当你想到宝座的时候会想到甚么词语？不是「威严」这个词吗？英语「威严」（majesty）这个词来自拉丁语的majestas，意思是伟大。巴刻（J.I. Packer）说：「我们说某人有威严时，是承认那人伟大，并表示我们的尊敬；例如我们说：「威严的女王」。「威严」这个词经常用来描述神。「耶和华作王！他以威严为衣穿上」（诗九十三1）。「我要默念你威严的尊荣和你奇妙的作为」（诗一四五5）。圣经告诉我们，基督升天后，「就坐在高天威严者的右边」（来一3）。（和合本作「至大者的右边」）

以赛亚为甚么需要看到神「坐在宝座上」？这是因为看到神的威严的异象，会激发起他对神的信靠和崇拜。我们也是这样。我们的信心那么软弱的其中一个原因是我们对神的思念不够深入。我们认为神是「坐在宝座上」还是只是坐在云上？

今天的教会，很多人的问题是他们对人很敬重，但是对神却不很在意。我很喜欢海福德（Jack Hayford）的那一首开头是：「敬拜主！敬拜祂的威严」的诗歌。我们可能在教会热烈地高唱这首歌，但是在跪下祷告的时候却又回复对神那欠缺深入的尊敬。我们必须学习将神与祂的威严连结起来。我告诉你，只要你的心充满对神威严的敬意，你奉献的生命就必定会被燃点起来！

「我们对神的思念不够深入」

进深研究
代上二十九10-13；诗九十六4-6；伯三十七22-23

1. 大卫在会众面前宣告甚么？
2. 以利户向约伯宣告甚么？

祈祷
哦，天父，我向上凝望、注目于您的伟大和您的荣耀时，求您激起我信靠和崇拜的本能，并让我的灵魂燃烧起来。主啊，我看着您，我怀着虔诚和敬畏的心向您呼喊：「我要敬拜有威严的神」。阿们。

The Vision of God

Day 11

"His Majesty!"

"For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods."(v.3)

Bible reading:
Psalm 95:1-11

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

3 For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.

5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice,

8 "Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,[a] as you did that day at Massah[b] in the wilderness,

9 where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, 'They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.'

11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"

Message

What is the word that comes to mind when you think of a throne? Is it not the word "majesty"? Our word "majesty" comes from the Latin majestas and means greatness. Jim Packer says: "When we ascribe majesty to someone we are acknowledging greatness in that person and voicing our respect for it, as for instance, when we speak of 'Her Majesty, the Queen'." "Majesty" is a word that is often used of God. "The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty" (Psa. 93:1). "They will speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty" (Psa. 145:5). Christ, we are told, at His ascension, "sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven" (Heb. 1:3).

Why was it necessary for Isaiah to see God "seated on a throne"? Because his instincts of trust and worship would be stimulated by a vision of God's majesty. And so will it be with us. One of the reasons why our faith is so feeble is because our thoughts of God are not great enough. Do we picture God "seated on a throne" or just sitting upon a cloud?

The trouble with many in today's Church is that, although they cherish great thoughts about men, they have only small thoughts about God. I love the song written by Jack Hayford that begins "Majesty! Worship His Majesty". But it is possible to sing that with great gusto in church and then revert to our inadequate thoughts about God when we kneel down to pray. Learn to associate God with majesty. I promise you, filling your mind with thoughts of "His Majesty" will set your devotional life on fire!

"Our thoughts of God are not great enough"

Prayer
O Father, as I turn my gaze upward to focus on Your greatness and Your glory, stimulate my instincts of trust and worship and set my soul on fire. I look at You and my heart cries out in godly reverence and fear: "Your Majesty'. Amen.

Further study
1 Chronicles 29:10-13
Psalm 96:4-6
Job 37:22-23

1. What did David proclaim in the presence of the whole assembly?
2. What did Elihu proclaim to Job?

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