Majesty, worship his majesty;
Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise.
Majesty, kingdom authority,
Flow from his throne unto his own, his anthem raise.
So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus.
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus, the King.
Majesty, worship his majesty,
Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all kings.
Words & Music: Jack W. Hayford, 1980
Lation – majestas – greater – God is majestic in his character, he is unparalleled in his lofty position of highest greatness. Packer tells us that the word majesty when applied to God is always a declaration of his greatness and an invitation to worship. (Packer – 82). So many of the people we meet today are in no way majestic. In fact it is very rare that you meet a woman or man today that inspires much of anything in you. But O’ to know one who is great, pure, wondrous, and inspiring – the heroes of men inspire such thoughts, but how miniscule in comparison to the majesty and greatness of God.
Packer discusses the seeming lack of knowledge today of the greatness of God. Even though our doctrine may be correct, we may state to ourselves God is great, yet it seems like a child’s prayer at meal time rather than the apprehension of divine greatness. Today’s evangelical landscape is littered with small thinking about God – there are very few breath taking visions of God today. Packer echos this feeling as one reads many of our evangelical forbearers – Luther, Edwards, Whitfield. Our God is the same, but our modern vision of him seems stuck in neutral in comparison to the awe felt upon the soul of these great men as they meditated on the nature of God.
Packer seems to indicate that by over emphasizing the personal nature of God, that modern believers have domesticated God into a small, close, and the same type of thing we are – he is personal, like I am personal (weak, inadequate, needy, dependent on human responses or not, waiting helplessly for people to give him a hand…a little pathetic). This is not the Biblical view of the personal nature of God. Personal in his nature, not an impersonal force or principle, but lofty and majestic in his person – yet he chooses to relate to his created order…including me.
Packer goes on to give us to helpful points in forming our idea of God’s greatness:
- Remove from our thoughts of God limits that would make him small – Completely explode all limitations from our thinking about God…His wisdom, knowledge, presence, etc. are infinite and should not be thought as small
- Compare him with powers and forces which we regard as great – Nothing great in our world – our works, our nation states, our empires, our planet, great leaders, and the c-osmos itself (Carl Sagan had too small an object for his wonder and worship) are great in their greatness in comparison to God.
Packer closes the chapter with a comment on how finite, small, human beings ought to respond to the majestic creator. Remove from our minds wrong thoughts about God (that he is small and humanlike), remove from our thoughts wrong thoughts about ourselves (no room for pessimism about your state if you have been shown the grace and love of God), and finally in acknowledging God as God – the great one – we ought to wait in patient meditation on Him as he fills our hearts with adoration.
Out...
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