I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
The verse declares that He is the LORD, that this is His name, that He alone is God, and that He keeps His glory and praise for Himself and gives them to no other being and to no graven image. It is spoken by the Creator of heaven and earth and Giver of breath and spirit, and it stands within the prophecy of His chosen Servant who is called in righteousness, sustained and held by His hand, and given as a covenant and light to bring justice, open blind eyes, free prisoners from darkness, and declare new things. Christ fulfills that mission in dependence on God and in perfect obedience to His commandments, so His work serves God's glory and not the honor of idols or any rival. All glory in the work of the gospel therefore belongs to God alone, not to finite human wisdom, human display, human science, or exalted human agents, and no person is to be put on God's throne, receive the homage due to God only, or take titles belonging to divinity alone. To give Him His glory is to sink self in Christ, to refuse to take to self what belongs to God or to measure the work by human approval and success, and to praise Him with voice and life and reflect His character while cooperating with Him.
Meaning and Prophetic Setting
I am the LORD, that is my name, and I alone am God, keeping my glory and my praise for myself and giving them to no other being and to no graven images. The speaker is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the giver of breath and spirit, who cares for His people and desires to bring those who do not know His purposes under His care. He calls His righteous Servant, holds Him by the hand, sustains Him, and gives Him as a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles.
The verse stands within the prophecy of the Saviour's mission as God's chosen Servant, who works quietly without crying or lifting up His voice in the street to bring justice, open blind eyes, bring prisoners out of darkness, fulfill former things and declare new things. Christ carries out this mission in dependence on God and reveals perfect obedience to God's commandments, and His mission serves God's glory rather than the honor of idols or another rival. His covenant joins the majesty of an omnipotent King with the gentleness and tenderness of a caretaking shepherd.
The coming of this Servant calls the earth, the sea, the wilderness, and the islands to sing a new song and calls all people across the earth to give glory and praise to the Lord. Israel was entrusted with making God's praise known throughout the earth in this work of bringing light and freedom, but neglected it. Those who trust in idols are turned back and shamed, while God promises to lead His people out of darkness and free them.
The chapter gives assurance from the Lord whose promises encourage believers facing affliction and coming judgments. It foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message to arouse slumbering senses to see departure from the Lord's ordinances and transgression of His law and to educate and reform people through the Word to restore the moral image of God. That work is carried forward through camp meetings, sanitariums, and the use of means and ability to extend the knowledge of the truth.
God Alone Is Lord
The declaration that the Lord alone is God, keeping His glory and praise to Himself and giving them to no other and to no graven images, belongs to a revelation of His purpose for His people that turns them to His wisdom rather than to finite human wisdom. His people are to look to Him for wisdom and salvation rather than trust human judgment or seek wisdom from finite human beings instead of Him. The appeal in verses 5-16 is to be studied in connection with the danger of trusting human agents as if they were divine. In that same setting the Lord who created the heavens and the earth calls Christ in righteousness, sustains Him, and gives Him as a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles to free those blind or imprisoned in darkness, showing that God's teaching and not human instruction set above it is the source of true knowledge.
The highest education is knowledge of Him and of Jesus Christ, expressed through learning and living by the instruction Christ gave to His people in the wilderness. He redeems and justifies His people so that He is glorified in them. All glory in gospel work belongs to God alone and not to human display, human science, or idols. This scripture is therefore to be diligently studied, the true science of redeeming grace treasured above gold and silver, false science that turns God's truth into nothingness rejected, and a firm stand taken on the Word of God. That call stands within the prophecy of Christ as God's chosen Servant who works quietly without crying or lifting up His voice in the street, who opens blind eyes and brings prisoners from darkness, and whose coming fulfills former things and declares new things that summon the earth, the sea, the wilderness, and the islands to sing a new song and give glory to the Lord.
