Rev. Terpstra is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois.
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.
The subject of the doctrine of God, with which we are presently dealing, is an exceedingly rich and vast subject. If you look in the index to any major work on systematic theology, you will find that under the doctrine of God (theology) are treated such things as God’s being (including proofs for His existence) and nature (His incommunicable and communicable attributes), the Trinity, the eternal counsel of God, and other related subjects.
In our study of God together in these articles, we will be focusing on the nature of God and examining some of His main attributes. And we begin with the majesty of God. In answer to the question, What kind of God is the Triune God? the Scripture tells us that He is the God of infinite majesty and as such we must know Him. Job 37:22 declares that “with God is terrible majesty”; Psalm 93:1 says that Jehovah is “clothed with majesty”; Psalm 96:6 teaches that “honour and majesty are before him”; in Psalm 145:5 the psalmist exclaims, “I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty. . .”; and in Hebrews 1:3 we read that Christ, when He ascended, “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Our God is a majestic God.
God’s majesty is His greatness and dignity as the sovereign God. The word “majesty” comes from the Latin word for greatness, and this same idea is found in the Hebrew and Greek words for majesty in the Old and New Testaments. God is majestic because He is a great God, indeed the only Great One: “For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible. . .” (Deut. 10:17). In Psalm 96, before mention is made of God’s majesty in verse 6, verse 4 describes His greatness: “For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised” (cf. also Ps. 145:3 in connection with v. 5).
Furthermore, God’s majesty speaks of His dignity, His stateliness, His honor. When we think of majesty, we think of kings and queens, of high rulers and dignitaries. The queen of England is referred to as “Her Majesty” by the citizens of that country. In the U.S. we refer to judges as “Your Honor.” But God bears these names supremely because He is the great King and Judge of all the world. Both Psalm 93and Psalm 145 describe God in His majesty because the psalmists saw God as King (cf. v. 1 in both psalms).
While this is the basic idea of God’s majesty, there are several other truths concerning God included in it. First of all, God’s majesty includes His transcendence. God is majestic because as the sovereign King He is infinitely exalted above all His creation; He is high above all angels and men; His Being transcends heaven and earth. He is the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, who dwells in the high and holy place (Is. 57:15). The heaven is His throne and the earth His footstool (Isaiah 66:1). His thoughts and ways far surpass our own (Is. 55:8, 9). This too is His majesty. Have we seen God’s majestic transcendence and praised Him for it?
Secondly, God’s majesty includes His incomparability. He is majestic because in His transcendence there is no one and no thing that can be compared to Him. He is a King like none other, the only Potentate (I Tim. 6:15); He is the sole Creator and the sole Savior of the world (Is. 45:21, 22); He is a God of gods and a Lord of lords (Deut. 10:17). Isaiah 40 sets forth God’s majesty in the light of His incomparability with some very practical points. According to this Word of God, we see Gods majesty when we understand that no one has been God’s counsellor or has taught Him (v. 13, 14); that the nations of the world are as a drop of the bucket to God (v. 15); that all the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers to Him (v. 22); that God calls the stars of the heavens all by name (v. 26); and that God never faints or becomes weary (v. 28). The fact that no one and no thing can be likened to God also belongs to His majesty.
Thirdly, God’s majesty includes His glory. God is majestic because He is a glorious God, a God whose nature radiates with infinite perfections. He is majestic in His power and strength (Ps. 93:1); He is majestic in His holiness, as Isaiah saw in his vision (Isaiah 6); He is majestic in His grace and mercy and compassion (Ps. 145:8). Moses saw the majesty of God when God caused His glory to pass before him in the mount (Ex. 33:19ff.). Do we acknowledge the majesty of God’s glorious Being and nature as revealed to us too?
While God is majestic in Himself and by Himself, He displays His majesty outside of Himself for all to see. God will have His greatness and dignity acknowledged by all His creatures, in order that He might be glorified and honored as the supreme King of the universe.
