-struck by God’s majesty in nature that we say to ourselves, “If this is what God’s creation is like, then what must the Creator be like?” And so we go to his Word to discover every detail we can about him.

And it should not surprise us to find that the Bible says very little about God himself, probably because we are incapable of comprehending him. But it also says that Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God. And we can comprehend Christ, because he became human like us. So we focus our understanding about God upon Christ—his life, his work, his words. Phillip once said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8-11).

Some time ago I was curious to see how some pictured God the Father in their minds. So I went to the source of all spiritual wisdom and knowledge, the first graders in our Christian day school, those with the child-like faith. I walked into the classroom, and I said, “Draw me a picture of God.” I could see that they were struggling with that. But finally they started drawing. Some drew pictures of an old man with a long beard. Some just drew a bright light coming from heaven. But one little girl drew a picture of Jesus on the cross. And I first thought, “She misunderstood me. She thought I was asking for a picture of Jesus.” But then I thought, “Maybe she did understand me, and if so, she was right.” Yes, there on the cross Jesus was paying the punishment for the sins of the world. There on the cross Jesus was suffering my hell. There on the cross Jesus was making me one with God. There on the cross is the power and glory and holiness and judgment of God the Father himself revealed in all its majesty. Jesus prayed to his heavenly Father just before going to the cross, “The time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you” (John 17:1). Yes, God’s greatest glory is in the cross. God’s majesty compels us to search the Scriptures to learn about Jesus that we might learn more about God.

Finally, verse 11, “Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name” (Psalm 97:11,12). The majesty of God leads us to a new view of our own righteousness. Light, in this case, is not a physical light, but an “enlightenment”. It is a higher wisdom, a better understanding of who we are in God’s eye. And who are we?

Earlier in the psalm the psalmist talked about the righteousness of God, how all people would see it and tremble. Now he is talking about our righteousness. But how can that be? How can we be righteous, holy, perfect? Because in Christ we have complete forgiveness for all our sins. In Christ we stand before the majesty of God in a perfection and a holiness that is equal to God himself, because it comes from God himself through faith in Christ. In Christ we do not fear God’s majesty, we don’t ever fear judgment day, because we know that we shall never be called to give an account of our sins. They have been separated from us as far as the east is from the west. That is why Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19). That is the light that is shed upon the righteous—the more we grow in the faith the more we view ourselves as righteous and holy all because of God’s love for us in Christ.  

In 1885 Carl Boberg was returning home from an afternoon worship service in Kronoback, Sweden. As he was walking with his friends a storm suddenly came up, and it started to rain and lighten and thunder all around them, and the wind was blowing. But then it stopped as quickly as it had started, and a rainbow appeared in the sky. After he got home he looked out his window and saw the sea as calm as glass. And then he heard the church bells of an evening funeral. He was so moved that he sat down and write a poem, part of which was made into a hymn. It is in our hymnal. The refrain reads this way:

“Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art." Amen.

May we pray:

O heavenly Father, we have come here to response to your great majesty. We praise you for your handiwork in all creation. We recognize your handiwork in the vastness of the universe and the beauty of the world around us. We also tremble at our sin, knowing that your righteous angry is against us for showing such contempt for your majesty. Help us always to turn to you in worship and repentance, putting our fear, love, and trust in you first. And yet even more wonderful to us than your glorious creation is the revelation of yourself in your word. There we find your majesty in your own Son, Christ Jesus, our crucified Savior. We rejoice in knowing that his great sacrifice declares us righteous and holy in your eyes. May this new view of our lives help us to turn to you, ever more trusting in your grace and majesty. O Yahweh, O Elohim, how great thou art, how great thou art. Amen.