“Give God the Glory”

Glory means honor, worship, praise, adoration, and thanksgiving to God. The word glory is used very often in the Scriptures. The apostle Paul exhorts Christians “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). And this is absolutely true because God, and He alone, is deserving or worthy of our worship, thanksgiving and adoration.

Our faith in God results in glory to God. God must be given a place of honor and exaltation in our hearts and lives. Christians are to love the Lord with our heart, soul, and mind. And one of the great reasons is that we worship and serve a great God who is good and His everlasting mercy and infinite love will endure forever. 

In the book of The Revelations we read “the four living creatures . . . day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Rev. 4:8). This speaks volumes about the holiness and almightiness of the Lord our God.

The continuous worship of the living creatures “cast their crowns before the throne” and    acknowledge the worthiness of our Lord and God, saying: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev 4:11).

At the angelic announcement of Jesus’ birth, the Scripture says, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:13,14).   

King David in his thanksgiving and prayer at the dedication of Solomon’s temple said: “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11). 

David’s prayer was filled with glory to God as he acknowledged God’s greatness and power and God is the only One who is completely worthy of all honor and exaltation, especially as He is the source of all riches and honor. Herein, lies the magnificence of worship and thanksgiving. 

“The priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God” (2 Chron. 5:14). God filled the temple with His divine presence.

“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1).

This Psalm makes it very clear that it is to God alone belongs the glory. And note the emphasis “not to us”, and again “not to us.” This is not redundancy. This is truth; divine truth. The great “I am the LORD” has declared: “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8). 

And again in Isaiah 48:11 “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” These declarations by God makes it abundantly clear that the glory belongs exclusively to Him and no one else.

Glory is all about our mighty Creator; the God of heaven and the God of the holy Scriptures. Glory has nothing to do with us. The splendor of His majesty, might, dominion, power, and holiness are exclusively God’s. Man with his arrogance, haughtiness and an exaggerated sense of his own importance, no doubt, would probably like to claim glory for himself. But God will never allow that to take place.

Just as glory belongs to God alone, so does Biblical worship. Worship in christianity means devotion, admiration, reverence, and homage to Almighty God. The Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23,24).

In His high priestly intercessory prayer to His Father, Jesus prayed: “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:4,5).

“As the Lord uttered these words,” Writes William MacDonald, “He was speaking as if He already died, been buried, and risen again. He had glorified the Father by His sinless life, by His miracles, by His suffering and death, and by His resurrection. He had finished the work of salvation the Father had given Him to do” (Believer’s Bible Commentary p. 1556).

Here again we see glory belongs exclusively to God and here in the biblical text the relationship between God and His Son Jesus Christ.