In Peter Allison's sermon titled 'Majesty, Glory, and Beauty,' he explores Proverbs 30:29-31, which describes four majestic beings: a lion, a greyhound, a male goat, and a king with his troops. These figures symbolize dignity, strength, and nobility. The sermon contrasts these majestic creatures with previous lessons about small but wise animals like the ant and locust. Allison emphasizes that God's creation is not only functional but also filled with beauty and glory, reflecting God's own attributes. He draws parallels between the boldness of a lion and the confidence Christians should have in their faith, supported by God's strength and heritage. The sermon underlines the importance of recognizing beauty in God's creation and in ourselves, encouraging believers to walk in boldness and holiness.

Proverbs chapter 30. We have three verses we will look at this morning. The last grouping of the three or four things that Agur describes. Proverbs 30 verse 29. Proverbs 30, verse 29.

There are three things which are majestic in pace, yes Four which are stately in walk, A lion which is mighty among beasts, And does not turn away from any, A greyhound, a male goat also, And a king whose troops are with him." May God incline our hearts to perform His statutes forever. Heavenly Father, may You open our eyes and our hearts to understand. May we delight ourselves this morning in Your Word and may it come to us in the power of the Holy Spirit and with much assurance and not in the skills of human oration. Father, we want to know you and to know your Word, which is able to make us wise into salvation. And so we ask for your continued presence and blessing as we worship in Jesus name amen well this passage is another object lesson that uses examples from the animal world to illustrate a principle about us as people and as Christians.

In the last lesson, Agur talked about four animals that were weak and helpless, leaderless, small, and yet they had great wisdom in overcoming their weaknesses. The ant is small and easily killed but had great wisdom to prepare for the future of the colony. Even if none of the current workers were there to enjoy that future, the colony survived. The rock hyrax, though it wasn't naturally strong animal, It lived in very inaccessible places in the rocks that provided protection from predators. And they had the wisdom to be ever vigilant, even in their eating.

And to never go very far from that rock that was their protection, never far from their homes. The locust was the third one from last week that didn't have a leader to organize them. And yet they worked together. They worked together so well and were so organized that they're described as an army of God. And they came, they advanced in ranks.

They work together when they do their work of eating and stripping foliage. And then the spider, again, not a great animal, a weak animal, yet had great skill in making a web. And because of that, they were able to make webs anywhere from King's palaces to anywhere else they want to go. Well this time there are four things that are majestic, glorious, and beautiful to see. A lion, a greyhound, a buck or a male goat, and a king whose troops are with him.

These four creatures are majestic in their pace and stately in their walk, a guru says. Majestic in their pace, stately in their walk. The first phrase according to Dr. Walkie, Hebrew scholar, is literally that they make good concerning their function, their design, or their situation. They make good in the sense of their function, or their design, or their situation.

They make good of their walk, their step. And the second phrase is very similar to the first, and literally according to Waukee, it's to make good of going. So the first is to make, has a sense of goodness in terms of function, in the terms of situation. And the second phrase is to make good of going. And so the New King James translates this majestic in pace, majestic in their going.

See, this is speaking here, all these animals, well, three animals and a king, a person, They're speaking about glory and majesty and beauty. See, God is not simply utilitarian and functional. It's not just a matter of does it work? God is also concerned with beauty and glory. Just look around at God's creation.

Just like Agur does, He looks at these animals that God has created. God's creation is filled with glory and beauty. The heavens are glorious. They're amazing. They fill you with awe and wonder.

Those who have ever taught school and probably many others, you've either heard or asked the question, when will we ever use this? It's a question students love to ask their teachers, especially on those things that seem less utilitarian. When will we ever use it? In other words, why should we have to learn this? What good is it?

Why should we waste time on it? Well, these are the people that would ask God, well what good are the heavens, God? What good are the heavens? What do they do for us? What do the stars that are millions of light years away, we would think.

What do they have to do with us? What use are they? These are the people who would ask, why plant flowers? You can't eat them. What good are they?

They just take a lot of work, right? And they don't produce anything. Well, the answer is that all these things exist for glory and beauty. A lot of what God has created is simply about creating glory and beauty the heavens declare the glory of God they represent you know some aspect of their Creator the one who made them God is very concerned about and very much desirous of glory and beauty. God created the earth with glory and beauty and heaven is a place of great glory and beauty.