As the Restorer, Christ restores God's moral image in man that Satan has nearly obliterated, so that hereditary peculiarities and deficiencies of character can be overcome through faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ in the new birth. God will give fitness to those He has chosen for a work so that they shall be successful agents cooperating with divine agencies. Human agents must not limit the Holy One of Israel by phrenology and head-reading to determine character and shape the course by human counsel far from God's counsel. Such head-reading does much harm when it turns souls away from God's work.
God keeps His glory for Himself alone and will not share it with any human. Therefore no person is to be put on God's throne, take God's honor, receive the homage due to God only, draw people to himself as if infallible, or be called by titles belonging to divinity alone such as Reverend or Right Reverend. Doing so steals God's title and interposes man between Christ and the people until Christ is lost sight of. Instead Christ alone is to be lifted up for sinners to look to by faith and live. No one can look on His unveiled glory and live, and even Moses could see only a partial view while hidden in the cleft of the Rock and covered by Christ's hand. Eternal life is in Christ alone, no one is elevated before God apart from Christ, and sinful beings are lifted up before God and heavenly intelligences only through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God keeps His own glory and authority and gives His work to no other, so the set time to favor Zion will come and He will accomplish His ordained work through the men and means He has provided and will not leave His people to shame. He requires men to understand the claims He has upon them, and He has ordained that His work stand before the world in distinct, holy, sacred lines. That work comes not with outward show but by the gentleness of the inspiration of His word and the operation of His Spirit in the soul. Where men have interposed to do a work He did not appoint or to lead others into paths not prepared for the ransomed, His work has been held back from advancing, and He will judge such interposition.
Living for God's Glory
In freeing people from spiritual bondage and advancing the Messiah's kingdom, success and glory belong to God alone, not to idols or human powers, for the Lord alone is God and His glory and praise belong to no other, especially not to graven images. God alone is to receive glory and praise and will not give them to human conceit or ambition. People must therefore not measure the value of their work by whether their plans and methods win approval, or seek success at others' expense. They must not treat their own plans, methods, or success as the source of their work's worth, but must seek God's honor and depend on Him even when their work languishes or others prosper. God is the source of the work, and people cannot fulfill His purposes while exalting self; they must sink self in Christ and learn His meekness and lowliness.
Glory and praise belong to the Lord as the Author of divine truth, so human workers must not be praised in a way that gives them glory belonging only to God. Even when God helps a physician to carry heavy responsibilities, that worker is in danger of taking to himself the glory for the work and influence that God enabled. God keeps His glory for Himself and will not give it to another, so He cannot do anything great or good for a person who will selfishly take the glory to himself. A self-sufficient person with self-complacency acts as though goodness and righteousness are in himself and as though he were worthy, and with that spirit cannot attain perfection of Christian character.
His glory must not be treated as belonging to worldly interests or graven images, and sacred institutions must not be used as common lest people think He was unable to protect them, a truth given to encourage believers in Scandinavia against discouragement. To glorify the Lord means simplicity with no extravagance and the simplicity of godliness, with no dependence on figures and no money spent on them but truth standing forth in its beauty. It means sanctified households where parents and children work together and truth is carried in every line of home life in the power of true godliness, because there is a world to save and missionaries must go out everywhere and be sustained. The verse is fulfilled and the Lord alone receives glory and honor on the earth when believers go with the Spirit of the Lord with them at every step into the mountains, the hills, the highways, and the byways to carry the truth, which requires a decided change to take up missionary work for the neglected unwarned cities.
God keeps His own righteousness and glory and will not give them to another, while He waits to impart His spirit, understanding, will, consciousness, and activity to everyone who will cooperate with Him. Man is to seek to comprehend this and to give glory back to God, because giving God little glory leaves man able to receive less and less of God's glory. Giving God His glory means praising Him with voice, lips, and tongue, seeing Him in all His created works, and grasping the privilege, grace, salvation, truth, and righteousness He longs to bestow in rich fullness. It means talking of God in sanctified, holy strains without mingling the common, earthly, and sensual with the sacred, giving Him the pure incense of praise and thanksgiving from lips and voices entrusted for His name's glory. It means showing heaven's fragrance in words, deportment, and actions by worshiping Him in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness.
