For over a month now I’ve been working my way, slowly, through the book of Ezekiel.
If you don’t remember which one he was, he lived during the Babylonian exile, ate a scroll, had to lay on his left side for 390 days, one day for each year of Israel’s sinning, and then another 40 days on his right side for the sins of Judah, and prophesied his own wife’s death. But he’s really famous for the vision in the valley where an army of dry bones comes back to life. That guy.
Anyway, as I’ve been reading, one phrase is constantly repeated (at least 50 times in the whole book): “Then [they] will know that I am the LORD.” “They” being Israel, Judah, the people, and various other nations.
Simultaneously, I’ve been reading a book called “Humility, True Greatness” by C.J. Mahaney.
In Mahaney’s book, the main focus is, you guessed it, being humble. And a big part of being humble is realizing that the only reason we exist is to bring glory to God, because He is the only One worthy of praise. We don’t exist - were not created - to make our names great. What exactly could we accomplish on our own without the living breath, the talents, intelligence, or emotions God gave us? Therefore, we were created to bring glory to God. And that’s what God’s goal is, too.
Does this make God selfish or prideful? To paraphrase Jerry Bridges, if God were to glorify, (or another word might be worship) anyone besides Himself, it would essentially mean that He was not the All-powerful Creator, Alpha and Omega.
How does this connect to Ezekiel? I’m almost there…
Israel is in exile, they’ve sinned, God is mad at them. He warned them time and again to knock it off with the immorality, idol worship, child sacrifice, etc. and now they are in time-out. For about 60 years. But their exile is supposed to be an opportunity for them to make His name known among their captor nations. And that’s exactly what God keeps saying.
Every time that theme phrase is used, it means everything Ezekiel was just prophesying about will occur so that more people will know that God is, well, God. It all happens so that His name is glorified. No other reason. Israel will be restored, and her enemies defeated, not because Israel earned a pardon, but because God want’s His name to be known among the nations.
He wants the glory, the honor, the worship.
This stands out to me because it is, and if it’s not, it should be, the only motivator for me as I serve overseas. And even when I’m back in the states. As a Christian, my task is to make God’s name known, wherever I am.