My mind made a connection between that and the SPLENDOR of God. While many of His people observe and spend time with God in great excitement, even rising early to read His Word and talk with Him, others are okay with delayed accounts and short conversations. Still others are not interested. Even more miss God’s splendor in complete unawareness of His glory.
In the OT, splendor means glory and honor, far more than earned by a winning team in sports. It involves respect and reverence, and is used to describe God’s exalted position over His creation, as in Psalm 57:5: “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!”
Most ways to describe God’s splendor usually involve public worship:
Psalm 96:8–9. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
Verses such as these show that God’s holiness is a magnificent quality. Others use splendor to declare that the glory of God is majestic and awesome, worthy of our worship.
Sometimes the emphasis of splendor is on what God does as well as who He is. For instance, 1 Chronicles 16:26–27 puts it on His creative power: “For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.”
Psalm 45:3 hints at His power over evil and His role in helping us win that battle: “Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty!”
Other passages talk about the beauty of being with Him and how we need to be humble before such splendor: Psalm 96:6: “Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.”
The Lord is “Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever” and we can ask Him “to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.” Those who refuse to acknowledge the splendor of God, may wind up as the people who “enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.”
In the last days, His full splendor will be seen to bring salvation to Israel and to convert the nations:
Isaiah 60:1–2. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.”
Ezekiel 39:21–22. “And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward.”
Zechariah 2:11. “And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.”
In the NT, God’s splendor has been revealed in Jesus Christ to those whose faith has opened their eyes. At that time, anyone previously oblivious to the glory of God will have no excuse because His return will change all blindness to wide-eyed realization of His splendor.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The last verse to use splendor refers to the church, God’s body of believers. It encourages husbands to be like Christ who desires His Bride to be presented to Himself in splendor.
Ephesians 5:25–27 says: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and blameless.” As a wife my role is to cooperate with Him as an image of that greater relationship. Actually the Spirit of God calls me to glorify Him and make known His splendor in every part of my life. I cannot think of a more splendid goal!
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