Why does God save people?

As I was reading the beautiful and glorious account of corporate (which necessarily includes individual) salvation for God's covenant people in Ezekiel 36, I was struck afresh with God's plainness of speech concerning His reason for doing what He does. God does not hide His ultimate purpose in saving people.

Yet, if someone were to conduct a survey (maybe J. Janz of Sharper Iron will, or has already) of an average (is there such a thing?) self-proclaimed independent, fundamental, Bible-believing church in America seeking an answer to the question that is the title of this post, I think the answer would differ widely from God's answer in Ezekiel 36. Most people would probably say that

God saves people because He loves them.

That answer would be partly right, and mostly incomplete. It would be partly right because God does indeed love people, and He demonstrated that love in Christ's death (Rom. 5:8). It would be mostly incomplete because it stops short of what God says His ultimate goal is, whether in condemning or saving. Only one word from the answer needs to be changed.

God saves people because He loves Himself.

By saying that God loves Himself I mean that He loves His name and renown more than anything or anyone else, and that is why He created, condemns, and saves. As has been said, "Creation was God's going public with His glory." God will not share His glory with another (cf. Is. 42:5-18).

I do not think that this is a small matter to God. He makes His point relentlessly in Ezekiel 36:

21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came (ESV).

God makes this statement after he recounts His sending of Israel into captivity because of their persistent wickedness and disregard for Him. Then He makes some amazing promises for a glorious reason:

22 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. 33 "Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.' 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it. 37 "Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. 38 Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD" (ESV).

God saves people because He loves Himself. Is my own experience of His grace a testimony to this staggering truth? Can people see that God is glorious and praiseworthy by the way I live? Is the attention on God or us? May it be true of us as God promised in v. 23 for his people, that "through you I vindicate my holiness before [the nations'] eyes."