But
we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18
Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai in
communion with God. When he came down, his face shown with divine glory. It was
so evidently God’s glory that Aaron and the people feared to approach him
(Exodus 34:30). In this we have an image of what takes place in the New
Testament. When we behold the glory of God in Christ, in the mirror of the Holy
Scriptures, His glory shines on us and fills us until it shines out from us
again.
The heavenly Father shows us His divine glory
in the face of Jesus because He knows that, by gazing on it, we will be
conformed to the same image. Continually look to the divine glory as seen
in Christ. What is the special characteristic of that glory? The chief marks of
the image of the divine glory in Christ are His humiliation and His love.
There is the glory of His humiliation. When
you see how the eternal Son emptied Himself and became man, and how as Man He
humbled Himself as a servant and was obedient even unto the death of the cross
(Philippians 2:7–8), you have seen the highest glory of God.
The glory of His love is inseparable from
this. The humiliation leads you back to the love as its origin and power. It is
from love that the humiliation gains its beauty. But this love was a hidden
mystery until it was manifest in Christ Jesus.
Do you want to be like Christ? Gaze on the
glory of God, that is to say, do not look only to the words in which His glory
is seen, but look to Jesus Himself, the living Christ. Look into His very eyes,
into His face, as a loving Friend, as the living God.
Beholding Jesus and His glory, you can
confidently expect to become like Him. Gaze on and adore the glory of God in
Christ; you will be changed with divine power from glory to glory. In the power
of the Holy Spirit, the mighty transformation will be worked, your desires will
be fulfilled, and becoming like Christ will be the blessed, God-given
experience of your life.
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