We often sing and preach about God’s glory. We see God’s glory in creation (Isaiah 6:3). We live and minister ‘for the Glory of God’. We might even audaciously pray like Moses: ‘Show me your glory’ (Exodus 33:18). We can experience God’s manifested glory. Yet, it’s so hard to define.
What is the glory of God, and why won’t God share His glory with anyone else?
The idea of glory in the Old Testament means heaviness and having substance. Used in reference to a person, it points to their impressiveness.1 That’s why it’s often connected to power. Importantly, God’s power to save. Glorious are God’s wonderful deeds! Swiss theologian Karl Barth once wrote: ‘God has and is glory. For God is glorious’.
God’s glory cannot be given to another because it is inexplicably linked to Him. His glory is part of Him. It is who He is. The glory belongs to Him alone.
As Isaiah 42:8 continues, we are told that God will not give His glory to another, “nor my praise to idols.”
Who dares take God’s glory?
Idols compete for the allegiance of people. The false gods in Isaiah made false claims of salvation. But the prophet reveals them for their emptiness and impotency (Isaiah 41:21-24).
Yet, the people still sought the idols. The followers of God still made idols. Why?
Because we crave God’s glory for ourselves. Admit it. We all like a bit of glory. Or a lot.
Isaiah 44 goes on to describe how the people made idols. They carved metal and wood into human form. Isaiah mocks their absurdity. Yet, the people still make the idols. It says the idol-maker ‘he makes it in human form, with human beauty’ (44:13). The idols are in our image. We make them. We make the idols like us. Well, like our beautiful selves. That is, our facebook profile, ideal self.
What idol do I make?
What is your beautiful image that you make into an idol?
Power and prestige? Sure, we give God the glory for our ministry, but God couldn’t do it without me. I did it. I built this church. This church belongs to me.
Giftedness? Sure, it was the Holy Spirit who empowered me, but I was the one who did that miracle. The Spirit moved through me. I’m the anointed one. I’m the gifted one.
Aspirational Leader? Sure, I follow Christ but you can follow me. Look how I live. Look at my hot spouse. Look at my overseas holiday. Look how blessed I am. I am worthy of imitating.
Popular pastor? Sure, everyone is important but I’m the one everyone wants to talk to. I’ve always got someone next to me. I’m never standing alone at events. I’ve got a seat at every table.
You get the idea. Its all about feeding our need for security. To know that we are impressive and important because other people think we are. In manufacturing an idol we produce proof that we are worthy: other people think I’m impressive. To achieve our need for impressiveness, we create idols in our human likeness.
My idol-making ensures that I feel important and loved. We are fooled into thinking acceptance must be earned.
The irony is that we already are important and loved. At the beginning of Isaiah 42, it says that God sees us: ‘Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.’ God already delights in us. We don’t have to prove it to anyone. He speaks tenderly to us: I delight in you. We don’t need to manufacture idols to prove we are cherished. We already are beloved by God.2
The Lord who is God, will not give his glory to these idols. We are His workmanship. We are made in His image. The idols are not God’s image and cannot contain God’s glory. God will not tolerate these idols.
How do we ditch the idols?
One of the ultimate purposes of God’s glory is for us to become like Him. To see God’s glory with unveiled faces and be transformed by His glory (2 Cor 3:18). That is, we don’t manufacture idols into our image. Instead, we become transformed into God’s image. We then reflect the impressiveness of God; not to bring us glory, but to proclaim God’s glory. In this we find our security and acceptance. So, ditch the idols and embrace the process of being altered by God’s glory, from glory to glory, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Rebecca G.S. Idestrom, Show Me Your Glory: The Glory of God in the Old Testament (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2021).
2 Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World (Hodder, UK: 2016).
