God’s Uncompromising Purpose – Part 2

God will forever be committed to honouring His name and glory. By this statement, “but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,” God indicates that He will irrevocably be committed to seeing the radiance of His glory filling the whole earth.

What is the glory of God? Let me borrow this lengthy definition by John Piper. “The glory of God is his greatness, his beauty, and his worth on display. Remember what the angels cried out in Isaiah 6:2-3 as they flew in the presence of God: Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Why didn’t they say: “The whole earth is full of his holiness?” My suggestion is that the holiness of God is His intrinsic worth and beauty and greatness — the transcendent greatness, beauty and worth that He has in Himself apart from any revelation or creation on display. But when this greatness and beauty and worth shine forth in revelation for the world to know and admire and enjoy, it is often called God’s glory. Hebrews 1:3 speaks of “the radiance of the glory of God.” Glory has radiance — moving out from God to the universe…”
• His greatness refers to His scope, extent, and grandeur.
• His beauty refers to the perfections of all His attributes and the infinite harmony of their interrelationships.
• His worth refers to the fact that He is a Treasure more precious, more valuable, more to be desired than anything or anyone else in the universe — or all the universe itself. This is the glory of God says John Piper.

We must be wary of fake glory. In our current world, everything original can be faked. The world thrives on fake products, especially, Satan tries to present fake glory to us. He always would lure us with fake glory. He tempted Jesus Christ with fake glory when he “showed him all the kingdoms of this world and their glory” (Matthew 4:8). And for all that he showed to Jesus Christ, he demanded worship. But as we all know, Jesus Christ rejected Satan’s offer. Today, Satan has not ceased to tempt and deceive the world with the fake glory of lust, fame, pride, sex, power, treasures, among others. Any wonder then, that John warned us to be wary of embracing the worldly system and its allurements. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever,” (1 John.2.15-17 NKJV). Satan’s seduction is so powerful and real. We see it all around us.

Whatever definition we give to glory, Psalm 24:7-10 says, Jesus is the King of glory. May we seek to embrace the higher glory of God. Jesus Christ in all His person and work, is the incarnation and ultimate revelation of the glory of God. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature,” (Hebrews 1:3).
• Contact: pastoracukachi@gmail.com