Knowing God - #2 - The Glory Of God Series

KNOWING GOD - #2

The Glory of God

Various Scriptures

Introduction

This is the third in our series of messages dealing with the attributes or character qualities of God.

Two weeks ago we looked at the love of God, and last week we looked at how we reflect the love of God in word, action, and in truth.

Next week we will interrupt this series as we focus on Sanctity of Life Sunday. As you know, Tuesday marks the 23rd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

And we will take our message time to look at the Scriptures relating to the preciousness of life in the eyes of God.

This week we are going to begin a look at the glory of God. At this point I am not sure how long we will spend on this. Today might be the only message dealing with the glory of God, but I am waiting to see what the Lord says. We may spend 2 or 3 weeks talking about God’s glory.

The trouble with a topic like this is that although you would think there would be a lot you could say about it, there really isn’t.

A lot of what is said about His glory is repeated over and over. So I’m not sure we would cover anything new over the coming weeks.

But as I said, we will see what the Lords says over the next couple of weeks.

The glory of God is hard to define. The verb “to glorify” means “to magnify, extol, or praise…ascribing honor.”

Another definition says that the glory of God is “the revelation and manifestation of all that He has and is.”

The way I break it down is this: the glory of God is the awesomeness of Him, in all his splendor and holiness.

Rich Mullins rightly said in his song, that our God is an awesome God. He fills us with awe at His majesty and His holiness.

Everything God is is wrapped up in His glory, including His love.

It is to the glory of God that He showed His love to us in Christ.

He is worthy of all honor and glory. And we are going to look at how that glory is reflected this morning.

We will be scanning quite a few passages of Scripture this morning, so you might want to get your Bibles ready. We will turn to them rather quickly, so be ready.

Let’s going, shall we? First, we see the glory and awesomeness of God…

I. Reflected in His Creation.

God’s creation reflects His glory. We get a sense of that by looking at nature, and looking into space.

It’s amazing to me that someone who is intelligent can look at the order of everything that exists and not see the hand of an awesome and mighty creator.

Just looking at a leaf and the intricate patterns in it, knowing that every part of that leaf is important to its survival and that of the tree makes me go “Wow!”

I like summer and fall. I love the green in the summer, when trees are in full bloom.

I like the changing colors in fall. I think it’s flat-out awesome.

And yet the awe that I experience when seeing God’s creation is nothing compare to the awe I will experience one day as I stand before His throne someday, seeing Him in all His glory and splendor.

Turn with me, if you will to Isaiah 6 as we look at His glory in creation. This is on page 487 of the Bibles in the seats. We will start with verse one

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory."

First we see the glory of God in…

A. The earth (Is. 6:3; Hab. 2:14).

The whole earth is full of His glory. Isn’t that something? The rocks, hills, trees, rivers, seas, mountains, you name it, its full of His glory.

I mentioned before how I like summer and fall. I am not known as a “nature lover” per se, but God, over the past few years, has given me a deeper sense of appreciation for all he has made on earth.

Sometimes when I am travelling, especially when I am by myself, I enjoy just looking at the huge expanse of sky.

When you are travelling on I-90 going west, there is a great part just west of the rest area at Wasta.