The verse declares that He is the LORD, that this is His name, that He alone is God, and that He keeps His glory and praise for Himself and gives them to no other being and to no graven image. It is spoken by the Creator of heaven and earth and Giver of breath and spirit, and it stands within the prophecy of His chosen Servant who is called in righteousness, sustained and held by His hand, and given as a covenant and light to bring justice, open blind eyes, free prisoners from darkness, and declare new things. Christ fulfills that mission in dependence on God and in perfect obedience to His commandments, so His work serves God's glory and not the honor of idols or any rival. All glory in the work of the gospel therefore belongs to God alone, not to finite human wisdom, human display, human science, or exalted human agents, and no person is to be put on God's throne, receive the homage due to God only, or take titles belonging to divinity alone. To give Him His glory is to sink self in Christ, to refuse to take to self what belongs to God or to measure the work by human approval and success, and to praise Him with voice and life and reflect His character while cooperating with Him.
Meaning and Prophetic Setting
I am the LORD, that is my name, and I alone am God, keeping my glory and my praise for myself and giving them to no other being and to no graven images. The speaker is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the giver of breath and spirit, who cares for His people and desires to bring those who do not know His purposes under His care. He calls His righteous Servant, holds Him by the hand, sustains Him, and gives Him as a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles.
The verse stands within the prophecy of the Saviour's mission as God's chosen Servant, who works quietly without crying or lifting up His voice in the street to bring justice, open blind eyes, bring prisoners out of darkness, fulfill former things and declare new things. Christ carries out this mission in dependence on God and reveals perfect obedience to God's commandments, and His mission serves God's glory rather than the honor of idols or another rival. His covenant joins the majesty of an omnipotent King with the gentleness and tenderness of a caretaking shepherd.
The coming of this Servant calls the earth, the sea, the wilderness, and the islands to sing a new song and calls all people across the earth to give glory and praise to the Lord. Israel was entrusted with making God's praise known throughout the earth in this work of bringing light and freedom, but neglected it. Those who trust in idols are turned back and shamed, while God promises to lead His people out of darkness and free them.
The chapter gives assurance from the Lord whose promises encourage believers facing affliction and coming judgments. It foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message to arouse slumbering senses to see departure from the Lord's ordinances and transgression of His law and to educate and reform people through the Word to restore the moral image of God. That work is carried forward through camp meetings, sanitariums, and the use of means and ability to extend the knowledge of the truth.
God Alone Is Lord
The declaration that the Lord alone is God, keeping His glory and praise to Himself and giving them to no other and to no graven images, belongs to a revelation of His purpose for His people that turns them to His wisdom rather than to finite human wisdom. His people are to look to Him for wisdom and salvation rather than trust human judgment or seek wisdom from finite human beings instead of Him. The appeal in verses 5-16 is to be studied in connection with the danger of trusting human agents as if they were divine. In that same setting the Lord who created the heavens and the earth calls Christ in righteousness, sustains Him, and gives Him as a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles to free those blind or imprisoned in darkness, showing that God's teaching and not human instruction set above it is the source of true knowledge.
The highest education is knowledge of Him and of Jesus Christ, expressed through learning and living by the instruction Christ gave to His people in the wilderness. He redeems and justifies His people so that He is glorified in them. All glory in gospel work belongs to God alone and not to human display, human science, or idols. This scripture is therefore to be diligently studied, the true science of redeeming grace treasured above gold and silver, false science that turns God's truth into nothingness rejected, and a firm stand taken on the Word of God. That call stands within the prophecy of Christ as God's chosen Servant who works quietly without crying or lifting up His voice in the street, who opens blind eyes and brings prisoners from darkness, and whose coming fulfills former things and declares new things that summon the earth, the sea, the wilderness, and the islands to sing a new song and give glory to the Lord.
