Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: heavens

The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God
The Glory of God – written in the Creation on the Heavens and on the earth.

What is the chief end of man?

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

1 Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36; Ps. 73:25-28.

In our previous PSALM we focused on how a man or woman might best start our day.

And our focus turned from SELF toward the LORD — to rejoice — to experience God’s gladness in His creation and in us.

You might say, by extension, a daily disposition toward JOY becomes our worship in serving the LORD.
```
Perhaps you know Beethoven's ODE TO JOY from the finale of the composer's Nineth Symphony. 

Did you know that text of Ode to Joy is taken from Psalms 104 and 145:10? 
```
Today’s theme: the GLORY of God

Perhaps you know our PSALM from a scripturally-focused hymnal (of old).

The CREATION

Psalm 19

The heavens, O God, Thy glory tell
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Published in 14 hymnals

The Heavens are telling – Beethoven

Many of you will know another glorious large composition of praise from an oratorio of Haydn near the end of the 18th century

The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God,
(from “The Creation”)

— The Heavens Are Telling.

Hayden: Chorus:

The heavens are telling the glory of God,
The wonders of his work displays the firmament;

Today that is coming speaks it the day,
The night that is gone to following night.

In every land [In all the land] resounds the word,
never unperceived, ever understood.

Music by Josef Haydn
Lyrics translated by Robert Shaw, based on Psalm 19.

What is the GLORY of God?

“You said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness,

and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire;

we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.

Deuteronomy 5:25 NASB

By contrast we might ask, ‘What is the glory of man?’

By the weight of your wrath against man’s sin, the glory of his form is wasted away; truly every man is but a breath. (Selah.)

Psalm 39:11 BBE

The glory of the heavens?

The LORD is high above all nations,

and his glory above the heavens.

Psalm 113:4

OR of the firmament?

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters... And God called the firmament Heaven.

Genesis 1:6,8a KJV

OR

What is the glory of the earth, you might ask?
```
But in fact, you cannot find any glory in 'the earth' separate from the glory of the LORD its Creator. 
```
- Psalms sing of GLORY in one form or another over 400 times!
– kāḇôḏ כָּבוֹד

Who is this King of glory?

The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.

Selah.

Psalm 24:10
```
(You likely know some contemporary Christian songs expressing these words.)
```
Just what does it mean to GLORIFY God?

You who fear Yahweh, praise Him;

All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him,

And stand in awe of Him, all you seed of Israel.

Psalm 22:23 LSB

“The beasts of the field will glorify Me,

The jackals and the ostriches,

Because I have given waters in the wilderness

And rivers in the wasteland,

To give drink to My chosen people.

Isaiah 43:20

Psalm 19:

Let’s take a closer look at this Psalm of David.

The heavens are sounding the glory of God;

the arch of the sky makes clear the work of his hands.

Day after day it sends out its word,

and night after night it gives knowledge.

Psalm 19:1-2 BBE (Bible in Basic English)

Do you see God’s glory?

Look up! o man of dust! you creature beneath the night sky — with eyes to see above,

but not so near to the Lord’s glory.

You cannot deny His glory— ALMIGHTY Hands that formed — HIS fire which will refine your flesh into burned away dross scorched in the daytime sun.

There are no words or language;

their voice makes no sound.

Their line has gone out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

In them has he put a tent for the sun,

Who is like a newly married man coming from his bride-tent,

and is glad like a strong runner starting on his way.

His going out is from the end of the heaven,

and his circle to the ends of it;

there is nothing which is not open to his heat.

Psalm 19:3-6 BBE

David — the king and Psalmist — proclaims a GLORY of the LORD words cannot convey with pictures that only hint of God’s evident greatness.

Now David proceeds to

the benefits of GOD’s law:

The law of the LORD is perfect,
```
We do NOT like the LAW — we resist it— we rebel against it — for the laws and precepts of every mortal man are imperfect. 

AND, by contrast, 

the Law of the Lord— like Almighty GOD — is perfect and good and breathes life into fallen flesh and our impure soul. 
```
The law of the LORD is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the LORD is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the LORD are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the LORD is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the LORD is clean,

enduring for ever;

the ordinances of the LORD are true,

and righteous altogether.

Psalm 19:7-9 RSV

FEAR in the Face of HIS GLORY

the fear of the LORD is clean,

enduring for ever;

the ordinances of the LORD are true,

and righteous altogether.

Psalm 19:9 RSV

fear (of Yᵊhōvâ) -yir’â -יִרְאָה
- fear, terror
- awesome or terrifying thing (object causing fear)
- fear (of God), respect, reverence, piety
- revered
Psalm 2 connects this fear of the LORD not only with trembling, but with rejoicing or reiterating our joy.

Serve the LORD with reverential awe

and rejoice with trembling.

