my favorite passages

My sophomore/junior year I started to become alarmed at my low view of Jesus. I knew that He was God and all that, but my image of Him was marred by televangelists who would say things like “Be Healed! in the name of JEsus!” The name Jesus was filled with feel-good, empty-religious-sounding cheesiness, and it was alarming.
I didn’t know what to do because I already knew in my head that He was God incarnate, He was there before time began, He lived the perfect life, He was my Master, I loved God, but my understanding of Jesus was very shallow. So I began to pray; I didn’t really know what else to do. The Lord led me to the following passages about Him, and my understanding of Him, my love for Him, my joy in Him has grown because of them. (The Luke one was just recently pointed out to me in a sermon; I’ll share more about that later… it’s pretty amazing)

(for those who like reading the passages straight from their Bibles, here are just the references: Isaiah 6:1-4; Ezekiel 1:26-28; Luke 2:8-14; John 1:1-5, 14; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 1:1-4; Revelation 4:2-3)

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out 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 trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.”
Isaiah 6:1-4

“Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.”
Ezekiel 1:26-28

“In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.’”
Luke 2:8-14

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it….
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”
John 1:1-5, 14

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be graped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Philippians 2:5-8

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”
Hebrew 1:1-4

“Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.”
Revelation 4:2-3
(this one’s talking about Jesus, and look at the Ezekiel passage!! looks like two different people looking at the same thing.)

This is my Lord; He is the radiance of the glory of God; He elicits falling on knees, trembling, confession of sins; He owns everything; Everything was made by Him, through Him, for Him; He upholds all things, yet He came in the form of a helpless babe, to be rejected by His own, to die a wretched sinner’s death, to save this wretched sinner’s life.
How amazing, How incomprehensible is His amazing grace.
Soli Deo Gloria.