Now you ask me how do I know that? I haven't been there. How do I know that? Well in Exodus 28 when God was giving Moses instructions on how to make the temple, He said, and you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother For glory and beauty. These clothes that Aaron was to wear were created, he was to wear simply for the sake of glory and beauty.

There was no utilitarian function. Now, yes, some of his clothes did have utilitarian function. But some of the things that he had were just for glory and beauty. And a little later in that same chapter in Exodus 28, he said, for Aaron's sons you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them, and you shall make hats for them." Now what is a sash for? It doesn't help you hold your pants up, right?

What is a hat for when you're inside, you don't need it to show you from the sun. Well, the answer God said was, you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty. The function of the hat that Aaron wore was for glory and beauty. We know that this tabernacle that Moses made in the wilderness, It was built from the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle that God had given him. And the function, not only the functions of the priest pointed to Christ, but also the temple itself was a pattern of the heavenly temple.

And part of this pattern and part of this worship that was replicated here on earth Was for glory and beauty and that's how we know that Heaven is a place of glory and beauty the heavenly temple will be a place It is a place because Christ has already ascended there He's passed through the heavens and he has anointed this heavenly temple with his own blood. He's cleansed it And so this we know that the earthly tabernacle that was a replica of that in heaven or a pattern after it was also a place of glory and beauty. But God Himself is beautiful and majestic. Beyond our ability to even comprehend, He Himself is clothed in glory and beauty, dwelling in unapproachable light. Isaiah tells us that the Lord of hosts will be for a crown and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people.

Of His people. The Lord Himself is a crown, a diadem for glory and beauty to His people, to us. Remember when Job was questioning God in that long discourse where Job complained? He said some things that were not very wise. He said good things, but he said some things that were not very wise.

And one of the things that he said that wasn't wise was to question God. He wanted a hearing with God. He wanted to challenge God's justice and righteousness. And so God answered him. And God questions Job, kind of putting him in his place as it were.

And God, this goes on, this questioning goes on for three chapters. It starts in chapter 38. And God said to him, Now prepare yourself like a man, Job. I will question you and you will answer me. And then he proceeds to ask Job a bunch of questions about creations, about what God has done.

Questions like, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" And he goes on and I said, for three chapters asking Job these questions that Job can't even begin to answer. And then we get to chapter 40. God gets to some of his own attributes. And he said, would you, Job, he says to Job, would you indeed annul my judgment? Would you condemn me that you may be justified?

God then asked Job in verse 9, have you an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like His? If you can, then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath and look on everyone who is proud and humble them Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low tread down the wicked in their place hide them in the dust blind Bind their faces in dark and in hidden darkness See God describes himself as someone who does all these things. Someone who looks down the proud, who humbles them, but someone who is adorned with majesty and splendor.

And God calls Job to say, if you're so great, can you make yourself, can you adorn yourself with the kind of glory and splendor that adorns me of course you remember the answer job puts his hand over his mouth and he said, you know, I've spoken too soon, I've spoken presumptuously. Glory and majesty and beauty are very much a part of God's creation because they are very much a part of God Himself, their attributes of God Himself. Glory and majesty then in their stride tie these three animals together and the connecting and connects them to a king, to a person. And the connecting theme between the last three groups that we looked at last week and the week before, the last group of three or four things is a king. King is mentioned four times in these last three groups of three or four things.

It's a connecting theme. And it is a king whose army is with him that is likened to these three animals. There is a nobility that is connected with these animals. The first animal that Agur mentions of these three animals that are noble because of the way they walk, the way they conduct themselves, is the lion. The lion's majestic.

His majesty flows out of his boldness which flows from his strength. He's not afraid of anything. He's in our language of our day. He's the king of the jungle. The king of the jungle.

There is no animal that can challenge a lion one on one. And so there is, as Agur says, he doesn't turn away from anyone because he's not afraid of anyone. He's bold. It's raw power and confidence and that's a majestic thing in a lion. A lion doesn't walk in fear of who's going to jump him.

He walks with this majestic boldness. They can go where he wants to go and doesn't have to be afraid. A lion has roared, Amos says, who will not fear? And then he compares that to the Lord has spoken who can but prophesy. The righteous in Proverbs 28 are described as being bold as a lion.

