The Glory of the Lord - ISAIAH 40

Isa. 40:3-9

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;

5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

6 The voice said, "Cry out!" And he said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever."

In natural life, mountains are large formations which halt and prevent progress to the traveler. Valleys can be impassable and keep one from going forward on their journey. There are such rocky land areas and crooked lands that keep one from moving forward, it is just too much of a barrier for vehicle, man or beast to cross. But these places must become leveled. In the spiritual application - Prepare the way for the Lord, let all of these obstacles and impossible situations be done away with. Let the high and proud fall, let the depressed be built up, let the rough and offensive ground be smooth and everything that is crooked and unrighteous be made right.

AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD WILL BE REVEALED.

If I am proud, I won’t be able to see the glory of the Lord; if I am in depression, I won’t be able to see it; if I am offensive and full of stumbling blocks for others, I will miss God’s glory; and if I am crooked and unrighteous, I will miss the glory of the Lord. He will not and cannot come to these.

Let everything be made smooth and ready for the Lord. He will reveal His GLORY. And all mankind will see it.

But it is up to us to make things ready. The prophecy is written that way. You prepare the way of the Lord. And John the Baptist took these words when he cried out in the wilderness. Repent, prepare the way of the Lord!

Cry out. ALL FLESH IS GRASS. Everything that is man-made, everything which looks real good but in actuality is propped up and kept going by strife or fear or intimidation; everything that is deceptive, it looks promising but really isn't - - is grass. Grass lasts only for a season and is of little value. And any little bit of it’s glory is only like a flower which quickly dies. It is time for the permanent and eternal to eclipse the mere, lowly grass of man’s ways. It's time for me and it's time for us to choose eternal things over the temporary.

I want to see His glory.

At The Throne of God

Revelation 5:11-14 "Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels on every side of the throne and of the living creatures and the elders and they numbered ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Saying in a loud voice. Deserving and worthy is the Lamb, Who was sacrificed, to receive all the power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and majesty, glory, splendor and blessing ! And I heard every created thing in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in it crying out together, To Him Who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb be ascribed the blessing and the honor and the majesty and the power, might and dominion, forever and ever!!!"

There is a place where the living creatures never cease to cry "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!" -Rev. 4:8. Imagine that. These are the living creatures who are surrounding the throne of God. They constantly are near Him and never stop their proclamations of worship. Never. Never.

How can this be? In my finite mind, I would think they would tire of this, or it would get old, like a job, day in and day out. After all, they've been doing it forever. They would just go on "auto pilot" and wonder if they would ever get a break. It's human nature. But it's not heavenly nature.

There is a place where everything is ALIVE. This place is at the throne of God Almighty. There is nothing there which hints of weakness, or being a chore, of being without purpose. Everything done by the Almighty One is life-giving, perfect, and awesome. To be there is the ultimate.

I don't believe that the living creatures and the angels do any of this praise by rote or by habit. On the contrary, they are constantly seeing God do things they've never seen before. He has not yet revealed all of who He is. He is constantly interacting with men and and working His works and revealing and speaking. And every time He does this, the angels see some new aspect of His glory, that has never been seen and they have to cry out "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY ! ! ! " And this never ends ! UNBELIEVABLE !

The Creator, the Ominipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent One is so vast and unsearchable that this praise and worship will never end ! His attributes of lovingkindness, mercy, healing, justice, strength, power, glory, majesty, righteousness, splendor, creativity, counsel, wisdom, and knowledge are unending. His Word and His name are equally infinite and powerful. His works to men are also unending. So His praise is unending. We will never exhaust our expression of praise to an infinite God. HALLELUJAH ! ! !

And, here's the bonus. We can go to that place and come before His throne.
We can join in the worship at the throne. We, in fact, should be bringing the praise of heaven down to the earth. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We should be instituting the kingdom of God on the earth as it is in heaven. The worshipers who see God are the ones who have this song in their mouths, the song of the living creatures. Because they are full of eyes and they see God, they are prophetic, they see the revealed things of God. And they do not cease to cry HOLY.

Now may this praise and worship be established on the earth as it is in heaven.

A Teeny Little Look At Music in Scripture

The first mention of music in the Bible is in Genesis 4:21 - "His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute."

I believe we can see the design and purpose of music in the meaning of Jubal's name. And by following the "law of first mention" we can see the really get the picture that God is showing us.
The law of first mention is the principle that requires one to go to that portion of the Scriptures where a doctrine is mentioned for the first time and to study the first reference in order to get the fundamental inherent meaning of that doctrine or subject. When we look at the first appearance, which is usually in the simplest form, we can then examine the doctrine in other portions of the Word that were given later. The fundamental concept in the first occurrence remains dominant as a rule, and colors all later additions to that doctrine. So looking at Jubal and this reference we can find some things out that maybe aren't quite so obvious.

Jubal's name literally means "a water flow".

Don't you wonder what the very first music sounded like?
I do. Jubal was a musician and the father of all who play the harp and flute. The first music, I believe, was pure, like flowing water. It would have been, alive and uplifting. Music that touches people and music that is well liked is music that is not only played with skill, but communicates heart to heart. Nobody wants to listen to musicians who have little skill or cannot get across the message of their music. Where a river is flowing, there is a whole range of variation. At places it will be deep, other places it will be shallow, sometimes the flow is slow, sometimes wild. Describe a flowing river, then describe music. They are much the same.

Jubal's parents were Lamech and Adah, the seventh generation from Adam and Eve, who by the way lived to the age of 777, and in his later years was the father of Noah. Lamech's name means "powerful" and Adah means "ornament". I think all of these describe music. Music is so powerful, so influencial and universal that it is pervasive in all societies. Music is also an ornament in that it is valuable and decorative. It is set apart and unique, coming from each instrumentalist uniquely. There is no end to it's creative possibilities. In fact it flows from the Creator and is purely creative in it's nature.

This is the original intent of music; for it to be a flow, alive and moving as a stream moves, giving life like water does. It is intended be pure and unadulterated, not manipulated, or controlling.

The moving of the Holy Spirit is like a water flow. It is alive, it gives life. It is like prophecy which I Cor. 14:3 says "But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men."
In scripture The Holy Spirit has been symbolized by a river. Jesus revealed this when he said in John 7:38-39, "out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. This He spoke of the Holy Spirit."

Psalm 46:6 "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God."
The chapter of Ezekiel 47 is all about the river that flows from the temple and gives life.
And finally, in Revelation 22:1 -
"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb."

This scripture seems to mirror the Gen. 4:21 scripture about Jubal.

Clearly, for the people of God, the Israelites, everything they did was to be for God's glory. The instruments David created and used were for the temple worship. Songs, instruments, music - all these had a purpose, for God's glory. We are also sons and daughters of Abraham. To us in the church, our music is to be that of the scripture.
Galatians 3:29 -
"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
and thereby the people of God."

Our music should entirely be for God's glory, not for our fame. Even Christian music has an industry in which the stars thereof promote themselves. The music which flows from the throne of God has no pride, no production, no promotion for the musicians. It is not mixed with any of the ways of the world and has no need to copy any of it's styles or licks. On the contrary, it is pure, it is mighty, it is alive and it is highly creative. It is skillful and full of life and love.

This is what I perceive is the original intent of music, like Jubal's name, a water flow. And this is to what I aspire.
~catchtheflow