Hell Glorifies God

Hell glorifies God—that is the premise of Thor Ramsey’s book The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever, the newest release from Cruciform Press. It is very encouraging to see a Christian publisher (who consistently aims at the general Christian audience) invest in a topic so essential to true Christianity. It is one thing to notice a few biblically-faithful publishers putting out academic defenses of the doctrine of hell (rare in itself), but it is another thing (and refreshing) to see diligent work put into the placing of such vital truth in the hands of the average person in the pew. 

This book is refreshingly honest, and bold. In a day when too many publishers find it fashionable to waste paper and ink on so-called biblical treatments of hell (which are nothing more than pathetic regurgitations of old heresies), this book does not attempt to improve God’s reputation. As the author writes in his Introduction, “there is a swath of fashionable new preachers with a mission to clean up God’s nasty reputation as a bloodthirsty old clod. Unfortunately, in the process of doing God the big favor of helping his PR, they’re reinventing the doctrine of eternal punishment with a new and improved gospel. It’s gospel-riffic!” This book is a much-needed antidote to the plague of unbiblical teachings from famous, fashionable, and rich preachers who treat hell “like the Christian’s dirty little secret—the pock mark on the church’s history formed during its teenage years.”    Continue at Paul Tautges

Implications of God’s Passion for His Glory

The essence of Christian Hedonism (as Piper calls it) is that  that everything was made by God to give him glory, and thus (as his creatures) we are happiest when we are seeking to glorify God. In fact, all things derive their meaning by the way in which they magnify the glory of God.

That is easy enough to believe at first glance. When I first picked up God’s Passion for His Glory (half by Edwards, half by Piper), I read the summary of the book: all things exist for God’s glory. I agreed easily. But then in the introduction, Piper hits his readers with a list of implications.

I did not get very far down that list before I realized that I had it all wrong. I had God existing for me, and not me for him. I thought I knew what it meant that my purpose was to glorify God. But this list exposed how flimsy my theology was. It convicted me to read more, study more, and finally to go to seminary. I’m posting these here to provoke you to read the book, and to be thankful that we were made for him.

If man’s chief end is to glorify God by enjoying him for ever, then the following (all off these are taken from God’s Passion for His Glory) are true:  Continue at Jesse Johnson

Soli Deo Gloria

We use the phrase glory of God so often that it tends to lose its biblical force. But this glory, like the sun, is no less blazing— and no less beneficial—because people ignore it. Yet, God hates to be ignored. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!” (Ps. 50:22). So let’s focus again on the glory of God. What is God’s glory, and how important is it?

What Is the Glory of God?

The glory of God is the holiness of God put on display. That is, it is the infinite worth of God made manifest. Notice how Isaiah shifts from “holy” to “glory”: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isa. 6:3). When the holiness of God fills the earth for people to see, it is called glory.

The basic meaning of holy is “separated from the common.” Thus, the holiness of God is His infinite “separation” from all that is common. It is what makes Him the infinite “one of a kind”—like the rarest and most perfect diamond in the world—only there are no other diamond-gods. God’s uniqueness as the only God—His “Godness”— makes Him infinitely valuable, or holy.

In speaking of God’s glory, the Bible assumes that this infinite value has entered creation. It has, as it were, shined. God’s glory is the radiance of His holiness, the out-streaming of His infinite value. And when it streams out, it is seen as beautiful and great. It has both infinite quality and magnitude. So, we may define God’s glory as the beauty and greatness of His manifold perfections.

I say “manifold perfections” because specific aspects of God’s being are said to have glory. For example, we read of “the glory of his grace” (Eph. 1:6) and “the glory of his might” (2 Thess. 1:9). God Himself is glorious because He is the perfect unity of all His manifold and glorious perfections.   Continue at John Piper

Marriage and the Glory of God

Christian Marriage

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony; which is an honorable state, instituted by God in the time of man’s innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church.”

That familiar language from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, recited thousands of times each week in various forms, presents a vision of marriage as a deeply Christian institution–even a necessary portrait of the love that unites Christ and His church. As marriage signifies this “mystical union,” it points to an understanding that takes us far beyond the relationship of the husband and wife. Do most Christians have even the slightest understanding of this?

It is bad enough that the secular world has discounted marriage into a quasi-legal contract that, like other voluntary contracts, can be made or broken at will. The greater tragedy is the failure of Christians to take marriage seriously. According to the Bible, marriage is not only designed by the Creator as an arena for human happiness and the continuation of the human race–it is also the arena of God’s glory, where the delights and disciplines of marriage point to the purpose for which human beings were made.

Marriage is about our happiness, our holiness, and our wholeness–but it is supremely about the glory of God. When marriage is entered into rightly, when marriage vows are kept with purity, when all the goods of marriage are enjoyed in their proper place–God is glorified. Keep Reading...

The Great Exchange: Replacing the Glory of God for a Lie

How do we account for this mysterious reality where the great majority of men and women even amongst those who profess the name of Christ are indifferent towards the presence of God? Is it perhaps because they are uninformed? Or because of sheer ignorance?
Will that work however? When before the judgment seat of Christ is it possible for us to plead ignorance? When our time comes to die and we stand before the thrice holy God, in giving a defense to how we lived our lives—how self-absorbed we are, our reveling in sin and our putting of ourselves on the throne of our lives, can we say, “I did not know You were there”?
Can we come before the Lord of Glory, the one true living God and cry out before Him, “God, you did not do enough to reveal yourself to me!”
Is that true? Has God truly not done enough? May it never be! Continue Reading>>>

A Very Grave Person