The Majesty of God

INTRODUCTION

  1. KNOW the Lord - Jer. 31:31-34, John 17:3,

  2. To KNOW Him is to know ABOUT Him - and then thru such knowledge - by prayer and meditation to draw close to Him - trust, rely upon - to call upon, to talk to.

  3. This another aspect in our knowledge of God - His majesty.

1. Majesty

  1. Comes from latin, meaning greatness. To ascribe majesty to someone or something is to ascribe unto him (it) greatness - voicing our respect and awe.

  2. "Her Majesty' the Queen....

  3. Scriptures
    1. Psalm 93:1-2

      1 The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. 2 Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

    2. Psalm 145:5

      5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.

    3. 2 Peter 1:16

      16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

    4. Hebrews 1:3

      3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

    5. Hebrews 8:1

      1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

    6. Psalm 48:1

      1 A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

    7. Psalm 95:3

      3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

    8. Psalm 95:6

      6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

2. Today - the problem of 'personal' AND majestic -

  1. a. become 'personal' - but leaves the impression that He is a person of the same sort as we are -- weak, inadequate, ineffective, --

  2. b. He is 'a personal being' - but He is GREAT, He is to be reverenced, to be feared, to be held in AWE, to be worshipped and praised....

  3. Personal as seen in early part of Genesis!

    "Let US...(1:26), brings the animals to Adam to be named, 'walks' in the garden...calls to Adam (3:8-9), he asks them questions (3:11-13, 4:9; 16:8). He is grieved by human wickedness - 6:6-7.

    1. He is NOT a 'cosmic principle' - but a living, active BEING - thinking, feeling, approving of good, disapproving of evil... interested in His people.

  4. He is a MAJESTIC BEING

    1. Creats the Heaven and the Earth...bring order out of chaos....

    2. Creats mankind - creating Adam out of dust, Eve from Adam's side...

    3. He Is lord over all of Creationg ... cursing the ground, subjecting mankind to death...

    4. He floods the earth in judgment - ch. 6-8

    5. He confounds the language and scatters the builders of Babel, 11:7-9

    6. He overthrows Sodom and Gomorrah -- 19:24-25, turns Lot's wife into a pillar of salt.

    7. Abraham ...."the Judge of all the earth" - 18:25,

    8. Melchizedek: "God Most High, maker of heaven and earth' - 14:19-22 RSV

    9. He is present everwhere - observing ALL that men do -

    1. Cain's murder (4:9), mankind's corruption (6:5), Hagar's destitution (16:7).

    10. Hagar calls Him "El Roi, "the God who sees me"

    11. Hagar calls her son Ishamel = "God hears",

    12. God's own 'name' is El Shaddai - God Almighty....

    13. "Is anything too hard for the LORD? - 18:14 (concerning a son in old age).

Remove frou our thoughts any limits that would make Him small....

  1. Psalm 139 - a meditation on the greatness and unlimited nature of God

    a. His Presence....

    b. His power....

    c. His Knowledge...

  2. Job 28 - 41, God's challenge....

    a. (Elihu's thought) = "with God is terrible majesty" - 37:22.

    b. To read them is to become awed and reverent!

Compare Him with powers and forces which we regard as great...

  1. Tasks that have been done....

    a. Isa. 40:12....

  2. Nations....the 'great national powers' that have dominated the world., Isa. 40:15-17.

    a. Assyria.... brought to judgment

    b. Egypt...brought to judgment.

    c. Babylon... brought to judgment.

    Their 'forces' and 'resources' far more than mine, yet humbled before the great and majestic God we serve...

  3. World itself... Isa. 40:22

    a. Think of the size, the nearly 5 million peoples, the vast sky...

    b. God MADE it, organized it, preserves it, sustains it, and will some day destroy IT!

    c. It is 'God's footstool' -

  4. The Worlds 'GREAT ONES' - Isa. 40:23

    a. Pharoah -

    b. Sennacherib...

    c. Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4)

    d. Pilate... Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Clinton......

  5. Stars - the heavens ....Isa. 40:26...

    a. countless....

    b. 'eternal'......

    c. YET ordered......

OUR RESPONSE TO SUCH MAJESTY

  1. We to not have wrong thoughts of GOD - Isaiah 40:25

    25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. (KJV)

  2. We to not have wrong thoughts of OURSELVES - Isaiah 40:27

    27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? (KJV)

  3. Rebuked for slowness to see / believe His majesty - Isaiah 40:28

    28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. (KJV)


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