God’s majesty is displayed first of all in His works of creation and providence. Psalm 8 speaks of the excellence (majesty) of God as that is displayed in the glory of creation, in the fact that God’s fingers have made the heavens with its moon and stars (v. 3), in the fact that God created man and gave him such an honorable position in His world (vss. 4ff.).Psalm 145 sets forth God’s majesty in the fact that God by His universal dominion opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing, giving them their food in due season (vss. 15, 16). Psalm 29describes God’s majesty in terms of His power displayed in thunder and lightning and rain. God’s majesty is literally displayed all around us, if only we will open our eyes to behold it – in the intricate design of the human body, in the beauty of a summer sunrise or sunset, in the endless variety of animals and insects, in the storm and tempest. As Gerard M. Hopkins wrote in his poem “God’s Grandeur,” “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”
Furthermore, God’s majesty is displayed in Christ. Because God’s Son is the image of the invisible God, He is the perfect reflection of God’s greatness and dignity as sovereign King. It is true that when Christ came in the flesh in the state of humiliation that majesty was veiled. Yet John tells us that when the Word was made flesh His people beheld His glory (John 1:14). That majesty of God was revealed in Christ’s sinless and holy walk among men; it was revealed in Christ’s miracles, in His power over nature, over sickness and death, over Satan and his devils; it was revealed in Christ’s gracious and powerful words which He spoke. God’s majesty was revealed in Christ in His transfiguration, as Peter states in II Peter 1:16. It was set forth in the cross and resurrection and ascension of Christ, as the witnesses of these events readily testified to. And still today God’s majesty is displayed in Christ, for though He is now in heaven, He is the exalted King at God’s right hand, governing all things in the world for the final kingdom of God. Wherever and whenever we see the signs of the end, we are seeing God’s majesty in Christ.
Finally, God’s majesty is displayed in the church, that assembly of all His elect people saved by His grace. In her His greatness shines in the power of His grace to take them out of sin and death and bring them into His favor and fellowship. In her His majesty radiates in the members’ walk of holiness and obedience in the midst of the world. In her His grandeur shows forth in the amazing diversity and unity of her members. In her His dignity and honor are displayed in her preaching of the Word, administering of the sacraments, and exercising of Christian discipline. In her God’s transcendent glory is seen in her worship in spirit and in truth. Are our eyes open to this majesty of God in creation, in Christ, and in the church?
The majesty of God is rarely thought of or spoken about in sour day. In fact, in many cases it is under outright attack. Not only do Christians in general have a low view of God, but in some cases there is a blatant denial of God’s supreme greatness and honor as the sovereign King. This is reflected in the proud and perverted way professing Christians speak of their salvation; this is displayed in the careless, frivolous, even blasphemous way church-goers worship and pray; this is evident in the carnal, hedonistic way confessing people of God conduct themselves in the world. Ours is the day of the abasement of God and the exaltation of man.
And we Reformed Christians are not free from sinning against the majesty of God. As J. I. Packer has written, also our faith is feeble and our worship flabby, because we have lost sight of the majesty of God. We and our children stand in awe of the athletic heroes of our day; we have all kinds of honor to bestow on mighty leaders; we marvel at the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains; but where is our fear of the majestic God?!
We must defend this glorious characteristic of our God, defend it with our words but also with our daily living. From the Scriptures we must increase in our knowledge of the majesty of our God, and then with this knowledge we must be come more convicted of our own smallness and insignificance before the awesome greatness of God. We must learn more and more to put down all our pride and self-glorification, and seek to live in godly fear and humility. (May I suggest for a starting point the reading of Isaiah 2:10-22?)
And then let such a consideration of the majesty of God translate into a life of pure worship, of reverent prayer, and of humble seeking of the grace of God in Christ alone for salvation. Let the praises and prayers of the psalmists be ours, so that we give unto the LORD the glory due unto His name (Ps. 96:7, 8). (Read also Psalm 145.)
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
Isaiah 2:11
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