The Majesty of God
After a busy Christmas season, I invite you to pause.
No, I mean really pause—right now.
Pause and close your eyes even.
I’ll wait.
Breathe in through your nose, and pause again.
Now gently breathe out.
Ready? Here we go.
“Look! Yahweh now reigns as King! He has covered Himself with majesty and strength, wearing them as His splendor-garments. Regal power surrounds Him as He sits securely on His throne. He’s in charge of it all, the entire world, and He knows what He’s doing! Lord, You have reigned as King from the very beginning of time. Eternity is Your home.
“Chaos once challenged You. The raging waves lifted themselves over and over, high above the ocean depths, letting out their mighty roar! Yet at the sound of Your voice they were all stilled by Your might. What a majestic King, filled with power!
“Nothing could ever change Your royal decrees; they will last forever! Holiness is the beauty that fills Your house; You are the one who abides forevermore” (Psalm 93)!
Oh, great, great God! We have so many reasons to worship Him! Let’s break this down a bit.
God is secure as King.
God the High and Holy, God the Uncreated, God the Fierce Lion is installed as Master over the entire universe. His reign is undisturbed and forever will be. God has never once been worried. Never once! Think about that for a minute. He never wrings His hands, breaks a sweat, or scratches His head in confusion. God is totally and powerfully King over all, thoroughly in charge. You know, as humans, we have a poor tendency to make nearly any affair about us, but the refreshing thing about God’s Lordship is that it has nothing to do with our approval. God was impressively the King for eons and eons and eons—a million eternities—before He ever began fashioning the crumbs of matter as we know it, and He will remain impressively the King for eons and eons and eons after time is wrapped up. God is the undisputed Captain, the unassailable Sovereign, and the uncontested Emperor of all there is.
No one challenges Him and wins.
God, the striking and eternal King, made every atom and every galaxy with such thoughtfulness, and the laws of nature bend around His every wish. He speaks to empty nothingness and—poof!—it becomes a complex solar system. It must, simply because He says so! What a breathtakingly powerful Being! Sometimes, we can think of the situation we are facing as a big struggle for God, and what a faulty and stupid line of thinking that is. Can I be frank with you? Not cancer, or your bank account, or depression, or your marriage, or barrenness, or sexual sin, or literally anything is a match for God. Even the devil himself, when he does his very best to challenge the Supreme One, simply causes Him to laugh. Anything that might set itself up as a so-called threat to God is bound to utterly and devastatingly lose. I was even reading recently in 2 Thessalonians about how Jesus will defeat the “man of lawlessness.” Look at how simple it will be for Him in that day: “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming” (2:8). I think it’s safe to say that everything is easy for the awe-inspiring King.
God is eternal.
Here, I’m really just restating what I’ve already observed: not only is God installed as King, but He is King forever. Not only does God always win, but He will continue to always win, forever. After a few million infinities have lapsed, the Lord will not slowly lose His edge and begin wondering about a successor. He will not ponder retirement. God is eternal! And this is better news than you think it is. When the Word teaches us that God is eternal, it’s not simply referring to His existence, that He continues to exist forever and ever. It also refers to His nature. God’s love is eternal. God’s strength is eternal. God’s faithfulness is eternal. Whatever God is and all that He is, He is without limit! He exists in the unthinkable realm of infinitude, and each of His innumerable qualities—all wonderful and holy—stream on into eternity. Read more about this theological concept (“immutability”) here, one of my personal favorite pieces I’ve written.
Praise God. Oh, yes, praise God! Praise Him forever and ever and ever! Psalm 93 is a beautifully composed call to worship the King of Heaven! What a great center for us after a busy season, or really any moment of our lives. Calibrate yourself around God’s Lordship. We would all do well to fall before Him and with loud voices shout with the angels, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty! The Was, the Is, and the Coming” (Revelation 5:8)!
Josh