Worship Christ’s Majesty

December 7, 2014 Background Scripture: Hebrews 1 Lesson Passage: Hebrews 1:1 – 9 Many of us stumble in our attempt to grasp the fullness of Jesus’ majesty or majestic glory. So often our minds race back and forth between the manger in rural Bethlehem and the cruelest of all capital punishment instruments, the cross of Calvary. At the manger, we try to imagine a baby being born heir to the throne of Israel and how that should color our perception of him. At Calvary, we try in desperation to be okay with God’s method of divine justice against man’s sin. The stretch of time from Bethlehem to Calvary leaves me with the conclusion that we cannot sufficiently comprehend the person of Christ in the absence of his eternal nature. On the one hand, the stretch of time between the manger and the cross is comprehensive enough to allow us to appreciate the man Jesus. On the other hand, most of the information we have to work with on an intellectual basis revolves around the last three years prior to the encounter on Calvary. It is truly during this time that the character of Jesus becomes even more unimaginable. The human mind is not capable of simultaneously entertaining two conflicting thoughts in a way that the two would be treated equally. We tend to resolve this mental conflict by either ignoring it altogether or we only accept some of the facts and discard the remainder. There is a right answer to this seemingly irresolvable conflict. What does not add up for us “in time” makes perfect sense “in eternity” when measured against the word of God. God’s word makes all of the facts from Bethlehem to Calvary make sense. In fact, this is the only way for it to make sense. The word of God declares that the world will not come to know God through the wisdom of man. It is only through faith or absolute confidence in God’s word that eternal truths are revealed. In other words, it is impossible to comprehend the majesty of Christ through intellectual means. God purposely frustrates man’s attempt to know Him through our pursuit of earthly wisdom. The men of Babel found themselves in a situation where they could no longer communicate with each other when they attempted to build a tower that would reach God’s throne. We cannot come to God on our own terms. Even Adam’s attempt to gain wisdom without God led all humanity down a very dark path that leads to destruction. The biblical record shows that God has continuously reached out to man throughout the history of mankind. From the early days, He did so by using the prophets to deliver His divine decrees. For the last two millennia, God has spoken to us through His son, Jesus, and the Spirit of Christ who is the Holy Ghost. Jesus delivered unto us the grace of God that saves us from our sin. The Spirit of Christ constantly reveals to us the person of God and His workings in our lives. It is through this revelation that we understand that Jesus set aside his glory to come in the form of man to save the world from sin. When we believe in Jesus and indeed rely on him, then we begin to get glimpses of his glory and acknowledge his majesty. We love him because he first expressed love towards us. We worship him because of who he is. He is worthy to be worshiped and we look forward to the day that we will worship him when we see him in the fullness of his majesty. Robert C. Hudson December 1, 2014