Scripture References: Isaiah 6:1-5; Luke 2:8-14
Never has anyone spoken more eloquently of great religion than did the heavenly host on that first Christmas. They sang: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14).
Great religion is concerned with heaven and earth, God and people, people in relation to God and to each other. Great religion is spiritual and ethical, personal and social, individual and corporate. It encompasses the whole of life.
High and Lifted Up
It is glory to God in the highest. He is the great transcendent God, lifted high above all things He has made. He is not a prisoner of His creation nor lost in its processes. He is not caught in our narrow time frame nor limited by our geographical boundaries. His dwelling place is mystery and He walks in an unapproachable light.
Isaiah in his transforming experience in the temple encountered no little god. He tells us, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1). This God was not caught in the tangled web of life so familiar to Isaiah. His voice was not drowned out by the raucous voices of earth. He was lifted high above it all.
No one has written more movingly of the transcendent God than Isaiah. He had the right to write that way about God since that is the way he had experienced Him. In the fortieth chapter of his book, Isaiah speaks of God who measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, marks off the heavens with a span, stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He weighs the mountains in scales (see Isaiah 40:12, 22).
The psalmist shares Isaiah’s eloquence in describing this great, transcendent God. He speaks of God who makes the clouds His chariots and rides on the wings of the wind (Psalm 104:3).
Job felt the majesty and mystery of God. “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:14).
Our universe is so vast. It seems to fade away into infinity. Yet, being a created order it must have limitations. Our finite minds cannot grasp those boundaries, nor our most powerful telescopes find them. Wherever they are God stands above them like a craftsman stands above the thing he has created. He made the universe and established its boundaries.
We need to constantly remind ourselves how important this kind of God is for our worship. We pray best and worship best as we stand on the frontiers of mystery. Indeed, unless we stand there, sooner or later, we cease to pray and fail to worship. We do not worship our explanations nor pray to those things we can understand. We worship the God who dwells in mystery yet who has let us know that He is loving and trustworthy. Such a God Christmas has revealed; such a God Jesus has disclosed.
It is glory to God in the highest. Glory is brightness, splendor, radiance, majesty, and magnificence. Such a God inspires us to worship Him, to offer Him praise and adoration.
Possibly no generation has needed to recapture the sense of the transcendent God more than our own. So much mystery has fled our world. Vaulted archways of other years lie broken at our feet. The ceilings of our lives are oppressively low. Our children look up into a brilliant heaven and think, There is where we put our satellites. They are not moved to exclaim, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1, 9).
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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