Verse 22
In entering upon the question, What moved God to save man? let us
I. Attend to the expression "My Name's sake." This is a most comprehensive term. It indicates much more that what, in common language, is involved in a name. The Name of God comprehends everything which directly or remotely affects the Divine honour and glory.
II. We are to understand that the motive which moved God to save man, was regard to His own glory. Grace glorifies man, no doubt; but for what purpose? that he may glorify God. It saves man, but saves him that he may sing, not his own praises, but a Saviour's. It exalts man, but exalts him that, like an exhalation, sun-drawn from the ground and raised to heaven, each of us may form a sparkling drop in the bow which encircles the head that God crowns with glory, and man once crowned with thorns.
III. Observe, that in saving man for His "holy Name's sake," or for His own honour and glory, God exhibits the mercy, holiness, love, and other attributes of the Godhead. The truth is, that God saves man for much the same reasons as at first He made him. The whole fabric of creation appears to prove that Jehovah delights in the evolution of His powers, in the display of His wisdom, love, and goodness; and just as it is to the delight which God enjoys in the exercise of them that we owe this beautiful creation, so it is to His delight in the exercise of His pity, love, and mercy, that we owe salvation, with all its blessings.
T. Guthrie, The Gospel in Ezekiel, p. 99.
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