Less Majesty
Background
The title is a play on the French, lese majesty, an offence of speaking against the dignity of a monarch. Even today in Thailand people have been imprisoned for this crime. Aussies, renowned for using nick names for even the highest officers in the land (“ScoMo”), do not occupy this thought world. But Christians should, for our nation and much of the Church (?) has offended the majesty of God.
What is Majesty?
You probably have never heard a sermon on God’s majesty. If we examine biblical texts that speak of divine majesty it’s set in parallel with such high attributes for God as glory, splendour and might (1 Chron 16:27; Job 40:11; Ps 8:1; 76:4; 145:5; Isa 2:10) and brings about both judgement (Ex 15:9; Deut 33:26; Isa 2:10) and deliverance (Ex 15:11). It impacts us by imparting a sense of boundless awe (Ex 15:11; Job 37:22) and beauty (Ps 96:6; Isa 53:2). Majesty is transformative to those who behold it. Even more profoundly, a human way of thinking cannot imagine that “the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity” (Isa 57:15) should want to share his elevated and immeasurable dignity with us! That we should share the bearing of divine royalty is too much to absorb, but this is a word from the Lord today. At Perth Prayer last Tuesday, the Spirit directed us to Luke’s account of the transfiguration, then Peter’s commentary (2 Peter 1) and finally Psalm 93:1, “The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty”. This image of clothing opens up the utterly profound divine mystery of the plan of God to impart majesty to us all.
Transfiguration
In Luke’s Transfiguration account (9:28-36) Jesus ascends the mountain to pray. The cloud of God’s glory descends so his whole being, including his clothes, became dazzling white. Moses and Elijah speak with Christ about his “departure/death”, literally exodus, soon to be accomplished at Jerusalem. This Greek word conveys all the associations of the powerful Old Testament deliverance of God’s people from dreadful enslavement. The disciples unforgettably “saw his glory”. The pinnacle of the story is however the voice of the Father, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”. Then, when Jesus comes down from the mountain, he encounters a situation where his disciples lacked authority to deliver a child from a demon. Jesus immediately heals the boy with a word, “And all were astonished at the majesty of God.” (Luke 9:43). Can you imagine any lesser act of power from a man just robed in the glory and majesty of the eternal God? Mark version of this incident adds a vital detail to explain the difference in authority between Christ and the impotent disciples, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:9). The sort of prayer Jesus was engaged in on the mount of Transfiguration. It is Peter’s later testimony to these events which bridges their significance to our time.
Tents and Robes
Peter begins his account in a very personal way; “I know that the putting off of my tent will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me” (2 Pet 1:14). The apostle is speaking of his body as a covering which is soon to perish. In this context he recalls the impact of the being with Jesus on mount of Transfiguration. He calls it a “holy mountain”, for as Mt Sinai became holy because of the luminous, awesome and threatening presence of God (Ex 19), it was the glory of God present in the humanity of Christ that made this place holy. The glory was in the tent of Jesus’ body. John 1:14 literally reads, “the Word became flesh and tented amongst us, and we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father”. Peter goes on to describe the Transfiguration event in the highest possible terms, “he received honour and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” (2 Pet 1:17). This is wonderful, splendid and glorious but without the word of the cross it is superficial cheap grace and weak triumphalism. (Like “average church” today.) the Peter who wrote such dignified things in his letter was no longer the Peter who denied Jesus three times, he was the man who had received a prophecy of glory which transfigured his life.
Prophecies of Glory
It was because Jesus was on the way to death that Moses and Elijah were sent to strengthen him in God’s glory. These men knew the power of the glory cloud but failed to end their ministries well. Jesus would not be like them Though he knew a horror of dying without dignity was coming, “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa 53:2), he also knew that the terrible cross was the gate of glory. In Christ Peter was called into this majestic way of glory through death. “Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”” (John 21:18-19). The premier apostle must be unrobed of his earthly wilfulness so that through holy submission he might share in the majestic robing of the Lord (Ps 93:1). On the way to his God ordained death Peter will be tented with majesty to glorify God in the likeness of Christ. He will enter that triumph through suffering which belongs to the supreme kingly state of the all majestic Jesus.
Conclusion
Those contemporary spiritualities that speak glibly of Christians as “princes and princesses” do not understand the immeasurable depth of the dignity bestowed on us as previously enemies of God reconciled and forgiven by the blood of the cross (Col 1:20). We have trivialised the high and lofty things of the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8) through bypassing the death of Christ (Isa 52:13). As majesty was destined for Jesus and Peter through suffering for God’s kingdom, so it is for every Christian. The loving Lord has many points of dying to sin for us on the way to our last great opportunity to yield our spirits in oneness with Jesus (Luke 23:46) into the hands of the all Majestic Father. These are indescribably awesome things and they are part of the inheritance of all the people of God. May the Lord grant us a deep dissatisfaction with the ordinariness of average Church life and a longing to see his Majesty, whatever the cost. I want to be an “eyewitness of his majesty” (2 Pet 1:16). I pray you do too.