Do You Marvel?

This article came out of a burden to want to understand God more clearly and to worship deeper. With our world moving at breakneck speed, I decided to slow down during every Christmas season and try to go deeper in marveling God. The definition of marvel is: to be in wonder and awe of something.

Let’s look at three different types of people and how they marvel. We are going to look at self-professed Atheists, Christians, and all other religious beliefs. This covers all the people living on planet earth. The agnostic is covered under religious belief—they just don’t want to admit who God is. 

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. (John 5:20)

When looking at the birth, life, death, resurrection, and Christ’s return to culminate His kingdom, you cannot help but marvel. Therefore, in this article I want to compare what other beliefs marvel at and in return, it should drive Christians into a deeper gratitude and worship for the truth God has revealed to us. The beneficiaries of the greater works – in this passage – are for those who either saw or will see the amazing things this great Triune God has done.    

• How Most Of The World Marvels (Religious Beliefs)

“There are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84 percent of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion,”  the analysis states.[1] There is no doubt that the majority of humans on planet earth marvel a type of god. There are three major ways they worship.

1. They marvel by trying to appease their god

There are so many ways that people try to appease their god of choice. I would not have the time or the mental bandwidth to cover them all exclusively; however, I have seen many people worship at altars of idols. I have seen the wonder and awe in their faces as they worship and give religious devotion to their false gods.

When I was in Bible College, I had to take a religions class where we visited a Hindu temple. We had a chance to talk with one of the priest’s of Vishnu. He was taking us through the ritual for the worship of this specific god. The young man that was performing the ritual had practiced for twenty years to get the hand motions just right to appease this god.I could not believe the dedication, and the hours of mental labor and hard work he had put to worship this false god. He was marveling, but simply marveling over the wrong thing. This gentleman was sincere, dedicated, awestruck, and in the wonder of this metal statue. No matter how sincere or dedicated he is, he is marveling over the wrong god. Worship placed in the wrong place shows the direction of the heart. How many of the 5.8 million in 2010 had hearts that were directed in the wrong place?    

   2. They marvel by adoring a counterfeit shadow

Others marvel over what they would argue – to death – they worship the true Savior. These are Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses and any other cults that worship a counterfeit shadow of the real thing. A shadow is simply given when the original has light shining upon it; nevertheless, the shadow is not the original. In their awe and wonder, they don’t understand this amazing Triune God, they don’t marvel rightly of the God/Man Jesus Christ, and in return, this proves that they fail to marvel rightly the one who has revealed himself clearly to all mankind. They are like a dog chasing their tails, or a child trying to catch their shadow. They marvel but they marvel at the shadow of a counterfeit Christ and the idea that they are made righteous through religious efforts. They are very sincere but sincerely wrong 

3. They marvel by giving, adoring, and appeasing a god that will be exposed as idolatry on judgment day.

The above groups of people make up a very high percentage of the 84 percent that Newsweek reported.  In all their giving to their false god(s) will not make them justified when they stand before the one true God one day. All giving will topple upon them that a house of cards in the last day. The countless hours of being in awe and wonder of either a mere man or a statue and contemplating different ways to adore what they worship will not wash away the crimson stain of their sin.

The religious leaders coming up with different ways to appease these false gods through the ages will leave both the leader and the layperson guilty and under the weight of Gods true justice.

Before you tune me out for being a narrow-minded bigot please read Romans 1:25,

 . . . because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Dear reader, we don’t determine truth, God does. When we go outside of His guidelines it is called the sin of idolatry, and it is what condemns the above group and the following group of self-proclaimed Atheists. 

• How Some Others Marvel (Atheist)

Atheists are one of the most unique religious group. They would adamantly deny that they do not worship anything. They would say they follow the evidence wherever it leads them. Here are the three things they worship but cannot give an account for any of the three.

1. They marvel over the mind.

In being in awe and wonder of how the human mind can gather information and process through it to come up with the conclusion, it is truly easy to be in awe. My wife and I watch the BBC original mini-series, Sherlock Holmes. It is fascinating how they portray the mind of Sherlock Holmes. The classically composed work that I am listening to right now of Grieg Holberg Suite, Op 40 – 2. Sarabande (Andante) is simply mind-blowing.

