Tuesday, April 03, 2007

The Majesty of the Master

Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty.
(Isaiah 2:10 – ESV)

As human beings we stink, and in saying that it is not self loathing but realizing that the higher we get up into God the further we have to go. We don’t preach and teach the depravity of man so as to keep men down, but so as to show them the only way up. That way is Christ, but even when we have been redeemed, in our flesh we are still low down dirty rotten scoundrels compared to God. It is only that now He has condescended to us in the person of Jesus, and having come down to save us and to bring us to God we are positioned with Him in the heavenlies. In His grace we are already arrived at our destination, we simply await glorification.

Now then, in this life we can because of His grace become more and more sanctified, we can scale the heights of God holiness. On this side of eternity we can get a small glimpse of the reality of God, because we now climb up to God on the back of our beloved Savior. And this we do by God’s grace. We are still imperfect, and as Paul said we haven’t arrived in fullness, but we can press on toward the upward call, we don’t have to stay in our sin.

So realize that when we say we stink, we stink less than we did before, but the more we see of God the more we realize our stink. No I am not worse than I was before, by the grace of God I am more holy than I have ever been, and by the grace of God I am becoming more holy every second of every day, all praise to His name. But the more light that we have the more dust that we see. We do go up into the heights, but then we see just how much higher the Lord is than we had thought.

The more holy I become, the more holy I realize He is, and how much further from Him I am than I ever could have imagined had He not graciously allowed me to ascend to the heights I now scale. The higher I get the more beautiful He appears, even as the more awful my sin appears. I am sick of the false humility that says we cannot dare ascend higher up in the mountain of God’s majesty. Having said that, I want to go higher up into God, not so as to glory in my climb, or in its own heights, or to look down on others, but so as to revel in the majesty of my Master. Oh, just how lofty are you, my Lord? Only heaven will begin to reveal it, and even then, it will take forever to explore it.

7 comments:

Exist-Dissolve said...

Good stuff.

The reason that the uncreated God became created in the person of Christ was not to save us from the capricious wrath of God, but to recreate us in the image of God that we might be reconciled to God. As all of the Fathers profess, God was not wont to allow the creation to continue in its haste towards oblivion and non-existence. Rather, God--in the Incarnation of Christ--reveals that creation IS still good, still worth redeeming, still worthy being related to. Instead of wrath, punishment and the like, God pursues the creation in infinite love, patience and mercy.

The life we now lead, as followers of Christ, is not simply a relationship to God by proxy. Rather, because of what God has done in the person and humanity of Christ, we are enabled--here and now--to be recreated in the image of God. As Christ, the God who has become human, shares in our humanity; so we too can now share in the newness of life which has been granted unto him by the Father.

As you rightly note, any theology that suppresses the human person in failure and inevitability of sinfulness is one that has not grasped the infinite profundity of what God has done in the person and work of Christ.

Sista Cala said...

You just keep on cranking out some fine posts. In recognition of the same; I hereby award you the "Thinking Blogger" award. See my 04/02/07 post for details.

Craver Vii said...

We don’t preach and teach the depravity of man so as to keep men down, but so as to show them the only way up.

I love how with God, even the things that seem negative, have a positive spin. God's grace is greater than our stink.

Thanks for the good word today.

Even So... said...

...it is worth it...

Craver Vii said...

Whoa... hold the phone!!! I just came back and realized that I didn't soak-in that amazing verse from Isaiah at the top of your post. I really appreciate when the terror of the Lord is acknowledged. I used to think that the "fear of the Lord" was only a fancy way of saying respect, but if the thought of a face-to-face with the Almighty doesn't get your knees knocking, there's something wrong.

ann said...

"The more holy I become, the more holy I realize He is, and how much further from Him I am than I ever could have imagined had He not graciously allowed me to ascend to the heights I now scale."

Yes. So true. More and more so. And, at the same time, how much I differ from the surroundings, and what the world does and likes does not make me happy anymore... I had one of those realizations today, while shopping and looking at the magazines displayed at the counter. I had to stop myself from screaming in disgust at the shallowness and futility of those titles.
It is almost physical pain sometimes...

Even So... said...

Indeed, Anne, indeed...