God is always there. All we have to do is look for Him. Behold Him. This worship hymn reminds us of God’s awesome majesty and power — and that we should praise Him always.
Our hymn of focus for this meditation is “Behold Our God.” It is a relatively new worship hymn inspired by Isaiah 40: 12-14.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
Isaiah 40: 12-13
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
It was written in 2011 by the team at Sovereign Grace Music which consisted of Jonathan, Meghan, and Ryan Baird and Stephen Altrogge. We have included two different but powerful version of the performance of this very uplifting worship hymn. There are a number of different and quite appropriate themes we could develop from these lyrics. Since the title and the chorus include the invitation to “behold,” that will be our focus for this meditation.
Behold and see
From a biblical perspective the word “behold” has become archaic. Consider the following. In the King James Version of the Bible, “behold” occurs 1298 times. In the more modern translation, the New International Version, it occurs 1 time! This is quite a change over the centuries. Nevertheless it is a highly important word/concept in scripture. The following quote comes from the Barnabas Bulletin – 0037 of Gospel Faith Messenger (gfm@gospel.org.nz)
“To “behold” means to “see, to view, to face, to look out, regard, watch, consider, to behold intensely, to observe fully, to see mentally or prophetically, to look with attention and earnestness, to survey with accuracy, earnest spiritual contemplation, to look at purposely, to perceive, apprehend, learn, know, calling attention to what may be seen or heard.”
Barnabas Bulletin 0037
To “behold” for the Christian is to look to God, to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit to see, observe and comprehend His will and ways through His Word, the Bible. It means we have a choice – a choice to behold or not to behold. It represents the responsibility that is our part in the Christian walk. We behold the ways of God, then behold our own lives. As a result of that beholding we seek to align ourselves more and more with that which we are beholding.
“Behold” is a responsible word. It is a call to keep our eyes open, to make sure we are seeing and hearing clearly and accurately, so we can make those decisions that will glorify God. “Behold” is a prophetic word. It beautifully describes someone who is focused on pleasing their Master.”
So, to behold for the Christian is to look to God. With that in mind I want us to consider several examples of this concept.
The example of Charles Haddon Spurgeon
January 6, 2021 will mark the 171st anniversary of the conversion of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He is considered by some as the greatest preacher since the apostles. Certainly, he is among the most significant preachers of all time. Here are a few facts that support such a claim.
- Called to preach at age 17
- Preached more than 600 times before he was 20
- Preached at New Park Street Chapel, London for 38 years (until his death)
- Typically preached to over 5000 each Sunday
- Once preached to an indoor crowd of 23,654
- Founded a pastors college which trained almost 900 men during his life
- Authored more than 140 religious books
Let’s see how this concept of “behold” was so important in his spiritual life.
When he was in the age range of 10 – 12, God began to convict him for his sinfulness. He searched the scripture and even went outside of the Bible to look for help. For a brief time he even considered atheism. On the cold wintry day of January 6, 1850, he was on his way to Sunday worship. He was caught in a snow storm and could not get to his local Congregational Chapel to worship. So he turned down Artillery Street in Colchester and arrived at the local Primitive Methodist Church.
Due to the extreme weather conditions, there were only 12 – 15 people in the congregation. Even worse, the preacher was apparently “snowed up” because there was no one to give the sermon. It was the wrong church, the wrong congregation, the wrong weather and the wrong preacher. After a few minutes, a man who looked like a tailor or a shoemaker went up into the pulpit. He announced that his sermon text was Isaiah 45:22: “look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else.”
Here is a description of what followed taken from Banner of Truth (January 1, 2000).
“The preacher managed to spin that out for ten minutes and then, running out of anything fresh to say, looked at his congregation and picked on Spurgeon, ‘Young man, you look very miserable,’ he said. ‘Well,’ said Spurgeon, ‘I did look miserable, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit about my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home.’
The preacher went on, ‘and you always will be miserable — miserable in life and miserable in death — if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.’ And then he shouted at the top of his voice as I think only a Primitive Methodist can, ‘Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but to look and live!’ And I did look.’”
The following is Spurgeon’s reaction to this very direct message.
“I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said — I did not take much notice of it — I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, ‘Look!’ what a charming word it seemed to me.
Oh I could have looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which alone looks to him. O that somebody had told me this before, ‘Trust Christ, and you shall be saved’.”
Source: Banner of Truth
The lesson from Nicodemus
Remember the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus? Nicodemus was a religious leader and teacher of the Jews. Jesus knew that Nicodemus could identify with an Old Testament teaching so He referred to Numbers chapter 21 to describe this same concept of looking to God. Jesus states the following in John 3:14: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
In this passage in Numbers the people of Israel rebelled against God by criticizing Him for bringing them out of Egypt into the desert. So, God sent poisonous snakes to bite them and many died. They were convicted of their sin and asked Moses to pray to God for their deliverance. Moses prayed and God told him to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. All the people had to do was look to the bronze snake and they would be cured. All they had to do was look!
What Jesus is saying to Nicodemus and to us is that we all have the poison of sin in us. Jesus is going to be lifted up on the cross and all we have to do is look to Him to be saved from our sins.
In Spurgeon’s account of his own conversion, he indicated that he had been “waiting to do 50 things” . . . he had a list of “works.” But, all he had to do was look because salvation is a gift from God.
All we must do is look. That looking means to embrace, to believe, to receive, to love, and to obey.
Remember Jesus’ words:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
Coming to Him is looking to Him. My prayer is that we will all “behold our God”!
Amen.
Hymns for Him 