A walnut in God's hand
When we say God is "glorious" I'm sure we characteristically think of his majesty, his supremacy, his omnipotence and any or all of the things that express his difference from and superiority over his creation. That makes sense—why wouldn't it? It makes sense especially since we can find that sort of speech throughout the Bible even where the term "glorious" is not used.
But God's glory is not to be confined to certain attributes or characteristics that we normally speak of when we're thinking of power.
The Christian must insist on what the complete biblical witness tells
us—there is no limit to God's power but the glory of God is to be seen
also in how he exercises that power and the purposes for which
he exercises it. We're not especially impressed with, and we certainly
don't admire, a human who has massive powers if he/she doesn't use them
for the good of others. We may well be astonished at the physical power
of a weightlifter but if we knew him well as a person we might judge him
to be a poor human regardless of his great strength. To concede that
God has limitless power only assures us and leads to praise and admire
him because we know from the "big picture" that his power serves his
infinite and holy generosity. We're unafraid of a God with limitless
power when we know what he thinks of power (Philippians 2:5) and when he
comes to us in and as Jesus Christ exercising that power for human
salvation.
The glory of God's power brings condemnation on
unbridled wickedness (Genesis 6—7, for example) but that same glorious
power brings rescue to the oppressed and justice to the defenceless. We
see this with special clarity in the book of Ezekiel when God repeatedly
brings judgment and rescue and says he is doing it,
"for my name's sake" and so that people might know him. A patient
reading of the whole of Ezekiel 20 (and elsewhere) makes this very
clear. Even the Genesis flood is in service of God's redeeming purpose.
John 12:23-33 thrillingly makes it clear that God
glorifies himself in the cross of our Lord Jesus and in the meaning and
consequences of that cross. The glory of God is the glory of God!
But, astonishingly, the glory of God is that he is a God of holy love
and generosity, a God who is not self-absorbed, so we find him eternally
purposing to share his joy-filled life with the human family even though it costs him dearly to do it!
So, insist on proclaiming that God created us to glorify
himself but don't say or imply, choke before you say or imply, that
God's self-glorification is a form of vanity and self-centredness or the
divine need to flex his divine muscles. A man or woman who builds an
empire sheerly for his/her own aggrandisement is ugly. God needs none of
that! In the mystic's vision God stands with a tiny, nut-sized thing in
his hand and when she asked him what it was God said it was all created
things. God isn't impressed (as we should be) with his limitless power but he rejoices, exults and is filled with delight in blessing and saving his human family.
This is the glory of God!
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