As the Restorer, Christ restores God's moral image in man that Satan has nearly obliterated, so that hereditary peculiarities and deficiencies of character can be overcome through faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ in the new birth. God will give fitness to those He has chosen for a work so that they shall be successful agents cooperating with divine agencies. Human agents must not limit the Holy One of Israel by phrenology and head-reading to determine character and shape the course by human counsel far from God's counsel. Such head-reading does much harm when it turns souls away from God's work.
God keeps His glory for Himself alone and will not share it with any human. Therefore no person is to be put on God's throne, take God's honor, receive the homage due to God only, draw people to himself as if infallible, or be called by titles belonging to divinity alone such as Reverend or Right Reverend. Doing so steals God's title and interposes man between Christ and the people until Christ is lost sight of. Instead Christ alone is to be lifted up for sinners to look to by faith and live. No one can look on His unveiled glory and live, and even Moses could see only a partial view while hidden in the cleft of the Rock and covered by Christ's hand. Eternal life is in Christ alone, no one is elevated before God apart from Christ, and sinful beings are lifted up before God and heavenly intelligences only through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God keeps His own glory and authority and gives His work to no other, so the set time to favor Zion will come and He will accomplish His ordained work through the men and means He has provided and will not leave His people to shame. He requires men to understand the claims He has upon them, and He has ordained that His work stand before the world in distinct, holy, sacred lines. That work comes not with outward show but by the gentleness of the inspiration of His word and the operation of His Spirit in the soul. Where men have interposed to do a work He did not appoint or to lead others into paths not prepared for the ransomed, His work has been held back from advancing, and He will judge such interposition.
Living for God's Glory
In freeing people from spiritual bondage and advancing the Messiah's kingdom, success and glory belong to God alone, not to idols or human powers, for the Lord alone is God and His glory and praise belong to no other, especially not to graven images. God alone is to receive glory and praise and will not give them to human conceit or ambition. People must therefore not measure the value of their work by whether their plans and methods win approval, or seek success at others' expense. They must not treat their own plans, methods, or success as the source of their work's worth, but must seek God's honor and depend on Him even when their work languishes or others prosper. God is the source of the work, and people cannot fulfill His purposes while exalting self; they must sink self in Christ and learn His meekness and lowliness.
Glory and praise belong to the Lord as the Author of divine truth, so human workers must not be praised in a way that gives them glory belonging only to God. Even when God helps a physician to carry heavy responsibilities, that worker is in danger of taking to himself the glory for the work and influence that God enabled. God keeps His glory for Himself and will not give it to another, so He cannot do anything great or good for a person who will selfishly take the glory to himself. A self-sufficient person with self-complacency acts as though goodness and righteousness are in himself and as though he were worthy, and with that spirit cannot attain perfection of Christian character.
His glory must not be treated as belonging to worldly interests or graven images, and sacred institutions must not be used as common lest people think He was unable to protect them, a truth given to encourage believers in Scandinavia against discouragement. To glorify the Lord means simplicity with no extravagance and the simplicity of godliness, with no dependence on figures and no money spent on them but truth standing forth in its beauty. It means sanctified households where parents and children work together and truth is carried in every line of home life in the power of true godliness, because there is a world to save and missionaries must go out everywhere and be sustained. The verse is fulfilled and the Lord alone receives glory and honor on the earth when believers go with the Spirit of the Lord with them at every step into the mountains, the hills, the highways, and the byways to carry the truth, which requires a decided change to take up missionary work for the neglected unwarned cities.
God keeps His own righteousness and glory and will not give them to another, while He waits to impart His spirit, understanding, will, consciousness, and activity to everyone who will cooperate with Him. Man is to seek to comprehend this and to give glory back to God, because giving God little glory leaves man able to receive less and less of God's glory. Giving God His glory means praising Him with voice, lips, and tongue, seeing Him in all His created works, and grasping the privilege, grace, salvation, truth, and righteousness He longs to bestow in rich fullness. It means talking of God in sanctified, holy strains without mingling the common, earthly, and sensual with the sacred, giving Him the pure incense of praise and thanksgiving from lips and voices entrusted for His name's glory. It means showing heaven's fragrance in words, deportment, and actions by worshiping Him in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness.