Outline

«　WEEK 7　DAY 3　»

　　2 Cor. 4:6-7 …God…is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.

　　3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image…

　　Paul tells us that we are the vessels, and the Lord Jesus within us is the treasure [2 Cor. 4:7]. But the key to this verse 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…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. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” p. 597)

　　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 that 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)

　　According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, we behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord. 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. We are like mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord. The glory in verse 18 is the glory of the Lord, the resurrected and ascended One, who as both God and man passed through incarnation, human living on the earth, and crucifixion, entered into resurrection, accomplished full redemption, and became a life-giving Spirit. As the life-giving Spirit, He dwells in us to make Himself and all that He has accomplished, obtained, and attained real to us, that we may be one with Him and be transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

　　When we with unveiled face are beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done. Thus we are being transformed metabolically to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence; that is, we are being transfigured, mainly by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2), into His image.

　　As vessels, we need to have an unveiled face; that is, we need to be open to the divine life with its power, essence, and shape. As we open to the Lord, He as the life-giving Spirit enters into our being to infuse His life essence into us, to operate within us by His life power, and to shape us into His image. This is the constitution of life to make us ministers of the new covenant. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 69-70)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 8, 10; CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” ch. 10