Our glory is to reflect God’s glory
Last week we saw that God supremely delights to express his glory for his own joy and the admiration and pleasure of his creation.
Glory is divine, and someday it will also be fully human. Jesus, the unique Son, has unimaginable glory, and he is the firstfruit of glorified humanity. God the Father has unimaginable glory, as does the Holy Spirit.
Glory sums up God’s nature, and therefore it will similarly sum up our redeemed nature. At creation God gave humanity the priceless gift of bearing his image and displaying his glory.
God plans to restore the glory lost in the Fall and to add more for good measure. Jesus said, “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Mat. 13:43). John said, “When he appears we will be like him” (1 John 3:3). Paul said there will be “glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good” (Rom. 2:10).
The apostle Paul also writes, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). The NIV, similar to the KJV, translates the end of that verse, “the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Ultimate worship
In God’s plans, glory is not incidental, not a side benefit of salvation, not a secondary goal. It is ultimate.
Therefore when God established his covenant with Israel, he began the Ten Commandments by stressing exclusive worship. Centuries later he rebuked Israel for breaking these commands by their stubborn idolatry and said, “My glory I will not give to another” (Isa. 48:11). In this matter of exclusive worship, God means business. He is jealous for his glory.