Journey Through The Hymns: A 30 Day Devotional预览

Oh Lord Almighty

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”

 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

(ISAIAH  6:1-5)

Do you know that in John chapter 12, the Bible speaks of this heavenly vision? That when the prophet Isaiah got a glimpse of something that sent him to the ground in surrender and repentance, what he saw was the one we know as Jesus?  

What would have happened if one of the Seraphim in Isaiah 6 would have brushed shoulders with the 8-year-old Nazarene boy named Jesus on His way to the market? Would they have just walked on by calloused and casual like the rest of mankind? NO.  The seraphim would have instantly covered his hands and feet and right there on the dirt path cried out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of His glory!” 

Do you know that the potency of the divinity of Jesus was not diminished in the incarnation? That when the Lord of Hosts humbled Himself to put on flesh, His Glory and God-ness didn’t change? 

Brothers and sisters, we need to look again at this man, Christ Jesus, until we see something beyond our familiarity. Until He is more than a mere mascot for our Christian activities. Until the fog clears and we SEE Him as He is. And what a privilege it is to lead songs to that end! Not that Jesus would look any different than how He always has, glorious, beautiful, magnificent, worthy of praise… but that we would SEE Him as such. Yes, that our sight and our vision would clear up, and we would behold the most wonderful Man in the universe. 

Humans have always had a hard time seeing Jesus. John 1:10 says that “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.” See it wasn’t that Jesus lacked the same glory He had from the beginning. NO! It was and is our sin stained, depraved eyes that just couldn’t see this EXCACT imprint of God’s nature (Heb. 1:3).  

A few chapters later, In John chapter 6, as many gathered in a field, Jesus begins again to help them see. This is His moment! Big conference! Here He is, at the height of His popularity as thousands gathered to listen. Jesus decides to give the “eat my body and drink my blood,” talk. And as the crowds begin to grumble and leave, Jesus says, “DOES THIS OFFEND YOU??!” As if to say, “Oh, you’re offended because you think I’m a Jewish Rabi is saying this to you. What if you saw the Son of man ascend to where He was before?! (John 6:62) What if you realized it was GOD talking to you and not a Jewish Rabi?!”  

Most walked away, but some SAW Him for who He was, and were hungry for the bread of heaven.

There would be those times when Jesus would flex His God-ness, which would help tremendously with human cloudiness!   Do you remember in Luke 5 when Jesus walks up on the boys cleaning their nets from being out all night fishing? Jesus, the Jewish carpenter from Nazareth says to the professional fishermen, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon, even though he was certainly thinking, “uhhh, not quite your area of expertise bro,” answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” Then the nets started to rip, and the boats started to sink. And Peter’s reaction lets us in to the reality of what was going on! 

See, he was doing the math rightly. He was putting the pieces together. In Peter’s mind, messiahs didn’t do that! I mean, Messiahs rule over kingdoms. Messiahs come to deliver people from political oppression.  But they don’t make fish…  think about it. EITHER Jesus created fish in that moment inside the nets, OR He told the fish (ant man style) where to go!!! EITHER way, THAT IS REAL HARD.  And Peter was seeing this in real time. Jesus didn’t pray “OH GOD break in! We need Break through! We need a fish breakthrough.” He didn’t have to work anything up! He just DID IT. He silently just did it.

And you know what Peter didn’t say? He didn’t say: That was awesome! Hallelujah!!!  Praise God!!!  I knew it!

No. He surveyed the situation. He looked at this Jewish Rabi and he said, “get away from me. For I am a sinful man!” We’ve heard that before haven’t we? He saw the Isaiah 6 Jesus.      

And this Jesus was not a Jewish rabbi in that moment. He was the Lord of Hosts.  He was that The King of Isaiah 6. He was (Col 2:2) very mystery of God embodied. He was Col 2:9 : the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily. He was the Hebrews 1:3, radiance of the glory of God in Person. He was very God of very God, and He was a man with a hue to His skin and timbre to His voice and He was HOLY HOLY HOLY.  

In Jesus, perfectly intact, is the memory of eating a piece of bread, and making a STAR. There is no one like Him! And beloved, we get the awesome and terrifying privilege of describing this God Man to our congregation this week! And I pray that by His Spirit He would let us move beyond our familiarity and stand in awe, and SEE and savor our Lord, JESUS.