“And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Nehemiah 1:5)
Our Great God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, possesses a majesty and glory entirely peculiar to Himself. Scripture describes God as great. And though He is infinite, this greatness is not in reference to material substance or dimension. Rather, God is great in terms of His majestic perfection (Deut. 7:21, 10:17; Neh. 1:5, 4:14, 9:32; Ps. 47:2; Isa. 12:6; Jer. 10:6; Dan. 11:45). He is most glorious (Deut. 5:24, 11:2; Ps. 8:1, 9). He is the Most High God (Gen. 14:18; Num. 24:16; Deut. 32:8; Ps. 7:18; Lam. 3:38). His magnificence is extoled above all others (Ps. 135:5), for He is great, and worthy to be praised (Ps. 48:1; 96:4; 113:3; Ex. 15:11). This divine glory of God is the expression of the brightness of His infinite essence (Exod. 33:18-20; Isa. 42:8), for which He deserves to be esteemed and celebrated as the God of glory (Acts 7:2), the King of glory (Ps. 24:8), and the Father of glory (Eph. 1:17). Martin Luther rightly said, “God is great and omnipotent. He accomplishes great things. He exercises His strength against everything strong and powerful. Such ideas describe beautifully the nature of God and of His works that we may not lose faith regardless of what great difficulty embraces us, but may trust that God will the more quickly be at hand when we completely despair of being able to escape the peril that threatens us.” God glorifies Himself by manifesting the incomprehensible preeminence of His essence in His attributes and operations (Num. 14:21; Ps. 72:19; Lev. 10:3). In addition, the Father glorifies the Son (John 17:1), the Son in turn – as the radiance of the Father’s glory (Heb. 1:3) – glorifies the Father (John 17:4; 8:49). And the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son (John 16:14) and the Father, being called “the Spirit of glory and of God,” (1 Peter 4:14). Both men and angels ought to also recognize, celebrate, and extol this glorious God (Isa. 6:3; Luke 2:14; Ps. 8:1; Rev. 4:10-11). To what end do we praise Him other than for His glory? “That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Phil 2:11). Even the Gospel is called the glorious gospel of the blessed God (1 Tim. 1:11), and the light of that glorious gospel is Christ, the very image of the great God of glory! (2 Cor. 4:4).- Lord, if majesty and glory do not belong to You, for what reason would You have created, nourished, and governed the world? You have need of nothing. So, in my limited understanding, I can see no other reason but the recognition and celebration of Your infinite perfection (Prov. 16:4; Rom. 11:36).
- Lord, why would You have created me if not for Your glory? I am here for one purpose, and that is to declare and demonstrate Your great glory. To this end may I always declare Your glory and the glory of Your Son (Ps. 19:1, cf. 8:3,9; Rom. 1:20).
- Lord, the chief end of all things… the sole purpose You created the universe… is more excellent than the universe itself, and that is to glorify You and magnify Your name!
- The whole of creation declares Your glory (Ps. 10). You are most glorious indeed! Help me contemplate and adore You as the Great God that shines in magnificent perfection!
