Psalm 96:6-9
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
Acts 12:21-23
On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.”Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
GIVE GLORY OF LOVE TO GOD
To give glory means to love God and to live according to His Word. There are great blessings for those who give glory to God, but there is also great punishment if people—who were created by God, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Son—don’t give glory. We must give glory of love and thanksgiving to God, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Son who created the heavens and the earth, all creation, and humankind.
There were several central figures in the Bible who gave glory to God properly and were blessed as a result: Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph—who were Abraham’s descendants—believed in God, served Him, relied on Him, and lived glorifying Him every day. Consequently, they flourished and prospered. Likewise, the second generation Israelites during Moses’ time—unlike the first generation—loved God, obeyed His Word, and glorified Him through thanksgiving and joy. Thus, they were able to enter the ideal world, the land of Canaan, and to live there joyfully with God. Furthermore, David, unlike his predecessor, Saul, loved God and gave thanks and glory to Him in everything he did. As a result, not only did he become the king of Israel, but he received blessings while continuing to give glory to God and ruling over his country well for 40 years.
GIVE GLORY OF OBEDIENCE TO GOD
An important part of giving glory to God is obeying His Word. In the Bible, there are examples in which people were blessed for obeying God, and there are also instances where people were judged for disobeying God:
Even the first central figures, Adam and Eve, did not obey God and did not give Him the glory of love either, so they were judged by being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. At Noah’s time, the people of that generation did not give glory to God but instead married whomever they wanted and lived fallen lives. As a result, God said that He would judge that generation. So he told Noah—the righteous person of that time—to build an ark, and through Noah God told everyone to get on the ark in order to avoid judgment by the flood. Sadly, they did not obey even that Word, and thus they were judged. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah also did not give glory to God, and they lived in fallen ways however they wanted, so they were eventually judged and came to ruin. The first generation Israelites during Moses’ time did not listen to Moses, whom God had sent to save them. Instead, they grumbled, complained, and slandered him, and they, too, lived without offering glory of thanksgiving to God. In the end, God forbade them from entering the land of Canaan, and instead they lived the rest of their lives in the Desert of Zin. In addition, King Saul did not unite with Prophet Samuel, who had been appointed by God, and he failed to give glory to God. He was eventually defeated at war because God was not with him, and he became very negative and ultimately died as a result. Furthermore, in the New Testament, King Herod ignorantly sent an army on horseback to kill all the boys under two years old within that region, in an attempt to kill Jesus the Messiah. Herod ultimately died before his time. One final example is Herod’s grandson who deified himself and received glory from people but failed to give glory to God, so he was eaten by worms and died. He was judged according to his wicked deeds.
PEOPLE ARE REPAID ACCORDING TO WHETHER THEY GIVE GLORY TO GOD OR NOT
Looking at the Bible, we see that people who gave glory to God in the past were rewarded and blessed, whereas those who did not give glory were judged. One of the greatest tragedies in the Bible is what happened to Jesus, the one sent by God in that time period, and, as such, those who had acted wickedly were judged by God. When Jesus was making salvation history, people who didn’t follow him and didn’t give glory to God were judged whether they believed in God or not. The Jewish religious people in particular continued to persecute the believers of Jesus until the end. Ultimately, their temple in Jerusalem, which they considered so holy, was destroyed in the war of 70 A.D.
Regardless of the time period, judgement befalls those who don’t listen to the savior God sends and who don’t give thanks and glory, whereas blessings are reserved for those who listen to the savior’s words while giving thanks and glory.
