Posted on 01/29/2004 1:32:16 PM PST by RnMomof7
I especially liked it too. I thought it covered alot of things that have been beaten to death here :>)
I think sometimes we fail to to make that clear .
All of reform doctrine is dependent on a sovereign God that is worthy of all praise..for every breath He gives us, to every dollar we earn , to every child we birth ..for our very salvation .
Isa 42:8 I [am] the LORD: that [is] my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
Let me get this straight: God created the world to "make His glory known," right? To whom? Obviosuly, to mankind. In the physical Creation, God cannot be known to lifeless galaxies and stars, planets and moons, or to beasts and birds, but only to Man.
In other words, God created us to know of Him and to be in awe of Him. Without us, God's greatenss is not known, because there is no other physical being capable of that.
Because we exist means that God willed it. And He willed it, because he wanted us to be aware of Him so we would glofiy Him. But want proceeds from a desire or a need to have or get.
So, if we were not needed, and not wanted, why would God will us into this world? To glorify Him? Well, then He needed someone to do that. Without someone to glotrify Him God can only glorify Himself. By creating us, it is obvious he didn't want that.
"First you believe; then you understand." -- Saint Augustine
The Ladies Bible Study at church is currently reading The Purpose Driven Life... I must share this next week!
I may be wrong (and I’m sure my Freeper brethren will let me know :O) ) but I view God’s glory as an characteristic. I may be misreading parts of the article but at times I think the author varies from a characteristic to something that God does. This is why I believe there seems to be some “problems” in understanding God’s glory even though the author addresses them (not to my satisfaction).
My thesaurus defines “glory” as magnificent, beauty, splendor, wonder, grandeur. Therefore, God’s glory is a characteristic (God’s beauty, God’s splendor, God’s grandeur, etc.). It is a part of the nature of God.
Thus, I interpret “God created all things for His glory” not as an aloof God who develops something for His divine pleasure. Instead I interpret this as a God who out of His divine nature created the universe BECAUSE of who He is. The universe exists because of who God is and God is magnificent.
A small but important distinction. God cannot “self exaltation”. The universe exists because it’s the nature of God’s glory (His beauty, splendor, etc). “He genuinely loves us and acts on our behalf” because we are part of this universe that He created because of His nature. Conversely, corruption (sin) in God’s magnificent universe must be dealt with because His glory cannot tolerate it.
As such I don’t believe God made the universe to serve man or to have man praise God. If He wanted worship He could have stopped with the angels.
It was in God’s sovereign will and characteristic of His glory to create the universe. Instead I believe man is created as the culmination of the characteristics of God’s glory and love being made in His image. That is the reason He deserves our love and worship.
Scripture tells us He made us for His good pleasure, not for ours and that is the point.
God has perfect fellowship and love within the Trinity . He made us to manifest His glory and to enjoy Him .Too many people today are convinced that it is man that is the center of creation ,not God.
One look at the night sky tells us that this is not about us. With each new discovery science confirms that we are less important than originally believed, and the Creation even more glorious than we could ever imagine.
We do know that God created us to be aware of Him and in awe of Him. Without creatures to glofiy Him God could only Glorify Himself. The fact that we exist tells us that that's not what God wanted.
The problem emerges when people confuse our special role in God's Creation as being deserving of special privilege, or for that matter of any provilege.
This article seems to be a little unbalanced. I think we should take a look at another aspect of the glory of God:
[All references from the New American Standard, unless otherwise noted.]
Psalm 115:1
Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of
your love and faithfulness.
So, at least some of His glory is because of His "love and faithfulness." John's gospel talks a lot about God's love, and His glory. Let's see what it says.
John 7:
17 "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching,
whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.
18 "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is
seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no
unrighteousness in Him.
Yeshua (Jesus) did not seek His own glory, He sought His Father's glory.
John 8:
50 "But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.
51 "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never
see death."
Yeshua did not seek His own glory.
54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is
My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God';
His Father sought Yeshua's glory, who glorifies Him.
John 11:
3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom
You love is sick."
4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in
death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified
by it."
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will
see the glory of God?"
Someone who Yeshua loved (Lazarus) was sick and died, "for the glory of God," and "so that the Son of God may be glorified."
John 12:
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the
Son of Man to be glorified.
27 "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, '
Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this
hour.
28 "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of
heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."
Yeshua, just before His death, said that His purpose (in laying down His life) was for His Father's name to be glorified.
John 13:
31 Therefore when he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of
Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;
32 if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself,
and will glorify Him immediately.
John 14:
13 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the
Father may be glorified in the Son.
The Father is glorified, when Yeshua does "whatever you ask in [His] name."
John 15:
7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you
wish, and it will be done for you.
8 "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so
prove to be My disciples.
9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in
My love.
10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as
(12) I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
The Father is glorified when we "bear much fruit." God loved us, and Yeshua loved us, and we are to "abide in this love" "If you keep my commandments." We have His example, that we are to keep His commandments, "just as He kept His Father's commandments."
John 16:
13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you
into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but
whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to
come.
14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to
you.
The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, and will glorify Yeshua, by disclosing to us, what belongs to Him.
John 17:
1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said,
"Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,
2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You
have given Him, He may give eternal life.
3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
4 "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You
have given Me to do.
5 "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I
had with You before the world was.
6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the
world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept
Your word.
7 "Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is
from You;
8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they
received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they
believed that You sent Me.
9 "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those
whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;
10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I
have been glorified in them.
11 "I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the
world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the
name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
12 "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You
have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the
son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 "But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that
they may have My joy made full in themselves.
14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from
the evil one.
16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19 "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be
sanctified in truth.
20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in
Me through their word;
21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You,
that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent
Me.
22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they
may be one, just as We are one;
23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that
the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have
loved Me.
24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me
where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for
You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 "O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I
have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;
26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known,
so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
The above entire chapter has much to say, about both love and glory. I wonder what verse 22 means?
DG
That sounds rather egomaniacal.
He created it to make His glory known.
It would have been obvious without the creation of the world.
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