Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
He is the king of glory.
- Psalm 24:10
So, studying the attributes of God has revealed a lot about God in a lot more depth than I've ever thought about! Today, the last post on God's attributes, focuses on one of God's summary attributes - those characteristics which speak to the totality or sum of God's character.
Glory is one of those funny words that English-speakers of generations ago would cringe to know what we've done with it - like awesome. If earlier people knew that we talked about hamburgers and parties and people as awesome, they'd cry. Awesome once worked for only truly awe-some things, like powerful acts of nature, God, mountain views, and other things truly meriting awe. Similarly, we speak of the glory of winning...a football game, and the glory of being...a movie star.
Kabod is the Hebrew word we translate 'glory' in Psalm 24:10 above and through much of the Old Testament. For a proper understanding of Kabod glory, let's look at a list of other words we translate it to: honor, great quantity, multitude, wealth, reputation (majesty), and splendor. Glory is honor, as we often ascribe it, but it's also so much more! Glory is big, it's heavy, it's a majestic reputation, it has a great value of its own, and it is a literal splendor. Verses in the Bible talk about how we cannot look upon the glory of God because it would kill us and in Revelations we are told that the Glory of God will be the literal light that we live by. God's glory is a weighty thing - it's the accumulation and earning of all the honor due to Him.
Kabod reminds me that my picture of God is too small. We want to understand God, to be able to explain and present Him, and to a certain extent, we can. But, like a naive child meeting the Queen of England and walking away as if nothing is happened, we cannot and will not (in this life) grasp the glory of God. He is too great, too awesome, too majestic for our minds to conceive, and we must stop pretending that this isn't true. To make God less than fully glorious cheapens Him, to claim to understand and know His glory is to lessen it.
The kabod of God Almighty deserves but one response: humble, awe-filled adoration. May we learn to give it to Him. Someday, when all has been fulfilled, may we dwell together in the bask of His radiant glow and, for the first full time, feel the weight of splendor all around us.
Kabod is the Hebrew word we translate 'glory' in Psalm 24:10 above and through much of the Old Testament. For a proper understanding of Kabod glory, let's look at a list of other words we translate it to: honor, great quantity, multitude, wealth, reputation (majesty), and splendor. Glory is honor, as we often ascribe it, but it's also so much more! Glory is big, it's heavy, it's a majestic reputation, it has a great value of its own, and it is a literal splendor. Verses in the Bible talk about how we cannot look upon the glory of God because it would kill us and in Revelations we are told that the Glory of God will be the literal light that we live by. God's glory is a weighty thing - it's the accumulation and earning of all the honor due to Him.
Kabod reminds me that my picture of God is too small. We want to understand God, to be able to explain and present Him, and to a certain extent, we can. But, like a naive child meeting the Queen of England and walking away as if nothing is happened, we cannot and will not (in this life) grasp the glory of God. He is too great, too awesome, too majestic for our minds to conceive, and we must stop pretending that this isn't true. To make God less than fully glorious cheapens Him, to claim to understand and know His glory is to lessen it.
The kabod of God Almighty deserves but one response: humble, awe-filled adoration. May we learn to give it to Him. Someday, when all has been fulfilled, may we dwell together in the bask of His radiant glow and, for the first full time, feel the weight of splendor all around us.
First, your point about the word "awesome" is not only correct it is quite entertaining the way that you describe it! The idea that we have taken a word that use to evoke such intense emotion about it and twisted out its meaning like a dish-rag is so simply, true. But perhaps this is how we move beyond our naive understandings of the world and of God Himself. I am not sure, but I look at it this way, if we are scared to use the word "awesome" to describe anything beyond that which we cannot explain then how will we ever be able to see that which we are actually trying to explain? That is, for example, if I look at a wall and describe it as "strong," but am unable to articulate what it is I mean by "strong" or even be able to comprehend the concept, than how can I actually "see" what a wall really is? I am not suggesting that we can know who or what exactly God is, but as insufficient human beings, must we have some way of "seeing" Him through the language he enabled us to have?
ReplyDeletePlease understand that I mean no disrepect at all, I find this exceptionally interesting and significant, I am simply curious!
I really respect your point here. Yes! Absolutely! We cannot ever be content with vague descriptions that do not sum up, extend, or articulate understanding of anything. God did not give us minds and language so we could sit around and not understand, but that we would understand. I love your point!
ReplyDeleteMy gripe, small though it may be, is that 'awesome' does describe the infinitude of God and the shock we fell as we do come to understand Him - it does not describe the sensation I get when I eat a hamburger :)
You caught me *blushes* I graduated in English and thus the use of words matters deeply to me (hence the blog style) and sometimes I get caught in little rants about abused words ;)
Thanks for reading and please don't feel bad about pointing out your thoughts! It's enjoyable to know that my little tidbits are opening thoughtful dialogue!!