The Majesty of God (Part 2)

Well, I’m back, and I’m here to finish out my post on God’s glory. It’s been awhile, but unfortunately school work and some technical difficulties have kept me from posting (my computer decided to play a fun little game of “Count the Number of Times I Show you the Blue Screen of Death…I lost track around 15). I am back now, so, let’s get down to work. Last time, we looked out into the universe to get a sense for its immensity and grandeur, and accordingly how small we are compared to the God who holds it all in the palm of His hand. For this post, I want to look at one specific passage in the Bible, delve into the meat of it, and see if all of you reading this have the same mind-blowing experience I did. The passage is Isaiah 6:1-5. I’d say it’s fairly well know, if you tack on a few more verses a lot of pastors/preachers/priests, etc, use it as an example of how we should be willing to be ready to do God’s will at all times. And we should! However, that’s not what we’re talking about today. No, today we’re going to do something that for some reason as Christians we really don’t seem to do it all that often. We’re going to look at the angels.

We never really seem to give much thought to the angels. Yes, we know they’re there, that they serve God, run the occasional message delivery, but beyond that we don’t really give it a second thought. My family jokingly says that when someone avoided injury of some kind that they “must have squished an angel or two”. When we picture angels, we think of people in long flowing white robes, with beautiful white wings and a halo hovering above their head. That or a fat baby with really tiny wings. Point is, we’re forgetting a really important aspect about the angels. They’re soldiers. When Jesus was arrested in the garden, and stopped Peter, he said “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). Jesus was making the point to Peter that he was going willingly with the temple guards. If he had not wanted to with a single word he could have called down upwards of twelve legions of soldiers to defend himself with. By Roman military terms, a legion was anywhere between 3,000 and 6,000 infantry with a couple hundred cavalry soldiers tossed in for good measure. So, assuming that a heavenly legion is on the upward end of the spectrum (6,000 soldiers) Jesus, with a single word, could have summoned around 72,000 angels to his defense. In modern terms, an Army Division is 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. The only thing that comes close to this number is an Army group, which are 50,000+ soldiers. The last time the US Army used Army groups was World War II. That is what we like to call a force multiplier. So, we’ve established that Jesus had the ability to summon a vast number of angels to his aid. However, what would be the point of this magnitude of force if there was not any actual “force” to back it up. What would be the point of 72,000 fat babies with tiny wings? The point I’m trying to make, and will illustrate from scripture shortly, is that angels are fierce, terrifying creatures. They are soldiers, hardened and battle-ready, able to deploy at a moment’s notice. So, how do we know that angels are fierce and terrifying? I’m glad you asked!


Ok, so that scripture I talked about earlier, the passage from Isaiah, this is where it comes into play. So, here we go:

Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

1In the year that(A) King Uzziah died I(B) saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had(C) six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said:

(D) "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;(E) the whole earth is full of his glory!"[b]

4And(F) the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and(G) the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: "Woe is me!(H) For I am lost;(I) 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(J) King, the LORD of hosts!"

Ok, so what’s the first important thing we need to take away from this passage? The name of the angels, or what they are called. In this translation it’s seraphim, in others it is shortened to seraph (basically the difference between plural and singular forms). If you actually look at the roots of what these words derive from and what they mean you come up with things like “fiery serpent” and “to burn”. I think one of the assistant pastors at my church had the best, calling them the “burning ones”. You don’t give something nice a name that is basically a verb for burning things, or call it a fiery serpent. These angels are fierce and terrifying. Think of the most terrifying, unearthly creature you can, give it six wings and shroud it in fire, and you’ll start to get at least an inkling of what an angel is actually like. Read further in the passage, and we find that when the angels speak the thresholds shake and the room is filled with smoke. So basically we have here a creature that is terrifying in its mere appearance, clothed in fire, and creates earthquakes more or less simply by speaking. No wonder whenever people in the Bible meet an angel they are either a) terrified and in fear of their lives, or b) try to fall down and worship them. Hopefully I’ve established that angels are pretty terrifying, worthy of fear and respect. But what does it have to do with the majesty of God? Look back at Isaiah’s description. He describes the seraphim as having six wings, two with which to cover their faces, two to cover their feet, and two to fly with. Two to cover their face, and two to cover their feet. Two to cover their face. Two to cover their feet. These seraphim are constantly in the presence of God, constantly bathed in His Glory, and they have been specifically created to protect them from it. These fierce, terrifying, hardened soldiers of Heaven, shrouded in fire, were created with the ability to protect themselves from the Glory of God because it is so much more intense, so much more terrifying, so much more powerful and radiant than they are, and looking would spell the destruction of these terrifying creatures. What does that say about God? That He is a Power beyond control or measure, that the mere presence of His Glory is completely and utterly overpowering, that a glimpse of this Glory would spell death for the “Burning Ones”, and how much more so then for us mere humans. And you know what?

He loves you.

He desires a relationship with you.

He loves you so much that He was willing to set aside that overpowering, all-consuming Glory, step down from His place in Heaven, and become like us, become human.

He loves you so much He was even willing to submit to Death.

The God of the universe, who set into motion all the heavens and stars and galaxies, who holds the entirety of the universe in the breadth of His hand, who created beings so terrifying they would be called “burning ones”, but still need protection from His Glory, because His Glory is so completely perfect, so utterly terrifying in its beauty, so overwhelmingly powerful, set it all aside and died.

For you.



If that is not true testament to the absolute love God has for us, I don’t know what is. I really don’t know how to build on top of that, because there really is no way that you can. So, I’ll leave it at that for now. I hope that this post has, as with the last one, caused you to think and reassess your place in the universe in comparison to God. I also can’t bring to mind a fitting benediction, so I’ll leave you with a prayer from my heart, one that I hope will be echoed by yours:

To Him who is above all others,

Who created the Universe and set it into motion,

Whose Glory is perfect,

Who gave His life for our sakes,

Be every praise that escapes from our lips

And every blessing that dwells in our hearts

Amen