GOD’S GLORY
Proverbs 25:2
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
In the name of Jesus:
What a paradox! Solomon in his wisdom writes that it is the glory of God to conceal things. If this is the case, who can really know God and His glory? Who can really know God if God wants to conceal Himself and the things of His Kingdom?
It is the glory of kings, that is, earthly rulers, to search things out. We know that this is the case. How many times have you seen in your life that when something is wrong in our government, that the Congress will appoint a special committee or a Special Prosecutor in order to ascertain the facts concerning a particular problem? We see it all of the time, don’t we? Government officials are good at doing that, appointing fact finding committees in order to try to get to the truth.
This has been true since we have had governments, ruling officials, and people in charge. This is why Solomon puts this in the proverb. Whenever there was a problem in his kingdom, he appointed people to investigate the problem and find out the truth, so that in his wisdom, he might find a solution. A good king investigates matters in his kingdom so that he would expose wrongdoing and bring that culprit into judgment. When this happens, justice takes place and all in the kingdom get the message to take heed, and don’t do what the wrongdoer was found guilty of, because the crime will be punished.
Certainly there are times when kings and the government must investigate matters but their intentions and findings are kept concealed from the public and their subjects. The Untied States government will not reveal every aspect of their findings in certain cases, perhaps they will cite that they are doing so in keeping with the national interests, maybe the findings will not be revealed because of a political agenda, because of a personal quirk, or hidden motive. You and I can understand and relate to that, can’t we? We see it all of the time. It is the world in which we live. And it is the world in which Solomon, indeed, it is the world in which everyone lives.
People are inquisitive by nature. If we don’t know something, we start a quest to find the truth. But in God’s case, there is a paradox. God’s glory, our text says, comes in WHAT IS HIDDEN ABOUT HIM FROM HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. Note well, that while a king’s glory comes in investigating and making things known, the glory of God is hidden and concealed. God hides Himself from us.
So how can we know God? How can others know God? How can we make God known to the world, when God and His glory are concealed? God tells us how, in His Word, so let us go to other parts of the Scriptures, and let the Scriptures interpret the Scriptures, to see what God has to say.
We can only know God in the manner and means whereby God makes Him known. We only know things about God in what He reveals Himself to us. If God doesn’t say or choose to reveal things, we can’t know those things. But if God reveals Himself, then we will know what He reveals about Himself. Just listen to what God says in Deuteronomy 29:29: “"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” God knows all things, and we know only those things about Him which He chooses to reveal to us. There are things that God doesn’t want us to know, or see. And herein we see the grace of God.
Remember Moses, that great man of God, so great that he asked God if he could see God in His glory? Moses’ request was simple: “Exodus 33:18; “Moses said, "Please show me your glory." And God’s response was just as direct, merciful, but direct: Exodus 33:19-20; And God said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The Lord.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. [20] But," he said, "You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live."
Why can’t man see God in His glory and live? Because we are a fallen people, a people who have broken God’s Law and a people who have fallen short of His glory. This is a concept, a reality, which people today just don’t quite understand. Wendell Berry, a Christian author, was speaking at a conference some time ago on human relationships. In the conversation with a participant at the conference, he stated: “remember that we are a fallen people.” The one to whom he was speaking remarked, “I don’t believe that!” To which Berry responded: “Then where else does all of this evil come from?”
Evil exists today, is present in our world and in our lives, precisely because Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden and fell from grace. The Fall is so named because we have fallen from God’s glory. Sin is real, and we see and fell its dreadful affects in our lives, particularly when we try to find God and can’t. We can send men to the moon and back, we can fly people around the world, we can connect to people from all over the globe via the internet, we can make medicines to heal many diseases, the human mind and its achievements are expansive and vast, but we can’t not come to God as we are, we can not know God as He is in our sinful state, because we are a fallen people. We are a broken people, a people who truly are poor miserable sinners.
In arrogance we can approach God, but He rejects us because of our sinfulness. Sin separates us from God, and from others. We see discord in the family, divisions within a country, barriers between people based on language or color, there is separation all around. This separation reveals our biggest issue, that sin separates us from God. And as much as others may seek to “prove” that sin doesn’t exist, there exists the reality of death. Sin pays off with death; death is an ever present reality and reveals how we have really fallen from God’s grace.
So how can we, as sinful people, know God’s glory? God chooses to reveal Himself in the Person of His Son, Jesus. God wants to be found, but only found in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. God hides Himself so that He will be able to show Himself to human creatures. God shows Himself in ways we can comprehend. He sent His Son, Jesus, to be like us in EVERYWAY, yet without sin. To the wise, fallen world, this is an absurdity, but God chooses to reveal Himself to a fallen world, as a kid in a crib, as a criminal on the cross, as a corpse in a crypt. God reveals Himself by hiding right in the middle of human existence as it has been bent out of shape by the Fall of humanity into sin. You want to see God, look for Him in the manger, find Him on the cross, see Him dead in the tomb, for Jesus, who knew no sin became sin for us so that we will know the glory of God in Christ!
This is the wisdom of God that God is to be found where we aren’t looking! The treasures of God, the riches and wisdom of God are found only in Jesus! Note well what the Scriptures say: “in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.” (Col. 2:3, 1: 26).
This wisdom, knowledge, and salvation are yours in Christ, given through simple water in your Baptism, strengthened by and through the Word of Christ in Holy Scripture, fed in, with, and under the bread and wine received whereby Jesus gives His body and blood, for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith. In Christ you have died to sin, and now live for God, for “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3).
And so, the child of Christ seeks no honor or glory for self, but seeks to glorify God by humbly living for Christ. We who have been forgiven are sent by God to serve others. We do so, not by lording it over others, or insisting on our own way, but we do so in humility, confessing our sins, seeking and receiving God’s forgiveness, and thereby sharing the love of Christ with others.
This is what is meant in verses 6 and 7 of the Old Testament lesson for this day: “Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great, [7] for it is better to be told, "Come up here," than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” This is what Jesus is referring to in the Gospel lesson when He is eating a meal with the Pharisees. The “important people” sought out seats of honor, but Jesus says: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." And then Jesus shows honor to those who least expect it: “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.” The writer to the Hebrews reminds us: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,” (Hebrews 13:2), for in freely receiving mercy, we are to freely share mercy.
Where is the Glory of God to be found? In the life, work, suffering, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. How can others know of God’s Glory? When His children, touched by His grace, share His grace and gracious to others.
Mother Teresa was once asked, "How do you measure the success of your work?" She thought about the question and gave her interviewer a puzzled look, and said, "I don't remember that the Lord ever spoke of success. He spoke only of faithfulness in love. This is the only success that really counts."
Yes, success counts in life, but what is really important to the Lord is faithfulness and fruitfulness. And we are faithful to Christ and fruitful for Him when we look around to those who are helpless, hurting, the destitute and do something for those who can do nothing for us in return. You see, the important people in life are not those who are always buying more trinkets than their neighbors. They are those who are using the blessings of life to bless others.
In Jesus’ name
Amen
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