God created the world to put his glory on display that his people might know him, and love him, and glorify him (Isaiah 43:6b–7). The great tragedy of the universe is that, while human beings were made to glorify God, we have all fallen short of this purpose and “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man” (Romans 1:23). Eight billion image bearers of God who are supposed to reflect God’s glory now marred with sin… glorious ruins!

Why did God create a world that would become like this world, a world that fell into sin? A world that exchanged his glory for the glory of images? Why would he permit and sustain such a world?

The apex of God’s display of his glory is the display of his grace.

“God predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace” (Ephesians 1:5-6). In other words, the glory of God’s grace ‐ what Paul calls “the riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7) ‐ is the high point and endpoint in the revelation of God’s glory. And the aim of predestination is that we live to the praise of the glory of this grace forever.

The display of God’s grace was planned before the creation.

“God chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . to the praise of the glory of his grace” (Ephesians 1:4, 6). Grace was not an afterthought of God in response to the fall of man. It was the plan before the universe comes in to existence. He planned the world to display the glory of his grace.

The display of God’s grace is achieved through the adoption.

“He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ . . . to the praise of the glory of his grace” (Ephesians 1:5‐6). In the eternal fellowship of the Trinity, the Father and the Son planned that God’s grace would be supremely revealed through Jesus Christ. “God called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Tim. 1:9).

God displayed the Glory of His grace through the slaying His Son.

The glory of God’s grace displayed supremely in the death of Jesus Christ – His redemptive work on the cross. Before there was any human sin to die for, God planned that his Son be slain for sinners – “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).

So, the ultimate purpose of creating and guiding and sustaining this world is the praise of the glory of the grace of God in the crucifixion of his Son for sinners. There is an unbreakable connection between the Glory of God, the Glory of Grace, the Glory of Christ, and the Glory of the Cross.

The Bible teaches that God is zealous for His own glory. God says, “For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 48:9‐11).

God is in the business of seeking His own glory, his eminent Excellency. It’s man’s holy duty to ascribe to the Lord the glory due His Name. If we fail to give glory to God, He will sanctify His name by means of judgment. Even God’s wrath serves the purpose of His glory. “Desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, God has endured with much patience vessels of wrath . . . in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy” (Romans 9:22–23). Wrath is penultimate. The glory of grace on the vessels of mercy is ultimate.