HOW SWEET AND AWFUL IS THIS PLACE
Eph
4:24
I’ve
taken this title from a Hymn song called “How Sweet and Awful is the Place” written by Isaac Watts.
Isaac Watts also
was known for writing Christian classics such as “When I Survey The Wondrous
Cross” and “Joy To The World” to name a few. But!
This song in particular draws a lot of attention, because it expresses to us
the glory of salvation in God’s election and also the holiness of God in the
same stanza. This
song expresses to us the holiness of God in the title when using the word “Awful”
“How sweet and awful is the
place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love
displays
The choicest of her stores.”
It goes on to say in the next stanza "Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there's room,
When thousands make a
wretched choice,
And rather starve than
come?"
A good question to ask when reading or singing this hymn song
from 1707 is… Why
me, Lord? Why do many despise the invitation to the feast? Awfulness
of God comes
to mind when thinking about that question. The
word “awful” is interesting. Some interpret it to be “awesome” in more modern day language. I
personally, prefer to leave it as its written when Isaac Watts wrote it. Why? The
word “awesome” is used so superficially that it can be a substitute for “cool”
or “neat”. This
song where the word “awful” is used, it means “full of awe”.
What does
“awful” mean? Surely
Isaac Watts is not saying it’s awful to be with Christ “within the doors”? This
expression helps the listener or the singer to understand GOD more fully for Who
God is. A God who is……. Big,
Holy, Righteous, Just, Loving, Perfect, Glorious, and Sovereign over
everything. And
as we see Him in Truth, we will begin to see ourselves through the same Truth
and come to abhor our sinfulness. The
presence of God brings conviction, because it’s the holiness of God that brings
us into His presence through Christ.
For example: Awe-fullness
provokes us with healthy holy fear; God’s holiness fills us terror. It’s
the same expression the author was trying to convey in the hymn song “Where You There When They Crucified My
Lord?”
“Were you there when they
crucified my Lord
Oh were you there when they
crucified my Lord
Ooh sometimes it causes me to
tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble”
A similar example
can be going to watch a scary movie or ride a roller coaster. You’re
afraid of heights, so you get strapped into this tiny car, go about 40mph,
climbing 100 plus feet and get dropped down a very steep incline to the next
tall, steep incline and continue to do this for about 45 seconds which seems like
an eternity. You
are excited with adrenaline and excitement, but in the same breath you fear for
your life. Our
attitude towards the holy is close to our attitude towards riding a roller
coaster. We
tend to get mixed feelings about the holiness of God. It tends to leave us
uncomfortable and it should.
R C Sproul said this
“There is a sense in which we are at the same time attracted to it, and
repulsed by it. Something draws us towards it, while at the same time we want
to run away from it. We can’t seem to decide which way we want it. Part of us
yearns for holy, while part of us despises it. We can’t live with it, and we
can’t live without it.” That
is comforting and rather unpleasant, all in the same breath or sentence. Isaiah
penned these words of discomfort when he got a glimpse of Heaven. “…..And one called to
another and said: "Holy, holy, holy
is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" And the
foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the
house was filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I
am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Isaiah 6:1-5
Isaiah knew he was in the
presence of holiness and he also knew himself that he was not holy at all. “….And I said: "Woe is
me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts!" A fear and awe came over him
as he describes for us his experience of standing in the throne room of God.
Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, the
whole earth is full of his glory!" Isaiah was in the presence of
holiness and with one breath he treasured this moment, and with another he
feared for his life in this moment. How
sweet and awful is this place, with Christ within the doors. There was another man who
desired to see the holiness of God. His name was Moses. Exodus
33:18-23 we read this account of Moses
“Moses said, "Please show me your glory.” And he 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. But," he said, "you cannot see my face,
for man shall not see me and live." And the LORD said, "Behold, there
is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes
by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand
until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my
back, but my face shall not be seen." God allowed Moses to see
God’s hindquarters but not His face. Because no one can look upon God and live. When Moses returned to his
people his faced shined/glowed and the bible says the people were terrified,
and they shrank away from Moses in horror.
