Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:15-18, 4:1, 6-7
Ⅰ
Whenever our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away from our heart, and we can behold the Lord of glory with an unveiled face:
A
Actually, our turned away heart is the veil; to turn our heart to the Lord is to take away the veil.
B
An unveiled face is an unveiled heart to behold the glory of the Lord—2 Cor. 3:16, 18; 1 Sam. 16:7; Eph. 1:18a.
C
The glory of God is in the face of Christ, and His face, His person, is the indwelling treasure in our spirit—2 Cor. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 3:4:
１
We are earthen vessels who are worthless and fragile, but within our spirit we contain a priceless treasure, the face, the person, of Christ Himself— 2 Cor. 2:10:
ａ
The Greek word for "person" in 2 Corinthians 2:10 and for "face" in 4:6 denotes the part around the eyes; the look as the index of the inward thoughts and feelings, which shows forth and manifests the whole person.
ｂ
Paul was a person who lived and acted in the presence of Christ, according to the index of His whole person, expressed in His eyes.
２
In the whole universe, there is nothing so precious as to behold the face of Jesus—Gen. 32:30; Exo. 25:30; 33:11; Psa. 27:4, 8; Rev. 22:4:
ａ
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.
ｂ
Seeing God equals gaining God, which is to receive God in His element into us to transform us—Job 42:5-6.
ｃ
The very God whom we look at today is the consummated Spirit, and we can look at Him in our spirit to absorb the riches of God into our being and be under the divine transformation day by day—2 Cor. 3:18b; Matt. 14:22-23; Col. 4:2:
⑴
The glory of the Lord is the resurrected Christ as the Lord Spirit.
⑵
"From glory to glory" means from the Lord Spirit to the Lord Spirit; this means that the Lord Spirit as the rich supply is continually added into our being.
⑶
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.
⑷
If you have some problem, you just need to tell Him; He is right within you, and He is with you face to face—Phil. 4:6.
３
Beholding is to see the Lord by ourselves; reflecting is for others to see Him through us—2 Cor. 3:18—4:1; Phil. 1:19-21a.
４
As we turn our hearts to the Lord in our spirit to behold Him face to face and reflect Him for others to see, we are in the process of being transformed into His glorious image unto the day when "we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is"—1 John 3:2.
D
Transformation is not an outward change or correction, but spiritual metabolism; it is the metabolic function of the life of God in the believers:
１
Metabolism includes three matters:
ａ
First, the supplying of a new element.
ｂ
Second, the replacing of the old element with the new element.
ｃ
Third, the discharge or removal of the old element so that something new may be produced—2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Col. 3:10-11.
２
As we receive the Lord as the new element into us, a spiritual metabolism takes place within us to be expressed outwardly in the image of Christ, manifesting the metabolism in life.
３
Only that which is expressed outwardly through the inward metabolism is genuine health and real beauty—Exo. 28:2; Psa. 90:17.
Ⅱ
Christ as the priceless treasure is contained in us, the worthless and fragile vessels; this makes the worthless vessels ministers of the new covenant with a priceless ministry—2 Cor. 4:7:
A
The new covenant ministers are Christ's chosen vessels to contain Him—Acts 9:15; Rom. 9:21, 23; 2 Tim. 2:20.
B
This treasure, the indwelling Christ, in us, the earthen vessels, is the divine source of supply for the Christian life:
１
It is by the excellent power of this treasure that the apostles as the ministers of the new covenant were capable of living a crucified life for the manifestation of the resurrection life—2 Cor. 4:7-18.
２
God's power is manifested in man's weakness, and man's weakness does not limit God's power—vv. 8-12; 2 Cor. 12:9-10.