Glimpses of Beauty...: And the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed...

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

And the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed...

Isaiah 40:5

“And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”

"The music moves from the lone solo voice in the wilderness to a chorus of many rejoicing in the glory of God revealed. The combined voices represent many people, the “all flesh” who will experience the glory of God in their redemption. As they joyfully sing we can imagine an enthusiastic dance. Calvin Stapert adds this note: “The phrase, ‘And the glory of the Lord’ is always sung to a rising line that reaches its peak on ‘Lord.’ ‘Shall be revealed’ always descends, suggesting the incarnation’”. The glory of God is most revealed, not in the Milky Way or other celestial astonishments, but in Messiah coming down to be with us, and for us." T. Smith

http://www.waterfromrock.org/2012/12/05/wednesday-december-5-advent-devotional-2012/

My sister and her husband surprised me and drove six hours -one way- to join me at a gala celebrating the publishing and unveiling of our writers group's first anthology. It was a fun night of dress up clothes and fancy food, featured readers and more food. Lots of laughter and smiles as authors read and readers enjoyed the stories.

Later that night, the three of us stepped out onto my porch. Night comes early to the Hills and it was dark, pitch dark. No street lights except a few distant yard lights but we kept our backs to that. I ran around and found blankets to wrap in and turned off lights. We crept around, bumping into each other and giggling like kids getting away with something.

Suddenly Dick said in a hushed voice, "I have never seen so many stars." Dick's quiet but he's a big, active guy, not really one prone to contemplative gazing. But this stopped him and we all lifted our gaze to the dark sky above.

It was jammed with stars. Clusters of stars with each star clear and distinct. Planets with pure, unblinking light. We turned and above the house the Milky Way wound its filmy gauze across the infinite sky. We were awestruck. We saw His Glory.

We saw His glory in the heavens-

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1 NAS

Isaiah says the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed- the heavens do declare, tell, remind us. But Jesus came into our world as the Word made Flesh and He revealed the Glory of the Father. Jesus pulled back the inky sky and we glimpse the true glory.

As we stood on the porch, our hearts stilled in awe as we watched a star shoot across the sky. How much more should my heart gasp at the wonder of the revelation of the Glory of God. Not in thunder, lighting, shooting stars, exploding galaxies but as a naked, helpless babe in a manger. God's glory revealed in human form, in a form that draws us to Himself and reveals my Abba, Father - lover of my soul.

“And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together;

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”