Sitting Before Beauty

Much of my time in the Word this week has been spent in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. As I have grown in the gospel over the past few months, I have sense a corresponding desire to grow in personal holiness (which I think is fitting). As such, I spent time with both Ezekiel and Isaiah. These were two men who were deeply transformed by the visions of God that they had. As a matter of fact, I am willing to venture (not just from an existential viewpoint but also from the standpoint of biblical theology) that their entire ministries were shaped by their experiences in these chapters.
As God has me in a holding pattern (for full time ministry and seminary) for the next 6 months or so, I have found it to be extremely beneficial to gaze intently at the beauty and holiness of God. I would also be willing to say that no man or woman (myself included) is ready to go out and serve the Lord until they have seriously considered the holiness of God; and not just the holiness of God but the corresponding responses to such consideration. Yet consideration, seems like a strictly theological exercise. This is not what I mean when I speak of consideration. Consideration as I see it is a sitting before the throne of God who is utterly holy and utterly beautiful. This meditation on the holiness and beauty of God should not just stir theologies (thought it should do that) but it should be the fuel for life. The fuel for Godly living. Sitting before the holiness of God, should make us strive to be more like him... or more holy. It should fuel a heartfelt appreciation for gazing at our Lord. When the holiness of God is apprehended at the heart level, it recognizes that God is beautiful and the glory of his holiness is valuable. There is perhaps no better antidote to fighting off idols than to produce a heart that daily longs to see the beauty of the Lord and not just in quiet times but at all times. When you consider God to be the most beeautiful being/thing to be looked at, pursued or considered, the pursuit of anything that gets in the way can be more easily jettisoned. The heart will always pursue what it finds to be most valuable or most beeautiful. The Christians who have most impacted this world had a vision for God as the only one worth living for.
I don't think true Christianity is possible without a vision for God like this. No... I don't think, I know that it is impossible to sustain true Christianity without the holiness of God mixed in at nearly every aspect. I make no distinction between "world impacting Christianity" and other types of Christiniaty. The only type of Christianity is world impacting Christianity. And without the holiness of God, Christianity will cease to look decidedly Christian.
I want to close with a passage from Ezekiel that has sat with me all week. I don't know if there is a better picture in the entire bible of the beauty and wonder of God. This is Ezekiel (1:26-28) describing God as he sees him in his vision:

And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the flory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Powerful! In the next few blogs, I plan on talking about two things. First, I want to talk about Ezekiel and Isaiah's repsonse to their visions. Next, I want to talk about how these visions shaped their ministry. Stay tuned.