Be Thou Exalted

To be exalted means to be lifted up or to raise high. This is a common theme in the Psalm's of course they were the "Praise and Worship" standards of their day.

Ps. 18:46 - The Lord liveth: and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted Ps 21:13 Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power Ps. 34:3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together Ps. 57:11 in the refrain of our text - Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth. Ps 108:5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth Ps 118:28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.

We find that over and over the Old Testament writers would talk about God being Holy, and testify to the holiness of God. We often get caught up in only the one definition of the word 'holy' but it really means or can also mean "all together other" God was not like any other god in the world. You didn't have to manipulate him, he was all good, and he was concerned with humanity, and HE WAS THE GOD OF CREATION!!!

David is trying to help us to see God as someone completely other not common or ordinary or like everything else.

I love Psalm 77:14 (KJV) where it says,

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders:thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

We still serve a wonder working God. I still believe in miracles,

I want to point out just three ways God was exalted in humanities eyes in the Bible - now there are many more I am just picking out three this morning.

Lifted up in Glory

We find an interesting even in Exodus 24

Exodus 24:9-11 (KJV)

9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

We find these men according to their testimony not only saw God, but they ate dinner with Him. If I could borrow from Dr. John Oswalt a great Bible Teacher, he made the point,

Imagine those men get down from the mountain, and the people say, I heard you met with and had dinner with God, what did He look like? All they could say, the only description they came down with was not what his hands looked like even though he did not lay them on them, not what his face was like they must have not gotten that close,

It was what was under his feet, what did God look like to them? Under his feet were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness - clear sky blue.

We really are never left a visual depiction of what God looks like, which is another part that sets him apart, He is indescribable, no description can do Him justice.

Lifted up in Holiness

Isaiah had a very similar experience in Isaiah chapter 6 where he too tells us He saw the Lord and He was high and lifted up what an experience that must have been when Isaiah got a glimpse of his own undoneness and one of the Seraphim "a burning one" took a coal from off the altar with tongues and touched it to Isaiah's lips.

No doubt Isaiah was a different man after this experience, one of his co-prophets might have pulled him aside one day and asked him what was different, he begins to explain this experience, "I saw the Lord and He was High and lifted up " that means he was exalted.

His friend would have asked just like us, "What did God look like" the only description we have of God from Isaiah was about his train - What did God look like, "I don't know but you should have saw the train of His robe, it filled the temple," The temple would have been about 75 foot tall.

Lifted up in Love

You find that not only did God give us a glimpse of Himself in the Old Testament but we see Him exalted in the New Testament as well. We are told that in the fullness of time, God laid aside the robes of glory Set his crown on the golden pillow of that Holy City, and wrapped himself in robes of humanity - no other religion had a God leave their royalty, leave their splendor, their comfort, their place and come down to live as we live - but as the songwriter said, "He knew for me to become like Him, he would have to become like me" Jesus, being in the form of God according to Phillipians 2:6 thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Did you get that

No reputation Form of a servant Likeness of men According to athiestic humanism, day by day as they discover greater depths of space, and more and more species of plants and animals, that we are becoming even greater and greater specks of meaningless blobs of chemical compounds that somehow got lucky enough to survive.

I'm glad I know better, I'm glad there was someone who took on himself, not the form of a great king, or judge, or political figure, but took on himself the form of a servant, Of no reputation - was not born with a name the whole world swooned and fainted at because of it's popularity, but came to a little carpenter and his wife of Nazareth of all places In the likeness of men - or one writer in the Bible says sinful man - although He knew no sin. I'm so glad He came - I sure couldn't get to Him. You have to ask why? Why would someone do that ? Especially when you look at the history of mankind, who were sinful at birth and it would only get worse, each one going astray, Why? I think John 3:16 says it best -

For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever beliveth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We know this story of Jesus who said, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men to me" that verse goes on to explain what he was talking about, "I must go to the cross, If I am put on the cross I will be able to draw all men to me"

We know all the gruesome details of that part of Jesus' life

His betrayal The mocking's The beatings, and spitting, The Crown of Thorns The crucifying By mere human eyes it is a gruesome, horrifying place to look, I'm glad that it doesn't stop there but we know that three days later he burst out of the tomb in triumph and glory and is now seated at the right hand of the father. Philippians 2 goes on to say

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of thingsin heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Do you remember when you looked there with your heart in faith and find that as you stand there and His precious blood drops on your heart and it takes away the filth and blackness and stench of sin makes you a brand new creature in Christ Jesus old things pass away behold all things become new You in effect get the same thing that happened to Moses and Aaron and Isaiah you see the Lord, High and lifted up. When we leave we are different, and people will ask us, what makes you so different. We are again left without words, all we can say is "I saw the Lord, He was high and lifted up. He was exalted -

Yes but what did he look like, oh I don't know, but oh you ought to see and feel His love -

JOHN 3:16 And The Little Boy

In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in. A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner, the people were in and out of the cold. The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell many papers. He walked up to a policeman and said, "Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and it's awful cold in there, of a night. Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay." The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say John 3:16 and they will let you in." So he did, he walked up the steps to the door, and knocked on the door and a lady answered. He looked up and said, "John 3:16." The lady said "Come on in, Son." She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker in front of a great big old fireplace and she went off. He sat there for a while, and thought to himself "John 3:16....I don't understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm." Later she came back and asked him "Are you hungry?" He said, "Well, just a little. I haven't eaten in a couple of days and I guess I could stand a little bit of food." The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat any more. Then he thought to himself "John 3:16... Boy, I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a hungry boy full." She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub filled with warm water and he sat there and soaked for a while. As he soaked, he thought to himself, "John 3:16... I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean. You know, I've not had a bath, a real bath, in my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out." The lady came in and got him, and took him to a room and tucked him into a big old feather bed and pulled the covers up around his neck and kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As he laid in the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold night he thought to himself, "John 3:16... I don't understand it, but it sure makes a tired boy rested." The next morning she came back up and took him down again to that same big table full of food. After he ate she took him back to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace and she took a big old Bible and sat down in front of him and she looked up at and she asked, "Do you understand John 3:16?" He said, "No, Ma'am, I don't. The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it." She opened the Bible to John 3:16 , and she began to explain to him about Jesus. Right there in front of that big old fireplace he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there and thought, "John 3:16. I don't understand it, but it but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe." You know, I have to confess I don't understand it either, how God would be willing to send His Son to die for me, and how Jesus would agree to do such a thing. I don't understand it either,

but it sure does make life worth living.

author- Robert Bentson

From <http://www.alighthouse.com/john316.htm>