“And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
Luke 1:34
Jude 24 is such a hopeful verse, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” I am often dismayed at how rarely and how briefly I glimpse His glory so that I can rejoice in it. The eyes in this earthly body of mine just don’t have the capacity for beholding glory. Even when, in His mercy, God gives me a spiritual glimpse, its brightness fades quickly. Such glances are short refractions of glory, dimmed, and clouded. It is necessary for God to limit my view, because while I live in the body, if I were to get a direct view, I could not stand. I am simply unequipped to look at God. I could more easily stare directly into the sun and suffer fewer ill effects than if I looked directly into the glorified face of Christ. But I have the promise in Jude, that one day, Jesus will change my body, and I will have new eyes that have improved capacities – I will be able to stand in the very presence of His glory and look! I will not be destroyed. I will not shield my eyes. I will look and be filled with great joy!
Until then I wait, and I seek as many foretastes of His glory as I can. The place I look for, and find, these tastes in is in the Bible. God has revealed Himself in His Son, and His Son is revealed to me through the Spirit inspired Word, by Spirit empowered reading and meditation.
But O, how weakly I perceive glory, even when I put my eyes to His Word! How much glory there is in there, and how little I see it. How small is my capacity to observe and to preserve a view of His glory in His revealed Word.
This condition is inherent in all humanity. I take some solace that having limited perception is ordained by God for as long as I reside in my body. Even though the Bible is drenched in glory, and drips words about the glory of Christ, I only see His reflections. Even Mary, who was favored by God and blessed to carry the Son of God in her body, was limited in her perceptions.
Consider what she heard and what she asked of Gabriel. Gabriel left the presence of God to give her the message that she will bear the Christ. Here are a few of the glorious things he tells her about Christ. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High. He will be given the throne of His father David. He will reign forever over the House of Jacob. His kingdom will have no end. Consider again, for a moment, some of the implications of these statements. He will remain forever. He will be the son of the Most high. As a Christian, living two thousand years later, I probably understand what that means better than Mary did at the moment she heard it. Nevertheless, I would think that such statements would elicit certain questions from her. How will He reign forever – won’t He die like every other king of Israel died? How can any man be called the Son of the Most High? These were perplexing and amazing statements!
But like all of us, Mary’s mind grabs hold of the more immediate, earthly question, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” Her question is not about the one who would be called great, but about how it would take place, and technically how it could be possible.
There is nothing wrong with her question. It is relevant. It is appropriate. And it receives a full answer. But it reminds me so much of how I read glorious Christ-centered revelations that speak of His majesty and beauty, yet blindly pass over these glory statements and instead fix on the earthly practical parts. “Husband’s love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” How many books are written to help us apply this verse to our marriages – as well they should! But how quickly I pass over the Christ-displaying, kingdom oriented eternal purpose of Christian marriage to get to the practical application of loving my wife. All scripture is like this. All of it reveals Christ. It uses all my earthly circumstances, but constantly draws my attention heavenward, “…keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth,” Colossians 3:1-2. But gravity pulls my view downward and just as quickly as I get a heavenly glimpse, my attention is back on the immediate concerns of the day.
So what am I to do? By the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit I shall strive to set my mind on things above by looking intently into the Word for those breaking moments of glory in which Jesus is revealed to my soul. I will treasure these moments. I will also try to be humble, like Mary, and accept that God has ordained the days of my life which include living with limited capacities and narrow vision. I will strive for much, but accept whatever frequency and whatever degree God permits.
“He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor – it is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. Ecclesiastes 3:11-14
So be it, Lord Jesus.
{ 0 comments… add one now }