In
Exodus 34:30 we read
“Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face
shone, and they were afraid to come near
him.” Think
about that for a moment! If the people were terrified by
the sight and reflection of Moses from just seeing the backside of God. How
can anyone stand and gaze directly into God’s holy face? Answer
we can’t but
it’s the final goal of every bible believing Christian. We want to see Him face to face;
our desire as His children saved through the gospel is to bask into the
radiance of His glory. Again
Jesus said “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
will see God.” Matt 5:8 This is talking about a
future hope, a hope that is only made possible through Christ and the gospel. It’s not through your
goodness or good intentions. We are not going to get to
plead our cases when we stand before Him in all His radiant glory. For it’s the holiness of God
that destroys the man and woman.
What do we mean when we talk about the holiness of God? One
thing we need to understand is that God’s holiness is not a moral concept. Rather
it’s the very nature of God, which therefore distinguishes Him from everything
else. It
is what sets God apart from His creation; this has to do with His “transcendence”
which is His
perfection. God’s
holiness is more than just separateness; this is where “transcendence” comes
in. “To
transcend”
means to rise above something, to go above and beyond a certain limit. God’s
transcendence is above and beyond us. This describes His supreme and absolute
greatness. This
word is used to describe God’s relationship with this world. Meaning He is
higher than this world, He is higher than you and me. God
is not on the same playing field as His creation; He is above it and He
transcends over it in supreme holiness.
There are at least
Four components to God’s holiness we need to understand that
sets God above His creation.
There is majesty to God’s holiness
God’s
holiness is venerating with sovereign authority. This majesty is describing a
“stateliness” or “grandeur” of who God is. A great example of this is found when Jesus is asleep in the
boat. “On that
day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the
other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat,
just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and
the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to
him, "Teacher, do you not care that
we are perishing?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the
sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great
calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"
And they were filled with great fear and
said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea
obey him?" Mark 4:35-41
The
only thing the disciples could was ask “Who
is this?” These
men where in the presence of God, the holy transcend One, who is above all
things, including the weather. Jesus
was in a class all by Himself, and a great fear came over the disciples. All
because they were in the presence of holiness.
There is a will to God’s holiness.
God
is a promoter of self! God’s will is for all the earth to regard His glory
above everything. God
wills and acts to see that His glory is recognized, that what sets His holiness
and transcendence apart from you and me. Why? According to the book of Exodus we learn something very
important. “You
shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the
fourth generation of those who hate me,” Exo 20:5. He
will either be recognized by His set apart children (You and Me) now or He will
be recognized on the Day of Judgement. What is the will of God for His children summed up in one
sentence
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1Thess 5:16-18. The
will of God in holiness is to recognize His transcending glory and radiance
over all the earth….When? Always according to Paul.
There is wrath attached to God’s holiness.
Wrath
is an essential part of God’s holiness, this is something that we don’t take
seriously enough of. James Boice said
“The wrath of God is not at all like any emotion we know in human experience.
It is. Rather, that necessary and proper stance of the holy God to all that
opposes Him. It means that he takes the matter of being God seriously, so
seriously that he will not allow anything or personally to aspire to His
place.” Remember
the wrath of God abides on those who do not believe and rebel against the holy
transcendent God over the universe.
The Old Testament reveals this truth “The LORD is a jealous and
avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on
his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and
great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in
whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” Nahum 1:2-3
We read in the New Testament this truth “For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is
plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” Rom 1:18-19. To
fall in the hands of an angry and holy God, is to fall under the penalty of a
transcendent God. This
is why Christ came so that we could be spared this wrath through the gospel
confession. To
stand before God without the blood of Christ to cover our sin is to stand
before God as Moses dared but as God said “you shall surely die”
There is righteousness to God’s holiness.
