The prophet Isaiah gives us in chapter 6 of his 66 books of prophecies a glimpse into heaven through a vision he received in the memorable year that the righteous king Uzziah died. There was uncertainty about the future of Judah. But he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne with the train of His robe filling the temple. Above Him were the two seraphim – angelic beings with six wings. He heard one of them call out to another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (vs. 3)
I am strongly drawn to visions about God in the Scriptures because they give me a clearer idea of the One I long to know as my Father and Friend, so I camped on Isaiah chapter 6 for a while.
And I got to thinking about His glory filling the earth. It is early spring in Georgia at the moment. The bleakness of winter is slowly giving way to new displays of color as cherry trees, flowering shrubs, and the ubiquitous spring bulbs begin to bloom. A light green haze is coming over the trees as new leaves are beginning to show themselves. Nature is constantly presenting itself afresh, and constantly in motion through cycles of dormancy and renewal. Throughout the blooming season and well into the fall I like to sit on our patio, in our postage-stamp yard, and take in the sights, colors, and sounds of the earth around me. As I hear the noise of construction machinery, cars, trucks, and airplanes trying to drown out the sights and sounds of nature, I admire its resilience against mankind that is working hard to destroy it and plunder it for its own consumption. That sharp contrast between the chaotic din of the man-made world and the beauty and order of the earth makes me a little sad. I wonder if it breaks God’s heart too – to see His creation being so disturbed by the people He made in His image who want to be their own god and think they can steward the earth without Him.
The beauty of the created earth, notwithstanding the onslaught of the man-made world, is full of His glory. When I sit by my window and watch the first rays of dawn during my morning devotions, I am conscious that the sunlight He created so we can see points to the “unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16) of His glory, in which He lives. Every aspect of beauty He has created, from the majesty of the mountains and the fierceness of a storm to the intricacy of a flower petal and the soothing calm of a quiet breeze, gives testimony to His glory. They are pure, unpolluted. All they can do is put on display the incredible mind of God that put all this together and gave it to us as a gift to be enjoyed.
The glory of a holy God Who reigns supreme on His throne, high and lifted up, is what makes God God. There is no other being in the universe that can come even close. His holiness and His glory are unmatched in their purity, magnitude, and beauty. What we see around us in nature are mere glimpses, mere expressions of the real thing. Our three-dimensional bodies and senses can’t see the real thing. We need the glorified bodies of the resurrection for that (see 1 Corinthians 15:25-49). Bodies that have the capability to see the unseen God face-to-face and to live by the glory of His unapproachable light.
On this side of heaven, we get glimpses, tastes. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). His desire for us is that we enjoy His glory, His holiness, His goodness. And the earth that surrounds us is one of the ways in which we can catch three-dimensional glimpses of His other-dimensional glory. They awaken in us a delight in His Presence and a desire to know Him more. For we who have been born again and in whom His Spirit dwells these glimpses are portals to the greater good of knowing God and experiencing fellowship with Him through faith awakened in our spirits. God’s desire for us is that we learn to be enthralled with what we can sense spiritually of His glory and let that satisfy our souls with peace, joy, and love.
It is time to stop and smell the roses. Not just to admire their beauty, but to let that beauty draw you to savor the glory of their Creator Who has made them for that very purpose and is always ready to let you taste His goodness and enjoy the glory and holiness of His Presence. Being satisfied by His love that way becomes a wellspring for all our worship, all our praying, all our thinking, all our doing, as we “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).