The righteous are bold like a lion. Because we serve Jesus Christ. He's our King. He's our strength. And because He is strong, because He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, because there is no one that can say to Him, what are you doing?

We are in Him, we reign with Him. And we have that boldness as well, or we ought to. The second animal here is a greyhound. There's a fair bit of uncertainty about what animal this is exactly. I think it is a greyhound.

That's what the New King James translates this as. Some say it's a rooster and some a warhorse. You may think, well how do you get rooster and a warhorse and a greyhound? How can that, how can you be uncertain about what it is? Well that's the way Bible translations work.

There are actually two words here. And one of the words is a hepax legomenon. That means it's the only place it's used in the Bible. And that makes it a little bit difficult when we want to understand that word, because there's no other place that we can go to see how it's used elsewhere. And the second word is literally referring to a strong set of muscles that connect the abdomen to the lower limbs.

That's the word. It's the word that is used when we read about someone girding up their loins. For example, in 1 Kings 18, then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah after Mount Carmel, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. He girded up his loins. There was something there that...

A girdle is just a belt, right? And the loins are referring to the middle of your body. It could refer to wearing a girdle literally or figuratively Isaiah 11 is a figurative sense where it says 11 5 righteousness shall be the belt or girdle of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist So the lexicon if you just look in the dictionary about this word, it defines this as that which is girt in the loins. That is probably either a greyhound contracted as if by a belt or a warhorse, a charger with a saddle." Now I think if you think about this context of running, And this word can be used in, you gird up your loins to run. And you look at the, this literally the word is a strong set of muscles that connect the abdomen to the lower limbs.

And you look at, I think This greyhound just seems to fit this whole context more. And also this context is talking about the way this animal walks, the way it moves. There's a majesty in it. The war horse being gird about by a saddle just doesn't seem to have the same connection to running That this greyhound does Contract it as if by belt if you ever looked at a greyhound on the side It kind of looks like somebody put a big belt around the end of their torso right above their legs it is like this constricted there and And I always thought they looked kind of doofy, Agraeha. Until, and I was much older in life, I saw one run.

And I was like, wow. I saw it as a whippet. And it just took off I learned later that a whip it has the fastest acceleration time in all of the canine kingdom and When these greyhounds run there is a beauty There's a captivating beauty when you see it, this animal move that fast. They are very fast and they are very elegant. They are built to run.

And they look beautiful. You can just watch them. It's kind of like the heavens. You watch a greyhound run. They're very fast, but they're also very graceful.

They're very elegant. If you've never seen it, it's something to behold. We don't see greyhounds very often. We see the bus on the road. But The dog, we don't see them that often.

They're not common like Labradors and Shepherds. But, and I suppose when we do see them, if we're in the city, there's no real place for them to run. These are animals that can, you know, they can tear up three acres like nothing. You need a big space to really even begin to see them run. They are that fast, but they're beautiful.

I think that's what this is speaking about. The majestic run of a greyhound, something that is built to run. And they're glorious when they do. And the third animal is a male goat. Now I have a lot more experience with male goats.

I've had goats in my house from the time I was eight years old. And we've had, not every year, but most of the years since then, we've had, many of the years, we've had goats, milk goats, and even dairy goats. So I have a lot more experience with these bucks. And they are, they can be nice, but they can also be quite ornery. And then they're actually quite strong.

A male buck with horns can defend itself in the wild and will think nothing of being able to attack a predator like a wolf or a coyote. So they're very, they're audacious. When you have a buck, they take charge, especially when they have horns. Now, if you take their horns away, they become very docile. But with their horns, they are formidable.

And they can do a number on you. They can put you in the hospital if you aren't careful around them. Especially if you like to play with their horns and they start to use them. They can do a lot of damage with them. Daniel 8 describes the king of Greece to a male goat.

And I think just reading Daniel 8 there, that little description, you get a sense of the male goat. Daniel says, I saw the ram, and that's referring to the Medo-Persian Empire. Daniel 8 is a description of these ancient kingdoms, Greece and the Medes. He says, I saw a ram pushing westward and northward and southward, so that no animal could withstand him, nor was there any that could deliver from his hand. But he did according to his will and became great.

