Knowing God: Experience & Love Him

The Exalted God with Video

Humbly living to bring Him glory

Paul J. Bucknell

Exalted God & Video | Meaning of Exalted | Ways to Exalt | Reflection on His Exaltated Ways

The Exalted God: Handout pdf | Video
Audio, reading and powerpoint part of D3 library

Knowing God Series Index

Series Introduction| Knowing God | The Revelatory God | Goodness of God | Holiness of God | Power of God | Omnipresent God | Exalted God | Faithfuness of God | Wisdom of God | Mercy of God | Wrath of God | Love of God | Sovereignty of God | Providence of God

Purpose: We are not very good at acknowledging God’s glory. We simply don’t comprehend God’s greatness and far overvalue our own importance. Life’s path gets exciting when we finally begin to understand and respond to our Lord’s glorious person.

Outline

• The Exaltation of God

• The Meaning of Exalt

• The Ways God is Exalted

• Application to our Lives

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The Largely Neglected Truth

Some aspects of life are more foundational than others. The need for us to constantly bring glory to God is one of these foundational aspects of our lives. Our lives are in total disarray when we neglect to give what wholly belongs to God and distribute news of one’s own glory, honor and exaltation to self or others. Let me give you a simple example.

Think about the museums which excite people by showing many secrets of God’s creation and yet instead assert it came about by accident under the supervision of evolution. The suggestion is preposterous. Why would people pay to watch mindless, accidental messes? We insult God and humans at the same time. Every such museum deserves to be judged for stealing God’s glory.

I am so thankful for those I met early in my Christian life who spoke much of the glorious teachings of God and His sovereign power. Each strain of Christian teaching seems to have its own dangers, but it was good to be refreshed of God’s glorious person. It provided for me a challenge to move toward, as well as a measuring stick against the humanism and superficial religiosity I saw around me.

The Exaltation of God

Most believers lack living with a good understanding of God’s exalted person. This is much like living on crutches.

Our duty to exalt the Lord.

Numerous scriptures exhort us to praise and exalt God.

“Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; Holy is He” (Ps 99:5).

“Sing praises to him” (Psalm 9:11). “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth” (Psalm 108:5).1

“All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer to exalt him according to the words of God, for God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman” (1Ch 25:5).

Our life purpose.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism rightly asks and answers,

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. Unfortunately, we miss the first, to glorify Him, and therefore cannot do the later, enjoy Him.

Our life purpose is totally wrapped up in identifying the reason God made us and striving to accomplish those purposes.

Worship services

Worship has degenerated into a time focused on satisfying man’s tastes rather than expressing heart-focused adoration (2 Tim 4:3).

Truths about God invigorate us, but often inferior and idolatrous thoughts fill our minds. Many Christian songs are being disrobed of these truths and focusing on our feelings. Music often overpowers the words, again, degrading God’s truths by making them secondary or trite.

Our unwillingness to exalt God

This pattern of stubborn disobedience is obviously seen throughout the Bible. Man is fascinated with the option of disobedience. He seeks to please himself rather than God.

Read the first time man and woman disobeyed in Genesis 3 or in Genesis 4 how man again openly countered God’s careful rebuke. And onwards it goes. If the redemption story was not so clear, the Bible would be a recounting of man’s mounting rebellion from God.

As a project, read from Numbers 11 onwards.2 Even after God miraculously delivered the Israelites from Egypt and revealed His glory on Mount Sinai, the people could not but be preoccupied with their own desires and ways.

Disobedience to God is the opposite to exaltation for it displays subservience to one’s own desires rather than God’s. He resists acknowledging God’s importance, lest he becomes convicted of the need of obedience. Without a touch of God, man’s heart increasingly gets harder. The more God reveals His exalted Person and truths, the more man rebels.

Distortions abound

What we believe about God is distorted to the point it no longer matches reality. Just take and example of Mormonism or Jehovah Witnesses. Or if you please the many configurations of doctrines modernism, including humanism in its various forms, brings or even the movement to unify all religions. They care not about truths but affirmation of man’s thinking. It turns out that God is very different from what we believe and man is not concerned about it!

Jesus accurately summarizes man’s theological problem, “Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40). Belief ushers us into God’s presence. Unbelief escorts us away.

Standing in God’s presence

If we could but see God in His glory, we would indeed perish. He really is that glorious like the sun. One cannot stare at it. “But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20). He is the One that is lifted up on high.

Summary

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).

Exercise: Exploring God’s Glory in the Book of Job

Job had an awesome experience with God. Write something discovered about God’s glory on each of the four items below. Our purpose is to deepen our understanding of how to gather truths about God from what He says about Himself within the holy scriptures.

• “Behold, God is exalted in His power; Who is a teacher like Him?” (Job 36:22).
  
  

• “Remember that you should exalt His work, of which men have sung” (Job 36:24).
  
  

• “Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; The number of His years is unsearchable” (Job 36:26).
  
  

• “The Almighty--we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power; And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness” (Job 37:23 ).
  
  

Next => The Meaning of ‘Exalted’

Biblical Foundations for Freedom ( BFF )

Rev. Paul J. Bucknell