To the Praise of His Glory

Box of Glory

Display a large box of crayons. Read some of the names of colors. Note especially the colors named after things in nature.

What might this box of crayons have to do with the glory God?

What might life be like if we had only one color?

Light was God’s idea. When He made light, He essentially made color. To this day His creation causes us to stand in awe as we observe all sorts of colors and color combinations. The abundance of color in creation in the first place.

This lesson is about God’s overall purpose that He reveals to us in His Word. We will see that beginning with creation of light in Genesis to the presence of His light in Revelation, God’s main focus has always been His glory.

God’s glory is the manifestation of all that is true about God. When He reveals His glory, He is essentially revealing truth about His character and ways. Bringing glory to God, then, is reflecting or declaring His glorious character and ways so that others might see them and learn about God. Bringing glory to God is telling or demonstrating Who God is.

God Created for His Glory

God began the six days of creation by creating light.

Genesis 1:3 KJV 1900

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Later, on day four, He created the sun, moon, and stars that would produce and reflect the light we see in the heavens today.

Genesis 1:14 KJV 1900

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Why did God begin with light and then wait three days to give that light a physical source? Because God is the original source of light. He is light. No other light is needed besides Him. Yet He chose to put sources of light in the heavens as a testimony to the light in Him.

Psalm 19:1–6 KJV 1900

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, Where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, And his circuit unto the ends of it: And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

This relates God’s creation of the heavens to the revelation of His glory. The heavens are filled with an unmeasurable amount of stars, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, and other yet to be identified objects. The massive size of the things of space, their mind-boggling quantities, and the unfathomable expanse of space itself declares God’s power and deity loud and clear.

Romans 1:20 KJV 1900

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

That the heavens declare God’s glory is not by accident. God created the heavens and the rest of nature, including humanity, for the express purpose of declaring His glory.

Isaiah 6:1–3 KJV 1900

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: The whole earth is full of his glory.

What do the seraphim around the throne of God declare concerning God’s glory? That the whole earth is full of His glory.

The fact that creation declares God’s glory is not a coincidence. Rather it is a testimony to God’s forethought and desire for humanity to know Him. Of course we have to realize that we now live a cursed earth. What God’s original creation in the pre-fall days was able to communicate to humanity was better in some ways than what His creation is able to reveal today. But that God created for His glory is unmistakable.

God Chose Israel for His Glory

Once Adam sinned, the world changed and humanity’s relationship with God was broken. eventually nearly the entire world’s population refused to glorify God. God then destroyed them all, sparing only Noah’s family. Noah’s ark is a demonstration of God’s glorious grace.

Genesis 6:8 KJV 1900

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

After Noah, there was little acknowledgment of God as creator and nearly no recognition of the need for forgiveness of sin. God then called Abraham to follow Him. Abraham responded to God by faith. God made covenant with Abraham, promising posterity, land, and blessing for all the earth.

Genesis 12:1–3 KJV 1900

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Centuries later God chose Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. God came to Moses as I AM THAT I AM.

Exodus 3:14 KJV 1900

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

a name that captures God’s self-existence. God then went on to reveal Himself as the I AM to the people of Israel as they left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea.

The crossing established the fact of God’s power and character with both the children of Israel and the Canaanites in the Promised Land. God triumphed gloriously in delivering His people from Egypt. But His plans to use Israel to reveal His glory were only beginning.

Centuries later Isaiah’s prophecy was partially fulfilled in the coming of Christ. The ultimate still awaits Christ’s return to set up His millennial Kingdom. Isaiah’s prophecy shows that even when the Israelites were languishing as captives in Babylon, God still talked of His plan to reveal His glory to all flesh.

Isaiah 40:6–7 KJV 1900

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: Surely the people is grass.

Isaiah cried out concerning God’s sure word so the captives in Babylon would have hope in their future as a nation. The message to us is that God took the revelation of His glory seriously. It was so important that Isaiah to shout about the message.

God Sent Christ of His Glory

Over five centuries later, God sent His Son into the world. In His Gospel, John wrote about the arrival of Jesus, the Word, He wrote that Jesus had given life as the creator and in Him was God’s light

John 1:4 KJV 1900

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

So Jesus gave physical light at the creation of the world and then gave spiritual light at His coming to earth. In giving spiritual light, Jesus revealed the truth about Himself and the Father. That truth shows humanity their need for a Savior and that Jesus is the One Whom the Father sent to save them. Jesus’ revelation of the truth about salvation means that there is also eternal life in Jesus.

As the world watched Jesus, they got a glimpse of God’s glory. His words and actions made God’s glory visible to them. Jesus was a testimony to what God is like. Ultimately Jesus’ death on the cross revealed God’s love and grace.

The apostle Paul wrote about the connection between Christ’s mission to bring salvation and the glory of God.

Ephesians 1:3–6 KJV 1900

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Why did Jesus choose us before the foundation of the world and predestinate us to the adoption as His son? That we might praise the glory of His grace.

Paul leaves no doubt that God’s ultimate purpose in choosing us, redeeming us, and sealing us was that we might praise His glory. When we consider the blessing of salvation, praising God’s glorious grace is a no-brainier.

God Commissioned the Church for His Glory

Salvation is just the beginning of God’s plan to glorify His name through us. His will is for the Church to bring glory to His name throughout this present age. He has commissioned us to make disciples, teaching them all that He commanded us to do.

Matthew 28:18–20 KJV 1900

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Paul again addressed what it means to live as a disciple that is pleasing to God in Eph 5. He commanded the believers at Ephesus to be imitators of God by walking in love and in the light.

Ephesians 5:1 KJV 1900

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Ephesians 5:8 KJV 1900

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

To walk as children of light is to reflect God’s glory. It is to live as Christ would. This is possible because of the power of the Holy Spirit to produce goodness, righteousness, and truth in us.

Ephesians 5:9 KJV 1900

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

As we walk in the light as a disciple of Christ, we will be in stark contrast to the darkness around us.

Walking in the light is to reflect God’s glory. We should strive to make God’s glory known through our lives everyday.

Philippians 1:21 KJV 1900

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

How do you glorify God with your life? You lift His name up and walk the ways that God has you to walk. He tells us that with His Word. But also, tell the world about Him.