Declare His Glory

The Word is first...

1 Chronicles 16:23-33 (NIV)

²³ Sing to the Lord, all the earth;

proclaim his salvation day after day.

²⁴ Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

²⁵ For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

he is to be feared above all gods.

²⁶ For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but the Lord made the heavens.

²⁷ Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and joy in his dwelling place.

²⁸ Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength,

²⁹ ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.

Bring an offering and come before him;

worship the Lord in the splendor of his^c holiness.

³⁰ Tremble before him, all the earth!

The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

³¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

³² Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

³³ Then the trees of the forest will sing,

they will sing for joy before the Lord,

for he comes to judge the earth.

^c Or Lord with the splendor of

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

This is a beautiful passage of scripture which attests to the glory of God which describes the right response of all creation. Rather than pick this passage into individual pieces, I just want to parse through and hit some highlights.

First, this passage contains commands and it is declarative. We are commanded to sing, proclaim and declare his glory among the nations. We are to share his marvelous deeds with everyone, everywhere.

The passage declares that the Lord is great and most worthy of our praise. He is to be feared. He is fundamentally different from all the god's of the people of this earth for He alone is real. The power of creation is His and reflects His splendor.

We are then commanded to 'ascribe' to him glory and strength. This means that we are to refer to Him as the source, cause or author of glory and strength. We are to do this not because of anything he has done, though He has done much, but rather because of His name alone. His name is Holy.

Continuing with commands we are directed to bring an offering and enter into his presence. At this time, this meant a bull or ram or something else that was suitable to be sacrificed. But today, due to the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus, we need bring only ourselves as living sacrifices. And it is the doing of that that we are able to worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

The last command to us is that we tremble; and tremble we should. We often forget the raw power and supremacy of God as we seek to be in relationship with him. But the truth is that God is all-powerful, all-holy and so far above us as to be incomprehensible. The thought of standing in front of him with my chin held high, my chest inflated and knees locked in place is ludicrous! Knee-knocking scared is what I am.

The passage ends with further declarations about the heavens, the earth, the sea, the fields and the trees. That all these things declare his glory and rejoice for joy at the coming of the King. On this I have to quote the words of the modern philosopher Carmen who said "Ain't no rock gonna take my place!" What an embarrassment it would be for all of creation, except for man, to glorify the Lord.

Okay, where do I go from here? I'm reading this as instructions for my upcoming trip to Guatemala. I'm going to build houses, etc but I'll have a song in my heart and on my lips. Given the opportunity, I will declare his glory to the people around me and I will try to convey his splendor and his glory as I understand them. I just hope someone asks me "why?" as in "Senor Carl, why do you come to my country to build a house for me?" And I'll say because Jesus is building a house for me.

Shalom,
Carl