Q.—What is the chief end of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We are here taught:—
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That the chief design of man’s creation in reference to God, was to glorify Him. I Cor. x, 31.—“Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
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That the chief design of man’s creation in reference to himself was the enjoyment of God for ever. Ps. lxxiii:25, 26.—“Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee—God is my portion forever.”
Explanation.
Observation 1.—The chief end of man’s creation, in reference to God was to glorify Him.
The glory of God is commonly distinguished into His essential and His declarative glory.
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God’s essential glory is what He is absolutely in Himself. “I am that I am.” (Exod. iii, 14). It is that glory which He has in Himself and which He will not give to another. This glory is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable; and, consequently, it can neither be increased nor diminished (Job xxxv, 7; Ps. xvi, 2).
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God’s declarative glory in making known His glory to, by, and in, the creatures which He hath made.
The irrational creatures, both animate and inanimate, glorify God passively, by affording matter of praise to God their Maker. (Ps. xix, 1). But we, His rational creatures, ought to glorify Him actively—by setting our hearts wholly upon Him—by making use of all things in subordination to His glory, and only as means more perfectly to show forth His praise—by being willing to part with everything dear to us, rather than not maintain and declare His glory—and by employing for this purpose all the powers and faculties which He has conferred upon us (I Cor. vi, 20); Matt. v, 16)—by obeying His commandments—and by acknowledging all His perfections. God is to be glorified in all things (I Cor. x, 31; I Pet. iv, ii). We are to glorify Him in all actions, whether natural, as eating and drinking, etc.; or civil, as in the common affairs of life; or moral and religious, in the duties which we owe to God. “There is not a grain of real goodness in the most spacious actions which are performed without a reference to the glory of God. This the world cannot understand; but it will appear highly reasonable to those who take their ideas of God from the Scriptures, and who have felt the necessity and found the benefits of redemption.” We ought to make the glory of God our chief end in all our actions (1) Because it was God’s chief end in our creation, preservation and redemption. (2) Because God hath made us capable of glorifying Him. (3) Gratitude should excite us to make this our chief end. (Ps. c, 3; Prov. xvi, 4; Ps. lxvi, 8 and 9; I Cor. vi, 19, 20; Ps. ciii, 1-5).
We may here observe that no man can glorify God acceptably, until he believes in Jesus Christ; for without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb. xi, 6). Nor can we of ourselves glorify God, for we of ourselves we can do nothing good (John xv, 5). But seeing God hath promised the grace of His spirit we should not weary in well doing.
Observation 2.—The chief end of man’s good, in reference to himself, was the enjoyment of God for ever.
To enjoy God is to acquiesce or rest in God as the chief good, with complacency and delight; or it is to feel unspeakably happy in His presence (Ps. xvi, 7).
Believers enjoy God in this world as well as in the world to come. (Gen. v, 24; I John i, 3; I Cor. i, 9). But there is a very great difference between the enjoyment of God here and the enjoyment of Him hereafter. In this world, the enjoyment of God is mediate; that is, ordinances intervene: but in the world to come it will be immediate; ordinances will be unknown—means shall be done away. Here, the enjoyment is only begun; there, it will be completed. Here it is only partial; there it will be full. (I Cor. xiii, 12; Ps. xvi, 11). The enjoyment of God in this world consists in union with God in Christ through faith in Him. And from this flows communion with Him in this world. The external means by which we are to seek after this enjoyment, and in which we hold communion with God, are, the institutions of His appointment, public, private, and secret; such as prayer, meditation, the reading, and preaching and hearing of the Word and the sacraments. The enjoyment of God here is a pledge of the full enjoyment of Him hereafter in Glory, when believers shall be admitted into His glorious presence, where they shall have a full sense of His love, and fully and eternally acquiesce and rest with perfect and inconceivable delight and joy. (I Cor. xiii, 12; Ps. xvi, 11). We ought chiefly to desire and seek the enjoyment of God forever, because He is the chief good, and in the enjoyment of Him consists man’s chief happiness; and, likewise, because God is but imperfectly and inconstantly enjoyed here, and we cannot be perfectly happy until we eternally enjoy Him in Heaven. (Ps. iv: 6, 7; I Cor. xiii: 9, 10; Ps. xvi, 11).
It may be observed that in the world to come believers will have communion not only with God in Christ, but also with angels, and with their brethren of mankind redeemed from among nations.
Observation 3.—The glorifying of God, and the enjoyment of Him, are inseparably connected.
The glorifying and the enjoyment of God are here connected as one chief end, because God hath inseparably connected them; and no one can truly design and seek the one, without, at the same time, designing the other. And we may here remark, that the glorifying of God is here set before the enjoyment of Him forever, to show that the former is the means by which the latter is obtained; that holiness on earth must precede happiness in Heaven; and that none shall enjoy God for ever who have no desire to glorify Him in this world. (Heb. xii, 14; Matt. v, 8).
Inferences.
From this subject we learn—(1) That there is a great cause for lamentation that God and His glory are so seldom the subject of our meditation. (2) The necessity of examining ourselves, whether we have ever viewed the glory of God as our chief end? whether it is our desire to do what He hath commanded, to abstain from what He hath forbidden? (3) That we ought to be convinced that of ourselves we cannot glorify God, and that therefore, that prayer for the spirit of God is absolutely necessary, to enable us to glorify Him in our bodies and in our spirits which are His. (4) That the soul of man is immortal; for, seeing that a desire for happiness is natural to it, and that nothing can satisfy its desire or constitute its chief good but God, it is evident we must inscribe immortality on this better part of man. (5) The goodly heritage of the people of God beyond the grave. (6) The necessity of holiness. (7) That the believer ought not to be discouraged on account of the difficulties with which he may meet on the way to Heaven seeing that they are but of short duration—that they are but light afflictions. (Rom. viii, 18). Lastly, that it ought to be our aim while we are in this world in the strength of Divine grace to glorify God in all things that we may enjoy Him forever in the world to come.