“…so that they may know that I am the Lord”

I’ve been reading through the Old Testament and right now I’m in the book of Ezekiel. Almost every chapter in Ezekiel contains the phrase “…so that they may know that I am the Lord” at least once. In the midst of prophesying judgements against Israel for their constant disobedience and breaking of the covenant under the Law, God has an overarching plan that they would know Him. This beautiful theme points us to the new covenant in Christ: we can know Him!

God has been revealing a lot to me about His glory. In the Westminster catechism, the first question is, “What is the chief end of man?” with the answer being, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” I would argue that this is largely true of God as well: “The chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” We see the Trinitarian God bringing glory to Himself throughout Scripture, from the Old Testament to the New. And yet, though he is capable of finding all the glory He needs within Himself, He has chosen to glorify Himself by extending grace to us and calling us to glorify Him as well.

Creation, covenants, salvation, redemption, sanctification... None of it is about us: it’s all about His glory. This leads me to His love for the nations. Looking back to Ezekiel, we see this glory revealed through His love and pursuit of His people and His love and pursuit of the nations through His people. He loves the nations because, in doing so, His name glorified. When they recognize His love for them, it invokes praise. His pursuit of His people, His prospering them, judging them, punishing them, giving them grace and forgiveness, establishing covenants with them... It’s all part of one big plan: that we would know Him, and in knowing Him, that we would praise Him, and in praising Him, bring Him glory.

He didn’t establish the Old Covenant, then realize it was flawed and so move on to plan B, the New Covenant. Rather, the Covenant in Christ was His plan from the very beginning in creation. He established the Old Covenant for a multitude of reasons: to show us our inability to fulfill the law, to demonstrate to us His hatred of sin, and so much more.

I encourage you to read all of Scripture with two things in mind: 1) that God does everything for the purpose of His glory and 2) that His plan from creation was to send Christ. It will revolutionize the way you read the Bible and will increase your love for and awe of Him!

I could keep going, but I shall stop with this one question, which I haven’t settled in my own mind yet. Since we know that God does everything for His glory, how will He receive glory from hell and those who go there?