God is Glorified both in Heaven and in Hell
My aim is to demonstrate that God is equally glorified in the salvation of the saints and the damnation of the lost. This is very important. Can we be assured that God will always be glorified, ie, able to keep His Word or does His ability to glorify Himself depend on whether or not humans cooperate with His plans? Are God’s promises about the future dependent on and determined by things outside of God? Different scriptures are used to validate this point. However, it must be conceded that the use of a multiplied number of verses drawn out of their context is not the best use of Scripture since any single text taken outside of or apart from its context can be easily misinterpreted and used for pretext. From my subjective perspective, I have attempted avoid even the implication of that error but am certainly open to a further discussion of any text within its scriptural setting.
The discussion begins with the acknowledgement that God’s sincerest intent and His greatest triumph is the public demonstration of His own glory. That glory is centered in Christ Who is the agent of both creation and redemption. It is Paul’s testimony that the triumph of Christ in His redemptive cause is not diminished in the damnation of the lost but is keenly evident in both the saved and the damned. “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:14). Christ’s victory is seen in both those who trust Him for life and those who die without Him as their Savior. He is the Victor over the grave insuring the salvation of those who accept Him by faith and the damnation of those who trust in themselves. Either way, Christ’s victorious resurrection seals both salvation for some and damnation for others. Through it He became the only way for anyone to enter into heaven. In this God glorifies His Son.
By making Christ the only means of salvation God guarantees His eternal glory among either the saved or the damned with equal certainty. If a person accepts Chris as their Savior God is glorified. That person goes to heaven because Jesus’ sacrifice was all that God claimed it was. If a person does not accept the Lord, God is glorified. Without Christ, no one can get to heaven. God is glorified in both.
This is because God’s highest value and primary motive in all that He is or does is His Son’s glory. This is evidenced through the Old Testament prophets and in the New Testament through His Son. “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned?” (Isaiah 48:11). “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:28). God always does what pleases Him, which He does because He is God and to prove that He is God. Since His glory most pleases Him above everything and anything else, He has divinely arranged (as only He could) that everything and everyone eternally glorify Him through His Son. This glory is vindicated by the word of blessing and warning that centers in His Son being upheld in the salvation of those who believe and the damnation of those who reject Christ.
For this reason the saints can cry out with the Psalmist and confidently, joyfully, sing, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:22-23). Peter echoes the Psalmist’s sentiment declaring that “Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12). Israel’s rejection of Jesus does not hinder God’s glory in making Christ the cornerstone of His redemptive plan. It is still a marvelous thing because God is glorified in Christ and His cross. He is not glorified because of those who accept Him as their Savior or in spite of those who reject but, in fact, through those who accept the Lord Jesus and even those who reject the Father’s offer made in His Son.
God’s great goal in everything is His own glory. All of creation points to this ultimate and eternal end. Psalm 19:1 declares God’s purpose in creation. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” God’s glory across the globe’s surface is the psalmist’s goal in praying, “Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!” (Psalm 72:19) and “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalm 96:3). I Chronicles 16:23-24 states that God’s glory is the end of evangelism and missions. There the writer invokes God’s praise by encouraging people everywhere to “Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”
Whenever God blesses His people it is for His glory. “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:1-7).
”When God judges His people it is for His glory. “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood. Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day. The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the LORD will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away” (Isaiah 10:15-18).
When God saves His people it is for His glory. His great goal in redemption is to glorify himself. “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives. “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD. “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and forevermore” (Isaiah 59:16-21).
This thought on God’s glory in the salvation of His people and the damnation of the lost is actually a series of lectures I’m offering on Sunday evenings at Heritage. So each week as the lecture progresses I’ll post the previous week’s material that I have shared from the pulpit. Soli Deo Gloria!