“And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. And when they came out, they blessed the people and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.”
– Leviticus 9:23
Oh, I love that phrase from Leviticus 9:23. “The glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.” The verse after this talks about fire coming out from before the Lord and consuming the burnt offering, the pieces of fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
Leviticus 9:23 Reminds Us of the Greatness of God’s Glory
May we long to see more and more of God’s glory. Lord, forgive us for neglecting your glory.
I just want to remind us, our God is glorious. He is so glorious, so awesome. So beyond our imagination, our comprehension. He is great. I mean, what words can describe awesome, beautiful, His grander, His Majesty beyond our imagination, His glory. Just the sum of all His attributes. And I want to encourage us, and even as we pray according to this verse, well, let’s just do it God. We want to see more and more and more of your glory. Like to realize more and more and more of your glory. To behold hold more and more and more of your glory.
Leviticus 9:23 Leads Us to Pray to See God’s Glory
We pray with Moses earlier in Exodus. Show me Your glory. Show us your glory. Even as we pray that we praise you. We praise you. Think John chapter one. “We have beheld the glory of the one and only in the face of Jesus, in the coming of Jesus, the word made flesh.” Jesus, we praise you as the glory of God. So we praise You for the manifestation of the Father’s glory in You. And we want to know You more. We want to see You more Jesus. Second Corinthians four, five, “We want to behold your glory oh God. In the face of Jesus more. We want to see your grander and your majesty to know your splendor and your might and your love and your mercy more and more and more and more.
This Verse Leads Us to Ask God for Forgiveness
We shout, we’ve fallen on our face before You in worship, in awe. Just overwhelmed, humbled, overcome awe before You. God, help us in our lives in our families in our churches to recover the sense of awe before You. Lord forgive us. Forgive us for forgetting how glorious You are. Forgive us for treating You in ways that are not worthy of You. Speaking about You singing to You in ways that are not worthy of You. God, help us to worship You.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for India
And God we pray not just for our sake. And I think about the Kunbi people in India, 18 million of them, little to no known followers of Jesus. God, they see your glory and creation around them, but they are missing your glory in the face of Jesus. God please cause the glory of Jesus, Your glory in Jesus remain known among the Kunbi people in India. Please God, please cause it to be so. May they see Jesus, may they see His love for them. His dying on a cross for them. Please oh God caused your glory in Jesus to be made known among the Kunbi in India.
Even as we pray, as those who have seen the glory of Jesus, we want to know more. We pray for those who’ve never seen His glory, that they would see Him for the first time. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
