Pastoral Pings ~ A Crown of Beauty in God’s Hand

          Although the promises of the Old Covenant have the distinctive application to an earthly covenant for an earthly nation, the nature of God and his intentions for his people are wonderfully applicable to the promises of the New Covenant. This morning, two Old Covenant Scriptures came together in a wonderful way.

In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,

and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people…[1]

          One of my aims in our journey through the book of Revelation is to show how John wrote of things that were already revealed in the rest of Scripture. The more we understand what was already written about such things, the more we can appreciate how the Revelation brings these themes into its glorious, grand crescendo of truth.

          As I was considering why the elders introduced in Revelation 4 where wearing golden crowns,[2] I looked up Scriptures about crowns to get a sense of their significance. This Scripture shocked and delighted me as I tried to picture God as the crown and diadem of his people.

          Part of the significance would be that God’s nation was under judgment for turning to other gods for their glory, and other nations to set the standard of their nation’s beauty. Through the course of this judgment, there would only be a remnant of people who would return to live in the land according to the covenant.

          What God was telling them, even before the judgment had fallen, was that there would be a day when the remnant would return to the land, and it would be the LORD of hosts, the LORD God of Israel, who would be with them as a crown of glory upon their head. Their God, the one they had forsaken, would then be their diadem of beauty.

          As I continued considering God’s use of the crown imagery throughout Scripture, I found that Isaiah had also used this same description in a very different way.

You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.[3]

          While Isaiah’s prophecy warned the nation of their coming judgment, God was sure to tell them of the hope that was ahead. God would not leave his people in the enemy’s hands forever. He would take this people, who were repulsive in their idolatries and adulteries, and accomplish such a transforming work in them that they would be a crown of beauty, a royal diadem, in God’s hands.

          The measure of what God’s children are to think of ourselves is not what we see in the mirror. It is not what we see in the shameful, hidden places of our inner being. It is not what we hear in the mocking, taunting, heartless rejections of family, friends, and foes.

          The measure of the child of God is what we are “in the hand of the LORD”. When the LORD of hosts is our crown of glory, and diadem of beauty, we are sure to become a crown of beauty and a royal diadem in his hands.

          The door of Revelation 4 continues to stand open, inviting us to see all of life from the viewpoint of the throne of heaven, and the LORD of hosts who cares for us from there.

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] Isaiah 28:5

[2] “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.” (Revelation 4:4)

[3] Isaiah 62:3