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We were created to be vessels of mercy unto glory to contain Christ as the God of glory:
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Glory is God Himself expressed and manifested—Jer. 2:11; Acts 7:2; Eph. 1:17; 1 Cor. 2:8; 1 Pet. 4:14; Col. 2:9; Psa. 24:7-10.
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The Lord was able to tell the Father, “I have glorified You on earth, finishing the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4); this means that while the Lord was living on earth, He manifested and expressed the Father.
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The release of the glory of Christ’s divinity (Luke 12:49-50) was His being glorified by the Father with the divine glory (John 12:23-24) in His resurrection (Acts 3:13) through His death; in Christ’s glorification He, as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit for His divine dispensing (John 7:39; Luke 24:26, 46; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:6).
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As vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, we have been prepared by God unto glory through glorification—the last step of God’s full salvation—Rom. 8:21, 23, 29-30; Phil. 3:21.
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According to His sovereign authority, God created, formed, and even made us for His glory—Isa. 43:7; Rom. 9:23:
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We were predestinated by His sovereignty to be His containers for His glorious expression and manifestation.
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This is the climax of our usefulness to God—the goal of God’s selection according to His sovereignty—vv. 11, 18.
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The glorification of God is the purpose of our service—7:6; 11:36.
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The highest service that we can render to God is to express Him for His glory—1 Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Rom. 6:4.
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God’s glory is wrought into the church, and He is expressed in the church; hence, to God is the glory in the church; that is, God is glorified in the church—Eph. 3:16, 20-21.
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We have this treasure, Christ as the God of glory, dwelling within us, the earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7); “this treasure” (v. 7) indwelling us is “the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6), the presence of Christ, “the person of Christ” (2:10).
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When we turn our heart to the Lord, we are beholding the Lord Spirit as the presence of Christ in our spirit, and we are “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit”—3:16-18; cf. 2 Tim. 4:22.
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To behold the glory of the Lord is to see the Lord ourselves; to reflect the glory of the Lord is to enable others to see Him through us—Isa. 60:1, 5.
Morning Nourishment
2 Cor. 3:16 But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.
The believers are vessels unto honor with Christ as their treasure through regeneration. Romans 9:21 speaks of vessels of honor….[Second Corinthians 4:7 says], “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” This treasure is the Christ who dwells within us. We are containers of honor because Christ Himself is honor….Although we have this treasure in earthen vessels, this treasure has not yet been manifested. When the Lord Jesus comes back,…others will be able to see that we, as vessels unto honor, are containers of such a treasure. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1187-1188)
Today’s Reading
The key to 2 Corinthians 4:7 is the verse preceding it: “To illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6). In Greek, the word for face is the same word used for person in 2 Corinthians 2:10, which means the index around the eyes. This means that if we do not have the index of Jesus’ face, He can never be a treasure to us. We will never sense that we have a treasure within until we see the face of Jesus. When we are enjoying His presence, we sense that He is such a precious treasure within us.This can never be just a kind of saying. We all can say that we are the earthen vessel, and Jesus is the treasure within. But we can say this without any sense of the reality within us. It is only when we are living in His presence, looking at the index of His being, that we will sense that He is such a treasure to us. In the whole universe there is nothing so precious as to behold the face of Jesus. This is something of personal experience and enjoyment. The more we live in His presence, the more sense we will have of the preciousness of Jesus. This is just the enjoyment of His indwelling. This very Jesus indwells us. This is a living reality, not merely a saying.
If we would all learn to forsake our old person, taking Him as our person by looking at the index of His face while enjoying His presence, we would have a sweet sense of the preciousness of the indwelling Jesus. This would make us so shining, a shining which is the reflecting of His glory. I can assure you that if you ever have this kind of experience, others will see how shining you are. It is not that you are merely happy, but you are shining. Something from within shines out, and that is the reflection of Jesus. This was Paul’s experience of the indwelling Christ. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” pp. 597-598)
As vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, we have been prepared by God unto glory through glorification—the last step of God’s full salvation. Romans 9:23 tells us that the vessels of mercy have been prepared unto glory, and Romans 8:30 indicates that glorification is the last step of God’s salvation. We are predestinated, called, justified, and, eventually, we shall be glorified. Glorification includes the redemption (transfiguration) of our body (Phil. 3:21) and full conformity to the Lord. In this final step of His salvation God will redeem our fallen and corrupted body (Rom. 8:23) by transfiguring it into the body of Christ’s glory. He will also conform us to the glorious image of Christ, His firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29), making us wholly and absolutely like Him in our regenerated spirit, transformed soul, and transfigured body. Thus, our body will be freed from the slavery of corruption of the old creation into the glory of God’s new creation (8:21). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1189-1190)
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 10-11, 110; CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” ch. 10