Psalm 2:11 CSB
```
David's Psalm becomes practically proverbial in teaching why WE must not only FEAR the LORD, 
but also OBEY his LAW 
and instructions (or ordinances). 
```
They [God’s ordinances] are more desirable than gold —

than an abundance of pure gold;

and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb.

In addition, your servant is warned by them,

and in keeping them there is an abundant reward.

Psalm 19:10-11 CSB
```
Note that the king (David) humbly proclaims himself — though sovereign over men — as a SERVANT of the LORD. 

MORE fatherly advice: 
```
But who can discern their own errors?

Forgive [lit. ‘acquit me – a legal determination] my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins;

may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless,

innocent [lit. acquitted] of great transgression.

Psalm 19:12-13 NIV

Redeemed for our transgressions

How can a mere man stand before the glory of the Lord our God?

David intercedes in his Psalm on behalf of his loyal subjects. (For his mercy endures forever. – Psalm 136)

transgression (84x), trespass (5x), sin (3x), rebellion (1x). – pešaʿ -פֶּשַׁע

AND you have heard it before — from the later prophesy of Isaiah long after the fall of King David’s chosen nation.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our peace fell upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 LSB – of the suffering servant

Even Christ JESUS — Son of David; Son of Man — the very Son of the Father — born in the flesh and crucified for the redemption of those chosen to eternal life — will return in his GLORY!!!

David’s familiar benediction:
```
a plea of my own heart frequently heard from the pulpit by the flock of Christ as an invitation to receive Scripture into your own heart: 
```
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 ESV

Secure Links to sources
June 21, 2025
Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 2

Disaster – Why start with Eden?

Why should a series whose subject is apocalypse and disaster begin with the paradise of Eden?

The obvious answer may escape the eyes of a perishable mortal facing a life-ending disaster. In an instant we may wonder what’s next, yet in accelerated times we may not have considered what was before.

What was before me, even before man? How did I get here? Even more importantly, why am I here? Why, and what does my life have to do with my death?

Certainly disaster will ensnare many: accidents, seemingly random events which bring an unexpected end to an already brief life. That death should overtake a man or woman should not ambush any.

Yet have you considered your death, the death of man, the death of the earth upon which we walk?

If so, you may also have considered the beginnings of the same. Our hesitant conclusions about our beginnings may logically lead toward answers to our existence and inevitable conclusions. So from before Eden and paradise we begin.

IN THE BEGINNING, GOD

Genesis 1:1

1:1 בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָֽרֶץ׃

re’shiyth elohiym bara’eth

In the beginning, God created …

Before we move forward with creation let’s just take a minute to consider what we believe. Do you believe in God?

Can you define God? In fact, you may ask, ‘Why God?’

In these last days man has observed both creation and destruction of distant universe of which we have but minuscule evidence.

DNA strand & computer-sequenced 5.5 petabits of data [Harvard research]

We have mapped mysteries of our flesh, split the stuff of our existence with fearful explosion of devastation. Yet our awestruck wonder of creation fails to comprehend —the impassable great divide

–between the glory of God —

and vulnerability of man.

What is man that you remember him,

or the son of man that you care for him?

You made him lower than the angels

for a short time;

you crowned him with glory and honor

and subjected everything under his feet.

excerpt from Hebrews 2

In beginning our series:

We shall consider man next and even the angels and spirits, but first consider the primordial soup of stuff from which great power formed the beginnings of all.

If you must ask what inertia from nothingness moved hydrogen twice into oxygen, then consider the power to bring both into existence. No logic states, ‘in the beginning was water’ or rock or atoms.

Who created atoms and universe? In the beginning was… something: yes, One more powerful and more intelligent; yes, even One more wise and more good than all of which we wonder in awestruck human observation.

If you must deny that things cannot create themselves, then you deny the very purpose for which God, Who IS and Was and Will BE forever, created you for this brief flash of life in our human flesh.

You are not here for nothing any more than you were created by nothing from nothing. In the beginning, God created …

From the beginning of the five books of Moses:

Genesis 1:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

Let us confess that NO man or alien from planet yet uncreated from nothingness and NO mathematically improbable coincidental collision of primordial matter could possibly have done this!

Do you see the the light is good and must be separated from the darkness to define the glory of the light? Will you consider separating darkness which brings disaster from that light with which your life is blessed?

We with eyes to see know the glory of our creation and the defining darkness which beckons our countenance back toward the deep dark chaos opposing the light of of this life.

The LORD speaks the beginning into existence

5 God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came and then morning: the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth,” and He called the gathering of the water “seas.”

And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.

And God saw that it was good.

13 Evening came and then morning: the third day.

Light separated from darkness to celebrate God

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. 15 They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 Evening came and then morning: the fourth day.

The Beginning of Life on earth

20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 So God blessed them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds.

And God saw that it was good.

To be continued…

June 4, 2018