God’s visual majesty makes him holy. Seeing God’s majesty inspires unending bliss and awe. Are you looking forward to the beatific vision?
Something about height is impressive. Stand on the sidewalk next to the Willis Tower in Chicago or at the base of Mount Rainier in Washington and look up, and you will feel something. Awe. Wonder. What you see is part of what people mean when they use the word majesty to describe things greatly elevated.
Something about light is also impressive. Experience a great light show at a concert or a top-notch, 4th-of-July fireworks finale or the best sunset of the year, and you will struggle to find words adequate to explain what you see and feel. Glory. Awe. Amazement.
Something about royalty is also impressive. Walk through the gate of the palace of a traditional king and queen for an audience. Behold the ubiquitous guards and their uniforms, the exquisite architecture, the trained formality of the large staff, the glistening gold and marble of the high-ceilinged hallways, the tall columns and artwork in the vast throne room, the gold thrones, the wide circle of attendants, the purple robes of the king and queen, the priceless crowns on their heads. Words like beauty, power, and glory come to mind.
Put all this elevation, light, and royalty together, and you have another aspect of the holiness of God. The single word majesty conveys all this, and awe sums up its effect on those who experience it. God is holy because his visual glory is awesome.
The king of majesty
We see all this in Isaiah’s vision of God. Isaiah 6:1–5 says:
“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 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!’”
God is holy because he is the royal Majesty in heaven. Thus he is high above and transcendent over all creation, resplendent in unapproachable light. His beauty is beatific—a word which means inspiring bliss. His glory inspires the perpetual awe and wonder of perfected souls in heaven, overwhelms the physical, human senses of souls on earth, and terrifies sinners. But for those justified through faith in Jesus Christ, to see God’s holy face is the ultimate human experience.
Beatific majesty
King David understood the goodness of seeing God’s holiness. He wrote, “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)
Moses saw more of the holy glory of God than any man, yet it only made him want more, for God had not yet displayed all his majesty. So on top of Sinai, in God’s presence, months after the Exodus, Moses said, “Please show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18).
God answered, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’” (Exodus 33:19) Notice that when we see the holy glory of God, we are seeing absolute goodness, infinite goodness, a goodness so good it is overwhelming.
Therefore God told Moses: You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. 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. (Exodus 33:20–23)
Unending bliss
The goodness of seeing perfect holiness is symbolized also by the garment God designed for the holiest man in Israel, that is, the high priest Aaron and his sons. God said, “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty….For Aaron’s sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty.” (Exodus 28:2, 40)
The same was true of the temple itself. The holy place was beautiful, made of gold, silver, bronze, and embroidered fabrics. For example, for the Holy of Holies, God said, “You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it” (Exodus 26:31).
God designed the temple and the priesthood as symbols to communicate that the glory of God in heaven is beautiful. It will inspire unending bliss.
God’s majestic face
Thankfully when we leave this fallen earth, God refits us for heavenly existence. What we cannot do now, made of dust as we are, weak and tainted still by sin, we will be able to do then. He will recreate us for life in a holy place by perfecting us in holiness through Jesus Christ.
On Mount Sinai, God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” However, in the New Creation described in the Book of Revelation, God says his people “will see his face” (Revelation 22:4).
Until then, in the life we still live in this world, the joy of seeing God’s holy majesty should be our great hope. We have much to look forward to. Because of what Jesus has done and will yet do for us, God’s majestic holiness is no longer our insurmountable problem, but rather our great hope.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)