Soon after becoming a pastor, I preached a sermon on God’s grace. Then another one on grace. Then another. That congregation included a dearly loved and highly respected now-retired pastor emeritus who had led the church for many years and was with us every Sunday, sitting on the left side near the back. After sermon number three on the grace of God, he asked me, “Would you preach on the glory of God sometime?” I smiled brightly and said, “Of course!” And almost immediately, I thought, “What would I say?” It was clear to me that though I loved the God of grace and mercy, I knew little about His glory, majesty, sovereignty, and greatness. I recognized—and felt—the poverty of my understanding of God in that moment.

Why was that? I can name two reasons. First, during the years I was growing up, the trend in theology emphasized God’s accessibility—to assure us that God was a friend who understood, a God who was not distant or unapproachable. This is all true, but that focus de-emphasized God’s other qualities, such as His utter holiness, His supreme authority and majesty, His power, and His glory. Preached theology seems to swing between two poles: God’s transcendence (His greatness and glory, His “apartness” from us) and God’s immanence (His gentleness, His nearness). The second reason was my four years at a liberal seminary, where most of my professors did not believe any of the biblical truth about God. They did not believe Jesus was divine, didn’t believe the tomb was empty on Easter morning, and it went downhill from there. Though He was discussed, God was not spoken of with reverence or awe.

Thus began my independent study—my re-education—of the God I truly loved and wanted to know. The Bible showed me what I longed to see—that our God is not just kind but very great. I treasure David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:11 (NASB): “Yours, LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and on the earth; Yours is the dominion, LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.

Revelation 5 dazzles me with its great doxologies:

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and  strength and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Revelation 5:11-13)

We all love to stand before incredible sights that move us to awe: grand canyons, soaring mountains, starry skies, deep forests, vast ocean expanses. We save our money to travel so that we might experience awe and wonder. And everything that moves us is given to us by God, our Creator. May we be moved not just by His creation but also by the Great Creator, the great and holy God, alone in His perfection and supreme glory. My Christian sisters and brothers, as we worship and learn together, may we proclaim to one another how great our God is.

by Pastor June Barrow