6

6

What a shining! Think of that! I hardly know what to say. It

affected me as we proceeded today that in the death of the

Lord Jesus, and in His present exalted position as Man, God

has found a wonderful outlet for His affections. No doubt the

glory here refers to that, “the glory of God in the face of Jesus

Christ”. It is a matter of His affections, of His love, of His

nature.

It is not merely what can be attributed to Him in His power but

it is His very glory, it is His heart, beloved brethren, it is God’s

nature! Think of the outlet that He has found in the death of

Jesus to express that love. How wonderful it is that in the very

place where God judged sin His love was made known. How

wonderful that God in the death of Jesus should find an outlet

to express His love and, more than that, in the exaltation of

Jesus the effulgence of God, the glory of His love, is shining in

the face of that Man and it is shining in the heart of the

believer, “in our hearts”, in hearts like yours and mine; O,

beloved, hearts that have been made subject to the claims of

our Lord Jesus Christ, hearts which have known what it is to

have the love of God shed abroad in them by the Holy Spirit.

And there is this further touch of glory, “the knowledge

of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. That is our

part, our portion, to be linked up with a glorious Man who is

there in fixed and final conditions. Do you know anything more

wonderful than that? Some of you young people may have

ambitions; you may be allowing your ambitions to blossom, it

maybe that you can see the advantage of being linked with

persons in higher places. Well, that may be all right, but be

careful. One thing I would say, Be sure that you are linked with

the Man in the glory, the One in whose face shines “the

knowledge of the glory of God”.

Then it says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels”.

We are in a time of fragility, and we are made to feel it. The

Lord has acted in recent days in taking beloved brethren home

to Himself and it is all a pointer to the time of fragility. The