They
should have known better because the instructions God gave in Exodus
30:9-10 it was very
clear when it came to the alter of incense. The
alter of incense was declared by God to be “most
holy” This
was a clear act of defiance and treason against God; they profaned a most holy
place. You
can disagree with such punishment, but Aaron didn’t! the bible says “Aaron remained silent.” Lev
10:3. The
basic understanding is that God’s judgements are always according to
righteousness, His
justice is never unfair, never impulsive, and never tyrannical. It’s
impossible for God to be unjust, because His justice is holy.
A another great and tragic example of this is found in 1
Chronicles 13:7-11 When
Uzzah thought he was being a hero or doing what would come naturally to all of
us if something was falling to the ground. The
bible says when David became King he wanted to bring back the Ark of the
Covenant. The
Ark was the Throne of God, the sacred seat of the Most High. The
Ark had been captured by the Philistines and it was time bring it home
according to David. 1 Chron 13:3-4. So
they go get back and they singing and playing instruments because the Mercy
Seat of God was returning back to the people.
All good right? Well as they travel the road the Ark begins to shift off the Oxen cart and one as we would say noble man put out its hand so that the Ark would not land in the mud.
Something
so sacred could never be dropped in mud. So as a normal human reaction, he
stretched out his arm to save it and something happened that no one expected to
happened.
Do you know what happened next? He
saved the Ark form dropping and everyone saw Uzzah as a hero and they celebrated
louder because of this heroic act. No! The scriptures say
“the LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had
put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.” 1 Chron 13:10
What did Uzzah do that was so terrible to receive such a
great punishment? He
disobeyed a holy God by ignoring the instructions to his duties as one who
transported the Ark when the Levites broke down the Tabernacle and the things
for transport. Uzzah
was a Kohathite who were responsible to transport the Ark with strict
instructions.
We read
“The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "Let not the tribe of the
clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites, but deal thus with
them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy
things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to
his burden, but they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a
moment, lest they die." Num 4:17-20
Uzzah
knew exactly what his duties were and would have known his calling when
transporting the Ark. Not
one person from this tribe was permitted to touch ark. The transporting of the
Ark was to be done with poles and the rings. Nothing
was said if in a pinch you put it on a oxen cart and drive it home. Not
only was he forbidden to touch the Ark but he was forbidden to even look it as
well. As it says in (v20). Uzzah’s
sin of presumption and arrogance lead to his death. In
his human thinking for the Ark touch the dirt or mud was to desecrate the Ark
and ultimately to desecrate God’s holy name. But
little did Uzzah understand that it wasn’t the ground that desecrated the Ark; it was the touch of sinful men touching the
holies of holies.
R C Sproul said
“The earth is an obedient creature. It does what God tells it to do. It brings
forth its yields in its seasons. It obeys the law of nature that God
established. When the temperature falls to certain level the ground freezes.
When water is added to the dust, it becomes mud, just as God designed it…..God
did not want His holy throne touched by that which was contaminated by evil,
that which was in rebellion to Him, that which by its ungodly revolt had
brought the whole creation to ruin..…it
was man’s touch that was forbidden.
We
as God’s children find this accounts of history disturbing because we don’t
understand how important we are to see God and His holiness. We struggle
to understand God’s holiness, justice, sin issue and His grace at the same
time. Don’t
get me wrong! God is merciful and longsuffering, but His mercy and
longsuffering is NOT
based upon
human emotion or human understanding. He
transcends beyond you and me and His holiness is not something we can play
around with. God takes His holiness seriously and so should we! Seriously enough for Peter to write this “As
obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former
ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am
holy." 1
Peter 1:14-21
Holiness
is something that we have been set apart to and from this world. We
are to walk in awe and fear of this great transcending grace that God gave us
through the gospel confession. Holy fear is
the beginning of wisdom that produces not human fear, but awe in the holiness
of our transcending God who sits on the Throne in all His supreme glory.”
How sweet and awful is this
place? Two word!
Incomparable and incomprehensible…but it’s where I want to be and I wouldn’t have it
any other way.
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