TO GOD BE GLORY FOREVER

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” – 1Timothy 1:17

Scriptures are unequivocal about the divine Intention that whatever the situation may be, TO GOD BE GLORY FOREVER! This truth recurs copiously, cutting across the epistles. And most of the mentions emphasized the word ‘Forever’ and ended with an AMEN! Here’s a sample of the spectrum of Scriptures:

 “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, TO WHOM BE GLORY FOREVER. Amen” (Rom.11:36).

“TO GOD, alone wise, BE GLORY through Jesus Christ forever. Amen” (Rom.16:27).

“TO WHOM BE GLORY FOREVER and ever. Amen” (Gal.1:5)

“TO HIM BE GLORY in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph.3:21).

“Now to our God and Father BE GLORY FOREVER and ever. Amen” (Phi.4:20).

“And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. TO HIM BE GLORY FOREVER and ever. Amen!” (2Tim.1:18).

“Make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, TO WHOM BE GLORY FOREVER and ever. Amen” (Heb.13:21).

“TO HIM BE THE GLORY and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1Pet.5:11).

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. TO HIM BE THE GLORY both now and forever. Amen” (2Pet.3:18).

“To GOD our Savior, Who alone is wise, BE GLORY and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen” (Jud.25).

So, what do we mean when we say, “TO GOD BE GLORY”! In Paul’s manner of writing, there was no verb at all. It literally said, “To Him, Glory!” This portrays two shades of meaning: one a statement of fact; the other, an expression of longing. The factual statement would be: “To Him belongs Glory! God is glorious! Whether you or I see it or not, God has Glory and displays it.” The expression of longing would be, “May Glory be given to Him!” That is, may people see and praise Him as glorious. To “give Him glory,” is not in the sense of adding anything to His glory, but acknowledging it and treasuring it. So when Paul simply wrote, “To the only wise God, glory!” he must have had both thoughts in mind: first, God is glorious! And deep in is heart was the longing, the prayer: may all the nations see it, acknowledge it, and value it as their highest treasure!

Paul’s final word in Romans, shortly before the “Amen” was his acclamation of the peerless fact of all: GOD IS GLORIOUS! In addition, His aspiration for all the nations was that they may see and savour His Glory above all things! His goal was that the name of Christ be seen as infinitely glorious above all other names, persons, ideas, and possessions. His aim was that the GLORY of CHRIST be known and valued in the entire world above all other things.

In Romans 3:23, Paul summed up the condition of all human beings: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We have all exchanged the glory of God for other things; hence, we “fall short” of it, which is the very essence of sin. We were created to treasure the Glory of God above all things, but we seldom do this; hence, we have committed an outrageous crime against God, stand under His wrath, and need a Savior. The gospel is designed by the wisdom of God to strip us of all grounds for boasting in ourselves and make the Lord the only focus of our exultation!

The Almighty God is faithful to His promises to be glorified among the nations. The Question is: Is this the cry of your heart? To what extent do you cherish or love the Glory of God? God is calling for your attention and admiration every day because: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psa.19:4). God is calling out to you: behold My glory! Even the Gospel of Christ crucified and risen, is radiant with the glory of God in the face of Christ (2Cor.4:6).