As Christians we talk often (and rightly so) about doing all things to the glory of God. We also have an instinctive sense of the meaning of that behavior. But if you were asked precisely what it means, what would you say? Spending some time looking into what the Scriptures have to say about the glory of God and about our response to it will help us to understand better what God expects from us as His people.
In the Bible, glory means especially the visible manifestations or evidences of inherent greatness. Thus, for example, the sons of Laban accused Jacob of stealing their father’s glory (Gen. 31:1). Our English translations (except for the KJV) translate the Hebrew word as “wealth,” but the word means glory. Wealth fits because it is the specific manifestation of glory that Laban’s sons had in mind. Jacob had connived for years to make Laban’s flocks and herds his own, and he had succeeded in becoming a very wealthy man.
Joseph used the same word to his brothers when he told them, “And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen” (Gen. 45:13). But Joseph was referring especially to his position as second only to Pharaoh in the land. Glory as describing position is also the point of Psalm 8:5: “For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor.” Clothing also belongs to a man’s glory. That is why Jospeh’s brothers envied him when their father gave him the coat of many colors. The priests had special clothing “for glory and for beauty” (Exod. 28:40). Haman shows us several things that belong to glory. He boasted to his family and friends about “the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the kings.” Three glorious things were the cause of his boasting: wealth, children and position.
The glory of a king then consists in the various things he chooses to put on display to show people how great he is. Ahasuerus showed to his princes and servants “the riches of his glorious kingdom and honor of his excellent majesty” (Esther 1:4). Part of the display was the beauty of the banquet hall and the tableware (v. 6-7), as well as the abundance of the wine. But he ran into trouble when he tried to add his queen Vashti to this great public display. She refused to have anything to do with it.
There is no better or more extensive description of royal glory than that found 1 Kings 4 and following. Solomon’s glory was manifest in the number and prosperity of his people (1 Kings 4:20), the extend of his rule (v. 21), the food served at his table (v. 22-23), his horses and chariots (v. 26), his wisdom (v. 29-34), his building projects (ch. 7), his ships and their cargo (9:26-28), the gold that came to him (10:14), his throne (10:18-20), and his drinking vessels (v. 21).
We need only to ask how rulers displayed their greatness to see what kinds of things belonged to their glory: palaces, armies and victories, servants and their livery, wives (at least in Solomon’s day), crowns and scepters, gorgeous robes, stately ceremonies and processions, and much more. The greater the king, the more extravagant the display.
The Scriptures also say much about the glory of God. He is clothed with light (Ps. 104:1-2). The cloud of glory rested on the tabernacle and temple. His voice is mighty; the God of glory thunders (Psalm. 29:4). Ezekiel saw an astonishing vision of the throne of God (ch. 1), and when the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant over whose cherubim the Lord sat, Eli’s daughter-in-law mourned that the glory had departed (1 Sam. 4:21). He is the God of hosts. “Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, everlasting doors; and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle” (Ps. 24:7-8). His bride is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold (Ps. 45:13). His servants’ livery is the spotless robes of the righteousness of Christ. His works are glorious.
Above all the glory of God is revealed in Christ who is “brightness of His glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3). In Him dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He prayed, “And now O Father, glorify me with Your own self with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5). And for His people, “The glory which You gave me I have given them” (v. 22).
Angels cover their faces before it (Isa. 6:3). Men are undone (Isa. 6:5). Their bones turn to water. They fall on their faces and cannot find strength to rise (Dan. 10:7-11). It blinded Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:11), and always revelations of it, even as dimly reflected in the faces of angels, caused men to tremble with fear (Luke 2:9).
A point of special importance here is that God’s people participate in His glory. We are His glory because we are visible manifestations of the greatness of His power, grace, righteousness and truth. Paul says of the church that it is the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 8:23). In her the glory of God shines more brightly than in the original creation (Rev. 21). But we are His glory because He is ours (Zech. 2:5, Luke 2:32). David called him “my glory and the lifter up of my head” (Ps. 3:3). God accused Israel through Jeremiah: “My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit” (Jer. 2:11). “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). He makes His glory shine in and through us.
How then do we glorify Him? There are several answers, but all of them are bound by this great truth: we cannot add to his glory as one may add to the glory of even the most glorious of men. His glory is complete and infinite. We can only acknowledge and reflect it.
We glorify Him by confessing His glory to Him. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and Honor, and glory, and blessing… Blessing, and honor,, and glory, and power, be unto Him who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever” (Rev. 5:12-13). “But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of your mercy: and in Your fear I will worship toward Your holy temple” (Psalm. 5:7).
We glorify Him by not dirtying the robes with which He has clothed us. Dead flies make the apothecary’s ointment stink. So does a little folly the one who has a reputation for wisdom and glory (Eccl. 10:1). Our sins deface the glory of God in us.
We glorify Him by being what He has called us to be: saints. We confess Him before the world, praying that through our confession men will bend the knee to Him. We do our good works before men so they may see and glorify our Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16).
We glorify God also by deflecting praise from ourselves to Him. “It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search out their own glory is not glory” (Prov. 25:27). “How can you believe, who receive honor from each other, and do not seek the honor that comes from God only?” (John 5:44). “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility” (Prov. 18:12). “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but to Your name give glory” (Ps. 115:1).
He will not give His glory to another (Isa. 48:11). We are servants of that glory in His world by our worship, our sanctification and our works.