Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.
In this text we see that the LORD (YAHWEH, the self-existent, self-sufficient sovereign of all) will not give His glory to another and will not give His praise to graven images. In other words, the Greatest Command and the first two commandments given to men are reflections of how God exists in and of Himself as well as toward Himself. It is not that God does not shine forth of Himself in glory and have that glory dwell in men so that they may enjoy Him and live so that His glory would shine through them, but that as a thrice holy God He will not put up with someone taking glory to themselves and seeking themselves in living for themselves. We know what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar when he tried to glorify himself.
The LORD will not share His glory in that He will not allow Israel to take the credit for defending themselves as a nation and try to trust in their systems of defense. The LORD will not share His glory with anyone in terms of saving themselves are finding ways to earn anything before Him. No, the Gospel is the Gospel of the glory of God and the Gospel is the glory of God shining in the face of Christ. God saves to the glory of His own name and He will not share that glory with others. The Gospel is all about the glory of God and when puny man tries to share in that glory in any way, it is no longer the Gospel of the glory of God.
For some reason man continues to fight and attempt to come up with ways to make the Gospel all about himself. Man tries to think that God values man so much that God saved man. Man tries to think that God loves man so much that God saves man. Man tries to think that God cannot violate the liberty of man and so He provides a way for man to make a choice or to work hard and be saved. Some seem to think that as long as man comes up with the right beliefs about God then God will save man. But what escapes man in his sinful self-centeredness is that God is thrice holy and it would be sin for Him to save man unless He saved man for His own glory. It would be sin for God to value man above Himself and it would be sin for Him to love man above Himself. No, no and a thousand times no. God can only save man in a way that demonstrates how much He values Himself (as triune), loves Himself, and does this as His choice and work rather than man’s.
So much of the history of ancient Israel had to do with the idolatry of graven images. So much of the modern Church has to do with the idolatry of the self, of money, and impressing people with numbers and power. But God will not share His glory with another. Whether it was Israel bowing before idols of stone or the modern “Church” bowing before the idols of self, progress, numbers, success, and money; God will not share His glory and in fact doing those things will bring down His wrath upon them precisely because He loves Himself and His own glory.
Idolatrous mankind, after the fall, does believe the lie that Satan told Eve and so man thinks that he is as God. Man wants to live for self, decide for self, and to worship to please self. In doing so, though man may not understand it in these terms, man is attempting to play God to self and others and is trying to share in His glory. This is nothing more and nothing less than gross idolatry. While ancient Israel bowed before idols of stone out of love for self, today men bow before idols of money and success (yes, even in religion) and also do this out of love for self. It is a wicked sin to try to use a stone idol for self rather than to worship the living God to His glory, but it is at least as wicked (if not more) to use self as an object of worship in seeking things for self rather than for God.
God alone has the right to true worship. God alone has the right to the love and adoration of our thoughts, affections, and will. God alone has the right to do as He pleases in all areas of life. God is self-centered and is holy in doing that. All that man does out of his own self-centeredness and self-love just reflects the love that the devil has for himself and his enmity toward God. But the living God will not share His glory with another and as such men need to bow before Him in humility, lowliness, and broken hearts that they will not be full of self rather than full of the glory of God out of love for Him rather than self. In that way they will be like God because He is full of love for His own glory.
God Loves... Himself 
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