Time to go and meet with the Lord’s people and think
about him.
That’s good work, really. It’s just about the best thing we
really ever do. The works we do here on earth end when the Lord returns. But
some things continue into eternity. Paramount among those things is worship. It’s
one of the few things we do that lasts forever.
I think that makes it worth getting up for.
Getting Ready
And while we’re getting ourselves prepared for that, maybe
we should think about the Lord. Why else would we bother to go and meet with
people who are really pretty different from us in age, experience, background,
inclinations, temperament, social position — and even language and culture
sometimes? What have we in common?
Only Christ. But that’s plenty.
Let me see if I can offer you two new ways of looking at him.
I call them “the glory of the Beloved” and “the glory of Mephibosheth”. Never
worry about the language, there; just call them what you like. But I think
they’re worth considering.
The Glory of the Beloved
The first is something maybe a little more obvious. That is,
that the Lord draws worship from glorious places. The highest angels in heaven
worship him, and the greatest among mankind also bow the knee in his honor.
That shows him to be great.
When the high, the pure, the lovely, the accomplished and
the admired seek out and pay tribute to someone, they show him to be very high
indeed! By their admiration, they pour the glory of their beauties and
achievements onto him. For if people as great as this pay tribute, then the one
to whom they pay tribute must be even
greater — unspeakably great!
And it reminds me of a conversation I had with a pal of
mine. He was saying that he thought that choice must be an essential part of
love — especially of God’s love.
I agreed with him. Choice and love are strongly linked. A
love relationship cannot be formed without the element of choosing.
I said to my friend, “Remember when you married your wife? I remember, because I was there.
She didn’t marry you because you forced her to
do so. You didn’t say to her, ‘The reason I’m marrying you today is that your
father and I swung a bargain, and it’s good that you knuckled under and did
what you were told.’ Rather, as you had freely chosen her, so she in return
freely chose you. The fact that she did was a huge compliment to you; her
choice of you showed that she saw value in you that some of us were not positioned to see. But she could have chosen otherwise; and if she could not have, then
that compliment would not have been there.”
There’s glory in that. It comes when the most beautiful kind
of person has uniquely focused her love on a particular person and declared the
beloved altogether lovely.
That’s the glory of the Beloved … to be known as the
object of love and esteem by one who is also highly esteemed and lovely. That’s
the glory of the song of angels, of the Song of Songs, and the glory of the Son of God in the Bride.
The Bride is entirely lovely; and she sings a song of
devotion to her Beloved, who is far fairer than the very fairest.
Hallelujah.
The glory of the Beloved is the honor that comes to a person when someone truly exceptional has chosen them, and this is
seen and celebrated.
Another Glory
But let us now go back in time, and to the Holy Land, to the
royal period, and to its greatest king. Suppose you were invited to have dinner
in the court of David, among his mighty men, the legendary warriors and the
great elders of Israel.
As you enter his hall, you see long tables laid out with
sumptuous delicacies, and David’s place at the far end. As you walk up the
ranks ranged along the table you recognize Adino, whom they call “The Spear”,
because he killed 800 at one time. And there’s Eleazar, who pounded on Israel’s
enemies so long that afterward he needed help to pry the sword from his
fingers. Oh, and over there is Shammah, who wouldn’t give even give up a field
of beans to the enemy, and whose courage swung the whole tide of battle
to Israel …
As you move up the ranks, you marvel; until you arrive at
one quite unlike the others. He’s in a place of high honor, but you can’t see
why. He’s skinny and pallid, like he hasn’t gotten outdoors much. His manner is
whipped and his face is passive. Most startlingly, his legs are folded
underneath him in a way that leaves you in no doubt at all — he’s a
cripple. Normally, this sort ends up begging in the streets, not sitting at the
king’s table.
“What is this?” you ask.
“Oh, this?” says your guide, “He’s a favorite, actually.
“But he’s a cripple!” you exclaim, “He’s no use at all!”
“It’s worse than you think,” replies your guide. “He’s actually the grandson of the former king of Israel,
David’s greatest enemy, who spent his life hunting David ruthlessly and sought
to kill him. Not only that, he’s the only man in the kingdom with a legitimate
claim on David’s throne. And some people are still probably loyal to that old
king, and might even want to use him to unseat David. Yet he eats at
David’s table all the time.”
“What?” you exclaim. “Why on earth would David want a cripple and an enemy at his table?”
“He loves him. He’s taken him from being a despised and hunted pretender-to-the-throne, and made him his dear
friend. I know he doesn’t look like he fits in, and that maybe he belongs in
the street; but I assure you, his presence here is the greatest testimony to
the mercy, goodness and love of David that you’re ever going to see. Because
you’re right: he doesn’t deserve any of it, and he’s not the kind of man you
seek out for royal company. But he loves David fiercely now, with absolute
loyalty.”
“I see,” you say. “That makes sense. He owes David everything.”
“Yes. So now you see what
difference knowing a man like King David can make: he doesn’t just make great
men out of warriors; he makes them out of rebels and street trash.”
That is the glory of Mephibosheth. It is honor that comes
when a person who is entirely undeserving of love has been embraced. It asks
us, “What manner of love is this, that such as this should be loved?”
Now that’s really a “new song”: not the kind you would ever
think of by yourself. “Worthy are you … [for] you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God.” They weren’t that before, but now they are. And you, only you, O Lord, have done it.
Or to put it in hymnology:
“All these once were sinners, defiled in his sight,
Now arrayed in pure garments in praise they unite:
Unto him who has loved us and washed us from sin,
Unto him be the glory forever, amen.”
All Glory
The glory of the Beloved belongs to Christ. Hallelujah.
The glory of Mephibosheth belongs to Christ.
Hallelujah, amen.
_________________
Photo: Wolfgang Moroder. Used under license.
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