13
Jul

The King of Glory

Several months ago, I found myself driving around for a few moments of blessed alone time. (And all the mommies said, “AMEN!”). I had been wrestling with some pretty heavy things and was seeking the Lord in the solitude. I had some new worship music blaring and it was just about sunset. I began to sing and pray and all of a sudden, the atmosphere changed. As I meditated on the words of the song and prayed honest, raw prayers, I began to feel this incredible adrenaline rushing through my veins. Though the day had been hot, and the temperature still lingered around 80 degrees, I was suddenly chilled and the air was heavy. I knew that the presence of God was with me. All of a sudden I was weeping in my car, and felt the Spirit leading me to claim the authority I had in Jesus over the enemy. In those powerful moments, I began to claim His promises in Scripture, His power over sin, and His power living within me. After that experience, I realized that God was giving the privilege of being in the presence of His glory. The sunset, the atmosphere, the authority…This is what He does when He shows up in our lives, and we are changed because of who He is. Psalm 24 is entitled King of Glory, and I wanted to share a few verses from that powerful passage…

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates!

And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts,

he is the King of glory! Psalm 24:7-10 (ESV)

Author and pastor Richard Strauss writes, “The most common word for glory in the Old Testament comes from a root that means literally “to be heavy.” In Old Testament times, a person’s weight was his glory….a person who was considered to have glory in that day was usually one who had some kind of weight, such as the weight of riches, the weight of power, or the weight of position. A man’s glory referred to what he was and what he had—his honor, his reputation, or his possessions….The phrase “the glory of the LORD” appears with such frequency, we begin to suspect that it refers to more than just one attribute of God….God’s glory is who He is, what He possesses, and what He is like. God’s glory is God Himself in His essential being.”*

It is so fitting that when we experience the presence of God in our lives we also experience the weight of His glory. When the Alpha and the Omega enters the room, when the Creator of the world comes to meet with us, the atmosphere changes because of who He is and everything He possesses. What we do understand about God’s glory is that it is eternal, never ending and never failing. Because God’s glory is eternal, and He is the King of Glory- no one has ever had or will ever have more ‘weight’ than God, His Kingdom is unshakable. His reign will never end.

This is important for us as we seek out what it means to know God for a few reasons. First, it means that we can be confident that He is the eternal King. Despite the broken world and all the people that inhabit it, He remains on the throne steadfast in His authority. Second, by spending time getting to know Him through reading His word and prayer, His glory should be evident in our lives, shaping us to look more like Him. Just like the atmosphere changes when He enters the room, our lives should also be transformed by knowing Him. By the cross we have the eternal God living in us, and we can boldly walk in the confidence that no person will ever be greater or higher than the King of Glory.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 24-25

Rachel

Resources *https://bible.org/seriespage/24-king-glory