Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth - everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made,(Isaiah 43:7, NIV).


Have you ever wondered why you were created? You were created for God’s glory and to glorify God, (Isaiah 43:7) because it pleased Him to do so (Ephesians 1:5). The concept of glory can be a difficult concept to wrap our human minds around. It seems so otherworldly. We can catch glimpses of its meaning throughout Scripture, but then like a shooting star that appears for a just a moment, it quickly slips away into the vast expanse of God’s infinite wisdom. But let’s see what we can know about this bigger-than-life word.
In the Old Testament, the most common Hebrew word for glory is kabod meaning “weight, honor, esteem.” The Bible associates God’s glory with how He manifests Himself or makes His presence known. Some theologians refer to these as theophanies. He made His presence known in a devouring fire (Exodus 24:16-17), a moving cloud (Exodus 13:21) and a still small voice (Exodus 33:18). His glory is reflected in creation (Psalm 19:1) and in His sovereign control of history (Acts 17:26). His glory is made known through the life of simple human beings like you and me.
The same concept of God’s glory is in the New Testament in the Greek word, doxa, which meansglory, honor and splendor.(William D. Munce, General Editor , Munce’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006, 290). John wrote, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). After Jesus’ first miracle, turning the water into wine, John wrote: “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:11). In Hebrews 1:3, the writer reveals this about Jesus: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3).
The verb form of glory, to glorify, is doxazo, and primarily denotes “to magnify, extol, praise, to ascribe honor to God, acknowledging Him as to His being, attributes and acts, i.e., His glory. It is the revelation and manifestation of all that He has and is. When we glorify God, we are giving a display or manifestation—or a reflection—of His character. To magnify God is to make Him easy to see. Jesus said that the disciples would glorify God when they bore fruit (John 15:8). Through their actions, they would point others to God and make Him easy to see.
God’s glory is how He makes Himself known. It is almost incomprehensible to think that He would choose mere human beings to accomplish such a task. But as Scripture tells us, we were created in His image (Genesis 1:26) and as a display of His glory (Isaiah 43:7). You were created to make God recognizable to others—to show others what God is like. He makes Himself recognizable to us and through us. The glory of any created thing is when it is fully fulfilling the purpose for which it was created…and that includes you and me.
Glory. It’s a big word—a weighty word.
Today, look for ways that God makes Himself known to you and through you.