And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west across the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground, and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes and then he came to the ram that had two horns which had been standing beside the river and ran at him with furious power and I saw him confronting the ram he was moved with rage against him attacked the ram and broke his two horns, and there was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him to the ground and trampled him, and there was none that could deliver the ram from his hand." That's some of the audacity of a male goat. But goats are also very agile. And if you've ever had goats, you know how agile they are. A whole goat can stand on something like this big. Somehow they can stand there.

And if you are in the mountains, the mountain goats are incredibly glorious in the way they can move around on the rocks, the way they can jump from one little cliff to another little cliff. And you'd think that they would, you know, they don't have like Spider-Man claws or anything. They just have these hooves and you think how can they live on the face of a cliff? But you know, you can probably find online videos of goats on the faces of cliffs they're amazing they're amazing for their agility and ability to to climb around on cliffs and very sure footed and able to go places that I don't think I could go or even begin to go on a cliff. So there's a ability, there's a confidence in their glory in their movement, in their pace.

And so I think that also is in view, both their audacity and their gait, their ability on the cliffs. Because that is the thing that's focused on here three things three or four things that are majestic in pace and stately in their walk. And goats are definitely very stately, very, they're different than the greyhound. They don't run fast, but they are very graceful and they jump around and they move around and they can get places that you would have difficulty or wonder how they can get there. But they're very agile and very beautiful to watch.

They're very entertaining, is the word, to watch. So the last thing that has this majesty is a king whose troops are with him. Really, one of the most powerful forces on earth is a king with his army. When the Roman generals were called back to Rome they were told to come without their army. To come with their army they would have they could have taken over everything.

Even today, right, a general with his army and you think of the army as the control of all the weapons that an army has, all the weapons that are at their disposal, There is no power on earth that is greater than an army of soldiers and all the modern weapons of war. That is an overwhelming force. And there is a majesty in that. When Russian communists want to put on a display of Grandeur what do they do they parade the army down Red Square and King the rulers stands there as his army passes through And that is indeed a grand and a kind of a glorious event. So how is this describing us?

Because remember, that's what the purpose of these comparisons are, is to speak something of us. To speak of this King whose troops are with him. There's a majesty and a beauty and a glory in it. Well, I'd like to begin just looking a moment at Christ, because Christ was the perfect human. And he is a picture of what perfect humanity is and what perfect humanity will look like.

So we see Christ is born, he's conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God, overshadowed Mary. And so there's a nobility in his birth. John 1 speaks about that word being made flesh, and we beheld his glory. It was a glory that we beheld, that they saw in the flesh. And of course, Christ is bold.

He was fearless as a man when he saw the temple being desecrated. And we've been in the afternoon class, we've been looking at just how powerful the Sadducees were, the Pharisees, but especially the Sadducees. They were like a mafia in many ways in their vindictiveness, in their reach, in their methods of operating, in their wealth, in their corruption, all these things. And I think that's a helpful comparison because today the mafia is known as those who intimidate. There are many people in places that will pay the mafia for protection just because they are intimidated.

And if they know that they don't, that it won't go well with them. And those that resist have to end up fighting for their lives. And so Jesus goes into this temple, into the Sadduceean mafia, and he takes a whip and drives them all out, overturns their money tables, so their change goes rolling. This was part of the Sadduceean monopoly and the Sadduceean mafia, and one of the ways they got wealth was all the people coming to Jerusalem and buying sheep, which sometimes, there are some accounts of they buy the sheep and it gets sold for sacrifice many many times. More than nine lives these animals had due to the sadducy and corruption.

So Jesus goes into the midst and he's not at all afraid of their power and cleanses the temple twice, saying that these men have made the house of prayer into a den of thieves. That's Christ in his humanity being bold as a lion. His character is described throughout the scriptures. But you see, this is also true of us as Christians. Every saint has a noble calling.

We are partakers of the divine attributes. Peter says, His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, that through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. Peter said that we as believers are through these means are partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. We brothers and sisters are partakers in this nobility. We have a noble birth.

John 1.13 tells us that we are born of God. We have a heavenly birth. There can be nothing more noble about a birth than to be born of God, to be born of a heavenly birth. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name. And then verse 13 of John 1, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Born of God. Being born again not of incorruptible seed. That's a noble birth. We have a noble birth. We have to live as those who have a noble birth.

We have a noble heritage as well. The nations of the earth is our heritage. Psalm 11 says, he has declared to his people, that's to us, we are his people, He has declared to His people the power of His works in giving to them, that is His people, in giving to us the heritage of the nations. We also have the Word of God. David says in Psalm 119, your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever for they are the rejoicing of my heart.

We have the words of God. They are our heritage. We have indeed a noble heritage as those who are in Christ. And we have a noble calling as well. It's a high calling.

Paul said, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. The upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, he told Timothy, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the time began. We because we were in Christ Jesus because he has saved us he's given to us this this noble calling. It's a heavenly calling.

Therefore, holy brothers, be partakers of the heavenly calling. Consider the apostle and high priest of our confession Jesus Christ a Heavenly calling we have we have in Christ We are as Peter said a nation of kings and priests to him. And so we ought to carry ourselves as those who have a noble birth, as those who have a noble heritage, and as those who have a noble calling. We have to conduct ourselves in this way. And in light of this, we can be as bold as a lion.

We can be. We can have that boldness of the lion that turns from no one. We can have that boldness that ought to describe us as Christians, that we can stand before kings, that we can attack whatever earthly power there is with confidence in Christ. And you see this is how Hebrews 11 describes Christians. When it mentions those who had faith and commends them.

Then at the end it runs out of time to describe everybody and so it gives this general description. What more shall I say for time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. These are bold people. These are people who knew their high calling and their noble heritage and their noble birth. And they weren't turned aside, they weren't intimidated by powerful kings.

But they subdued these kingdoms. They quenched the violence of fire. They escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong. They became valiant in battle and turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

When we pray that the Lord will destroy government schools, when we pray that God will end abortion in our land, that He will raise up legislators who fear Him, these aren't just idle prayers. These are prayers to the King of kings and the Lord of lords from a people that he has said are of noble birth, who have a noble heritage. This is our heritage, the nations. And we have these examples of those who have gone before us to encourage us, to encourage us in our work, in our calling. These subdued kingdoms, they worked righteousness, they obtained promises, they stopped the mouths of lions, they quenched the violence of fire, they escaped to the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Women received their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. So it talks about those who conquered in time and history. This was the mindset of many that fought in the war for independence. Most of the wars since then have been very unjust wars, but that one was not.

And if you study that war, you'll see how very justly it was conducted, how the cause for the war was declared publicly, and it wasn't a hasty declaration. The reason I bring it up is because Britain at the time was the most powerful nation on earth, single nation, one of the most greatest armies in Europe and in the New World. And who was America, though upstart people didn't have an army that could put, they couldn't put shoes on their soldiers feet. Who would have given them any chance of winning anything? And yet because for the most part these are people who look to the Lord for their strength, they defeated a great army.

But then Hebrews 11 goes on to talk about those who are tortured, those who faced kings and faced the stake and faced death rather than deny Christ. They were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might have a better resurrection. That's a boldness as well. So others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, and chains of imprisonment. They were stoned.

They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves. But all these obtained a good testimony through faith." The writer of Hebrews then goes on to say, Therefore, because we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses who gave us these examples of boldness, He says, let us then lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. To Jesus. Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. It is by his power that we can do anything at all.

And because it is by his power we can do anything. Jesus said with God all things are possible. God has given to us as his children the ability to be noble, the ability of glory and beauty. And so let us remember to walk in that heritage that he has given to us. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, We thank you for your Word that teaches us, your Word that is refined seven times and purified. We are continually amazed at the scope of your word and all the things that it addresses and teaches. We are amazed at your wisdom in creation, at the glory and the beauty that you have placed in it. Our hearts are filled with wonder at your wisdom. And the more we study your works as those who take pleasure in them, the more we are amazed at your wisdom and at the beauty and the glory with which you have closed the earth.

Lord give us eyes to see, to see the glory and the beauty that you have placed around us but also that you have placed in us. And Father, we ask for your Holy Spirit that we might have this boldness that is described here. The boldness of the lion that doesn't turn from any, the boldness of the king whose army is with him. For Lord, you are with us. You are the captain of the heavenly host.

You are the captain of our salvation. And with you there is a host far greater than the host that is arrayed against us. So Lord we ask for this confidence. We ask for this boldness in you, that we may be those who walk in that boldness and in that beauty and who worship you in the beauty of holiness. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.