Thursday, October 04, 2007

It's about God's glory

I am wondering; do you believe God will be glorified by the destruction of the wicked in the lake of fire? I was looking for scripture to show this but didn't quite find a particular verse that defined it in such explicit terms.
Do you know of a verse or two that can shed light on this subject? What are your thoughts on this topic? Does God actually glory in the final judgement of sinners and how should we as christians react to a lost soul who enters eternity without Christ?

7 comments:

Andrew McNeill said...

Peter writes that the Lord is "not willing that any should perish" (2 Pet. 3:9) so on that basis, I can't say that God would "glory" in the damnation of the wicked. But does it bring glory to God? I can't think of any verses but the fact that it demonstrates God's justice surely brings glory to God in some sense.

Blessings,
Andrew.

Jim said...

Hi Andrews, thanks for stopping by. That is a very good verse and one we should continually remind ourselves of.

One thing is for sure, those who reject Him will not enjoy the presence of His glory.

God bless,
Jim

Kc said...

Jim I really appreciate your recent articles, as always, and I'm sorry I haven't made time to get by and say so. It's great to read you here again.

I made the same distinction that Andrew did concerning what God glories in and what glorifies Him. I also tend to believe that God is glorified in judgment but does not necessarily glory in the destruction.

Jim said...

Hi KC, thanks for your kind words. I appreciate your comments!

God bless,
Jim

Daniel said...

I am reminded of Joshua 7:19, "Then Joshua said to Achan, 'My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.'"

Recall that Achan obeyed the voice of Joshua here, and did confess, and after doing so he was stoned to death, as was fitting - both himself and his entire family.

We see here that the purpose of the confession was to give God glory, even though it by no means excused Achan for the crime he committed.

In Ezekiel 28:22 God judges Sidon in this way: "and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Sidon; I will be glorified in your midst; And they shall know that I am the LORD, When I execute judgments in her and am hallowed in her." ' "

When God executes judgment, as we see here, it hallows him, and brings him glory, an idea that is hinted at again by the prophet in Ezekiel 39:21, "And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them."

We see also in Matthew 25 that the judgment seat upon which Christ is going to sit when he judges between the sheep and the goats is referred to more than once as the throne of "glory".

That's sort of a quick first kick at it, but I am sure that anyone who is willing to do the footwork will find that God is not only glorified in judgment, but in all things that God does.

Daniel said...

Oh, and I would agree to, when I speak of God's glory, I don't mean that God "glories in" all things, but rather that -all- that God does is worthy of His honor and glory.

Can it ever be that God could do a thing that we would be unwilling to praise Him for?

Jim said...

Hi Daniel, as usual you give due diligence to all your comments.

I tend to agree with you in your statements here. It is a fearful thing to mock the living God.