1266. The Glory of God Manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ
The Glory of God Manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ
"For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2Co_4:6).
When Moses came down from the mountain with the Law engraven in stones, the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance. Moses' face expressed the glory of the Law, in its manifestation of the righteousness and the holiness of God.
The face of the Lord Jesus Christ shines with a luster far greater than the face of Moses, because His face manifests not only the glory of the righteousness of God, but also the glory of His grace.
The effulgence of the glory of God manifested in the face of Christ was veiled during His earth life. On the Mount of Transfiguration and upon the occasion of His arrest in the Garden, this glory must have shone forth in all of its transcendent beauty.
Today our Lord Jesus, as He sits at the right hand of the Father, is full of glory; when He comes again He will come in glory, and the radiance of His majesty will girdle the globe.
There are three things we wish to say concerning Christ as the manifestation of the glory of God.
1. Jesus Christ manifested the glory of the Father in His character. Jesus Christ was the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person.
Jesus Christ was the Word made flesh, and He dwelt, tabernacled, among us, "and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son, Who dwelt in the bosom of the Father, told forth the glory of the Father. That is, Christ declared the Father, interpreted the Father.
To Philip Christ could say, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?"
2. Jesus Christ manifested the glory of the Father in His words and works. Christ said: "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works."
The Lord Jesus did always the things that pleased the Father, thus He always told forth the Father. Every miracle, every message, manifested God. Christ never felt one way and the Father another; Christ never did one way and the Father another.
3. The mission of the Church is to preach the glory of Christ and thus to magnify the glory of the Father. In 2Co_4:5 we read: "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord."
It is a shame when the pulpit magnifies any person to the disparagement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our message is the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. This is the message we bring, and this is the message that the God of this world despises.
Satan never seeks to blind the eyes of the unbelieving against sermons on ethics and psychology and world temperance. Satan really approves of messages upon human righteousness and human achievements; he delights in taking part in any work that magnifies the flesh.
Satan is most active in opposing both the message and the messenger who deals in the glorious Gospel of Christ. He will fight to the bitter end the man who magnifies grace.
Let Christians and churches and pastors remember that they are separated unto the Gospel of God concerning His Son. That Gospel and that alone reveals the glory of God. That Gospel and that alone is the power of God. That Gospel and that alone proclaims a righteousness of God from faith to faith. If any man preach any other gospel let him be accursed.
How God does marvel that so many are removed from Him Who called us into His grace, unto another gospel.
We say it sadly but we say it truly, that when one turns from the Gospel of Christ, to another gospel which is not another; when one turns from preaching the glory of the grace of God, as manifested in His Cross, His resurrection and His coming again, he is not a servant of Christ.
When preachers seek to persuade men, and to please men, they cannot be classed as the ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR