Story of HIS Glory
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What if I stood up here and told you all about how awesome I am, and then I did my best to show you how awesome I am, and I did all of this for the purpose of you then telling me how awesome I am?
JOB OPENING!!!!!
G.O.A.T.s
G.O.A.T.s
Peyton Manning
Michael Jordan
Elvis
Ray Charles
Nicholas Cage
Celine Dion
John Wayne
Michael Bolton
Harrison Ford
Chris Farley
Billy Ray Cyrus
Napoleon Dynamite
Dr. Pepper
Ron Burgundy
Einstein
Abraham Lincoln
Van Gogh
Benjamin Franklin
Jackie Robinson
Ella Fitzgerald
Now what about some of the GOATs? What if they stood up here and told you how awesome they are for the purpose of us then telling them how awesome they are?
It’s not gonna go well because it would be so arrogant, pompous, self-absorbed, pride, etc.
There is only one that can self-proclaim their awesomeness and expect us to acknowledge and proclaim it back and that is God.
And we can see across all of time that God does proclaim who He is. He reveals His glory so that he would receive glory in return.
The Story of HIS Glory
The Story of HIS Glory
So for the next several hours I’m gonna tell you the story of His glory. Can’t be done. Not in hours, days, years, decades, centuries, etc. The story of His glory has been, is and will forever be told. So today we’re gonna dabble in the story. First, let’s look at what glory is.
Glory
Glory
Definition of Glory
“intrinsic worth, substance, brilliance and beauty” - Steven Hawthorne, Perspectives
“magnificence or great beauty” - Oxford Languages
“fame, renown, awesomeness” - Brandon
Last week Kelly talked about God’s mission, to bless his people so they will be a blessing to all the nations. But what is God’s ultimate purpose behind this? Why is he doing this? To understand this, the story of His glory, we must start with the end.
God’s Ultimate Purpose
God’s Ultimate Purpose
Revelation 5:9-13 which was our call to worship, gives us a vision of God’s ultimate purpose. John is given a vision of God receiving worship from:
“every tribe and language and people and nation”
“ the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands”
“every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them”
All of creation is giving Him glory as He makes His glory is known.
Our Perspectives class defined God’s ultimate purpose this way:
“God’s ultimate purpose is that the nations would glorify Him in open recognition of two things: His redemptive, life-giving blessing and the supremacy of His kingship.”
Basically, that He is both Savior and Lord.
So let’s dive in to the Story of His Glory. We’re going to go through a whirlwind of texts from Genesis to Revelation and I want us to see and hear through the lens of God’s Ultimate Purpose.
Creation
Creation
God created the heavens, earth, plants, animals, sun, moon, and stars. Now man and woman are the crown jewel of God’s creation because we are made in His image. We are to reflect who He is and bring glory to Him.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
God’s glory is revealed through His “handiwork.” However, creation is fractured because of rebellion. The kingdom is fractured when Satan rebels and seeks his own glory and he and a third of the angels are cast out. The relationship with God and mankind is fractured when mankind rebels beginning with Adam and Eve’s sin. So the stage is set for God to reveal His glory as He restores the kingdom and redeems people through His salvation.
This process is messy because sinful people are involved. We see people rebelling against God and we see people in cooperation with God. Either way the result is the same. God’s glory is made known.
Let’s take a quick look at the passage Kelly talked about last week, when God spoke to Abram.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Five times in this passage God says “I will.” God makes it clear that HE will do the nation building, the name making, and the blessing. All for the purpose of blessing all families of the earth. God’s glory and fame will be made known through Abraham and His descendants.
Abram becomes Abraham -> Isaac -> Jacob, becomes Israel
12 Tribes Israel
Joseph
Joseph
One of Israel’s sons is Joseph. It’s a crazy story and you can see God’s hand throughout, but Joseph gets sold into slavery by his brothers, ends up in Egypt as a servant in Potiphar’s house, goes to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, interprets some dreams of prisoners, and eventually ends up interpreting dreams for Pharaoh. After all of that, Joseph still points to God and brings Him glory when Pharaoh asks him to interpret the dreams.
Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Long story short, God puts Joseph in a position of power and influence and God works through him to preserve not just God’s people in Joseph and his father and brothers, but God also preserves Egypt. And we know what ends up happening with God’s people and Egypt.
God protected, preserved and built up Israel
God protected, preserved and built up Egypt
His purpose His glory
Egypt
Egypt
God brought Moses to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt. God speaks through Moses to tell Pharaoh what’s gonna happen.
For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Over and over, God makes clear why He is doing this. Pharaoh will not listen, and God hardens Pharaoh’s heart for the purpose of making God famous not only in Egypt, but Israel and the world! Word will get around!
And long story short, plagues, passover, people were finally let go, parting of the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s army drowned, people were rescued, and God gets the glory.
Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Moses and the Israelites
Moses and the Israelites
And story of God’s people marches on out into the desert. The people are all in on following God until things get hard. After receiving reports of giants in the Promised Land from the 12 spies, the people are overcome with fear and start complaining and wishing they were back in Egypt. Caleb and Joshua try to encourage the people to trust God and proceed, but the people aren’t having it and they want to stone them. At this point God is fed up and wants to start over with Moses. But Moses intercedes on his behalf.
But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”
God showed His mercy in sparing the people, but also showed His justice in that the rebellious people would not get to enter the Promised Land. It is about His name, His Glory!
David and Goliath
David and Goliath
1 Samuel 17
We know the story and in the end God was glorified to both the Israelites and the Philistines.
Here’s another example:
Naaman
Naaman
Naaman is the commander of the Syrian army. He’s also a leper. He hears about the chance of healing through a slave girl. This girl was taken captive by the Syrian army and is forced into slavery. God uses this little girl to put God on Naaman’s radar by refering him to Elisha, God’s prophet.
Naaman goes to Elisha and is healed, and here’s what he says:
2 Kings 5:15 (ESV)
“Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel;”
This story, and so many others, all tell the story of His glory, not just in Israel, but in every nation. Naaman was a Syrian. And we see this played out in Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzer in the story of the fiery furnace and King Darius, in the story of the Lion’s den. They both recognized God is the one true God.
Fiery furnace- Daniel 3
Lion’s Den- Daniel 6
God shows HIS glory to Israel and __________ so that He is made famous!
God shows HIS glory to Israel and __________ so that He is made famous!
Fast forward now to Jesus.
Jesus
Jesus
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
This is amazing! Jesus comes into the world as a little helpless baby. And we see this wondrous display of God’s glory acknowledged with the angels appearing to the shepherds.
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!”
And then the shepherds go and worship as well.
Then the sinless life of Jesus filled with miraculous signs and wonders and teachings all revealed more of God’s glory and brought glory to the Father. Jesus always pointed to the Father.
The Father is further glorified in the death and resurrection of Jesus which provided the atoning sacrifice necessary to pay the wages of sin. Therefore, those that believe in Jesus and confess Him as Lord will be saved.
Also, by Jesus conquering death, He sealed the fate of Satan and the kingdom of darkness. Evil will be destroyed.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Sounds a lot like God’s ultimate purpose.
So that’s the Story of His Glory! And you and I are part of the story.
I remember after the first two weeks of the Perspectives course how cool it was to realize that today is just as much a part of the Story of God’s glory as all of the stories of the bible. It’s easy to feel disconnected with what we read in the Bible because it is a complete book and it happened 2000 years ago, and I haven’t seen huge bodies of water parted, or people survive a fiery furnace. So, although I believe the Bible, it’s easy to feel like we’re just waiting here for Jesus to return or take me home. But to realize that the covenant God made with Abraham applies to me, us, today because we have been adopted as spiritual sons and daughters into God’s people, and to realize that we are part of the Story of His Glory today and forever, changes things. Realizing that big picture brings a direction, focus and vision for our lives. Yes there are details to work out in our lives, but what a relief to realize that God sits on the throne today, right now, and always has and always will! And we have been invited to join Him in His work.
All of these stories within the story of His Glory end with people glorifying God with worship and acknowledging that He is the one true God. And whether people obeyed or rebelled didn’t change that fact. Let’s remember that has we go forward. Everything for His glory and His name because He is worthy!