Behold, Be Held, & Be Transformed
There’s a curious word used nearly 150 times throughout the New Testament – “behold”. It’s used by whomever the speaker is to get the audience to pay attention – to focus and understand. Now, depending on the context, it can be anything from a request to a command. In everyday English we could think of it as, “Look!” or “Now see here!”
A visual I recall hearing used for this is that of someone being in a crowded concert and asking to be lifted up, perhaps even to sit on another’s shoulders, because they’re not tall enough to see the band. They don’t just want to hear – they want to see the band… to behold is to be held. There is a way in which not only our attention, but our heart and mind are grasped – held in the grip of – enraptured by life’s experiences. The follow-on effect of these experiences can be transformative – for better or worse – relative to what we are beholding.
I was having a conversation with someone earlier this week about worship, both in the personal and corporate context. The two contexts are different and yet they inform and feed each other. Our personal worship throughout the week prepares us for corporate worship and vice versa. Perhaps the most unifying principle is this:
We seek to behold, to be held, and to be transformed by the Holy Love that is God.
Whenever Moses would enter the presence of God, the radiance of God’s glory was such that it would transform Moses’ face with a glowing brilliance. (Exodus 34:34-35) The Apostle Paul recalls this for the Corinthian Church in explaining the transforming power of the glory of the Lord for we who are His in the New Covenant.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
In every expression of worship to the Lord, whether in ministering or serving or hearing or studying the Word or in singing – in all this and more, as we prayerfully enter into God’s presence – giving our whole selves to this pursuit of beholding, we discover that we are indeed being held – grasped – enraptured by the transformational power of the Holy Love that is God Himself. (Romans 12:1-2)
So, let us be continually asking ourselves… What are we beholding? By what are we being held? By what are we being transformed? What are we worshipping?