The Atheists would fight me tooth and nail saying they do not worship anything; however, they have their objects of worship, their priests that point to those objects of worship, and finally, the religious books point people the specific minds to worship. 

 Let me explain: Charles  Darwin is one of the objects, and one of the priest that points to him is Richard Dawkins. The religious books of the worship of their minds are as follows: Blind Watch Maker and God Delusion etc.. These are three things that are needed in order to make an organized religion. 

However, God never designed us to worship the human mind of any man. We are to take that mind and to worship the one who gave this amazing brain that sits between our ears.

2. They marvel the logic

This is a system of thought that is universal. This is another way that Atheists worship the creative order rather than the creator of this order. Laws of logic come from our great God to allow us to make sense of this world that we live in. The Laws of Logic are universal. “A” cannot be “Non-A” etc..

We have the Laws of Logic because the God of the created order is logical. Atheists would stand in awe and wonder of this construct that man has come up with. But, there is one mistake: man did not come up with the Laws of Logic, but God allows us to use them as a tool of worship His amazing omniscience.  

3. They marvel the creation 

Atheists stand in awe and wonder of the creation they study and come up with elaborate details about how life originated. In return, they constantly deny the God that gives them life and allows them to make sense out of their complex mind, the beauty of universal nature of logic, and this amazing world that we live on along with the cosmos that we live in.

This is a manifold indictment that Romans 1 brings to bear on every human heart.

Romans 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! 

• How Christians Marvel

We have seen from this article that everyone marvels, but only one group marvels rightly: the true Christian that worships the one true living God. At the end of this article, I will give five ways that we should be growing in our awe and wonder of this great Triune God.  We are going to briefly look at the great lengths that God went to allow us to marvel over what He did to give us His Son. Here is what we should marvel and how we should marvel as Christians.

1. Marvel at His amazing birth and early escape from current death.

Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

If it was up to the plan of man, specifically Herod, Jesus would have not made it past His second birthday. Herod listened to the prophets speak of the coming Messiah and he wanted no one to threaten his throne. All the people who marvel wrongly have the same issue Herod had, they want nothing else on their throne of false belief. However, God protected Jesus by His great providently care.

He will protect His truth and get it to those who are being saved. No one will stop the truth; No amount of persecution; No amount of propaganda; No amount of media misrepresenting the Christian worldview—Nothing will stop the universal truth of God. 

However, if you are a Christian, this should make you stand in a deeper awe and wonder of this great amazing God. Here you are living in the 21st century with the same truth that was given to the early church and the Old Testament Prophets. May you stand in awe of this amazing God who protected and gave His son as a ransom for many.  

 2.Marvel at His life

Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Jesus lived a life that left His opponents silenced just by simply asking a question. People flocked to Him because He spoke with clarity and authority. When was the last time that you stood in awe and wonder of Jesus? Silencing some of the most brilliant minds of His time? When was the last time that you marveled at the clarity in which Jesus taught the prostitute by the well?  When was the last time that you contemplated Jesus feeding over five thousand grown men with a few fish and some loaves?  When was the last time that you read the Gospel and stopped to listen to our Savior talk about the Old Testament and Him fulfilling the law? May you take some time over the next few weeks just to thank God and marvel in what the life of Jesus means to the Christian.  

 3. Marvel at His death, resurrection, and rejoice in His return

Stand in awe, Christian, of the wondrous cross. On it your debts are paid. Stand in awe, Christian, of His resurrection. Because He lives, your salvation is secured. Stand in awe, Christian, of His imminent return. He is coming again, and with His return, He brings your victory with Him and justice to all His foes.

This article came from my quiet time through John 5, and me wanting to marvel God more deeply. I still think there is more the resurrected Savior has to show those who belong to Him. When He returns we will see what the apostle Paul alluded to:

 1 Corinthians 2:9 “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 

Please marvel God more deeply, Christian. He is worth all your mental strength to ponder. To all those who are chasing either a counterfeit shadow or marveling something that God has created. Turn and marvel the one true God by placing your faith in what He did on Calvary’s cross. Repent today of your sin and idolatry and place your faith in the Savior. He has so many more things to show you and so many ways for you to marvel over His majesty.