THE LORD'S GLORY AND ITS EFFECT
THE LORD’S GLORY AND ITS EFFECT
Beholding the Lord’s glory in His unveiled face we are “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”.
Beloved friends, this shows the wonderful effect of association with the Lord’s glory, and this is in connection with the gospel, its finish. The apostle is here showing the contrast between the demand for righteousness from the glory in the time of law, and the ministration of righteousness from the glory now through grace. What you seek, conscious of your need, would be to be thoroughly clear in the glory. Now, instead of glory making a demand upon you, there is actually a ministration of righteousness to you from it. Hence the apostle argues, if the ministration of condemnation be glory, how much more shall the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory! That is the wonderful grace we have today, not only to be clear of everything once against us, but made to correspond to the very glory where we are cleared. Nothing can be more wonderful than that such language could be used concerning us; “changed into the same image “. No English word would properly express the meaning of the word for ‘changed’. Beholding the Lord’s glory we are assimilated to it. It is not equality, but similarity; and the more you ponder it, the more you will understand the greatness of it.
Now turn to Isaiah 6: 5 -7. “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the [p. 261] tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged”.
The prophet is perfectly clear before the throne; that is the most you get before Christianity and the gospel of the glory of Christ. Now contrast that with verse 18 of the chapter before us. How immense is the advance! Isaiah is perfectly clear before the glory; but now the glory makes me correspond to itself. It is not simply I am free, and there is not a charge against me. That is quite true, and so it was with Isaiah. Here we see one of the seraphims took a live coal from off the altar, and coming to Isaiah, he says, as it were, ‘I utterly refuse you, but on the ground of the coal taken from off the altar, I entirely clear you’; and he was cleared, his iniquity taken away, and his sin purged, but that was all.
That is a great deal, but that is not the gospel of the glory of Christ. In the gospel I am not only cleared, but I am made to correspond to the glory of the One who has cleared me. Therefore in the next chapter we have “the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ”.
I have no doubt, speaking of separation and taking a separate place here, that nothing can give the same character of separation as any measure of correspondence with the glory of the Lord. I am sure it humbles us to think how little we are transformed into the same image. The greatest potentate on this earth might allow you into his presence, but he could not make you to correspond to his dignity. It is one of the most wonderful expressions of the grace that has come to us, that not only are we cleared from all that is contrary to the glory, but transformed into the same image in the very place where we were so contrary to it.
Transformed is a word we cannot fully express in English. It is metamorphosed. It means you are transformed as in Romans 12, “be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed”. Among the Greeks it was understood as being turned into a new being. Of course, I could give you but a very feeble idea of it. A caterpillar turned into a butterfly is an imperfect illustration. It is not an addition to a person, nor a great alteration, but you are entirely changed.
Now, you behold the Lord’s glory with unveiled face. There is no veil on His face, the full glory of God rests upon Him. He is the antitype of the ark of the covenant. The effulgence of the glory that was over the ark of the covenant now rests in fulness on Jesus. He glorified God in death, and now every ray of divine glory rests on Him. Hence we get in the next chapter that remarkable word, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. Glory is fully come out now. God always was love, but He could not declare it without righteousness. Now there is a ministration of righteousness from the glory, and there is no hindrance to the outflow of His love. “Beholding .. . the glory of the Lord”; the expression of God’s satisfaction according to all the attributes of His nature, now all resting on a Man, and that Man, the Lord Jesus Christ! And the practical effect for us, beloved friends, of beholding the Lord’s glory without a veil, is that we are changed (metamorphosed) into the same image.
The practical point is, How is this effected? Let me give you examples. I could give you some idea of it from the Old Testament. Look at Psalm 73: 17, “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction”. Compare that with verse 4, “For there are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm”. The psalmist has changed his mind altogether. And what has caused this complete change in him? It is produced by God’s power and glory in the sanctuary. It is an illustration of the change we have been speaking of, and shows that the place he now occupies is entirely outside of man. He had been looking at things here as a man, but when he gets inside with God, all is reversed. Instead of modifying his judgment, he reverses it completely.
I will give you two more examples from the New Testament. We often use the words, “changed into the same image”. Did you ever make proof of it? We may always prove a thing by its effect. As people say, Taste and see. If you are not changed you are not “beholding”. It is a wonderful statement, and I am often confounded by it; “Beholding .. . the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image”. But I have proved it for myself; I have gone to the Lord about a thing that I thought looked proper; and I have gone a second time, and still it looked the proper thing; and a third or perhaps a fourth time, and have found that it was not approved of, that it was not the proper thing at all. Thus I was brought into moral correspondence with the Lord’s mind about it, and that is how it is brought about.
Turn now to Philippians 4: 6. “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. I know this is a very familiar passage to us all, but come now, tell me how many have you seen in the peace of God? Did you ever know it yourself? Oh, yes, you say, I have been to God about a thing and come away quite resigned about it. Oh! but that is not what we get here, “the peace of God which PASSETH ALL understanding”. It could not be comprehended by the natural mind. It is such an amazing thing; you would not know [p. 264] yourself. It passeth ALL understanding. Well, how do I get it? I go to Him. I get so near to Him, that I actually acquire the very state that corresponds with that in which He is Himself! I can understand a person saying, Oh, now you are speaking parables! No, I am only saying what is written; I know very well how far short I am of it, but that is what it is. The word ‘make known’ does not mean that God does not know, but I know I told Him. I do not say you get it the first time you go, nor the second, nor perhaps the third, but I know it can be got. Philippians used to be a very trying book to me till I saw it was the experience of a heavenly man. Now I see that I am in another order of things, and there I am morally transformed and knowing “the peace of God which passeth all understanding”. It is what no human mind can grasp.
Turn now to 2 Corinthians 12: 7 - 9, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”.
Once you get a principle from Scripture, you will find it confirmed everywhere. Now in this verse 7, it is extremely interesting to see the apostle; he is come down from the third heaven, the highest scene, and is immediately assailed by the messenger of Satan, no doubt to hinder him, and the Lord allows it. He goes to the Lord about it, and asks Him to remove it, but He does not do so. He goes a second time, but still the Lord does not remove it. He goes a third time, and now he is an entirely changed man. A while ago he was trying to get rid of the thorn, but now on the contrary he says, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities”. Why, I say, how is it you are so changed? Well, he says, I have been with the Lord and His order of things, and it is by beholding His glory that I have been brought right round to His mind. It was not that I did this thing or the other, I simply went to Him and He morally transformed me to His will. Thus a very extraordinary change takes place in you, you are quite altered from what you were.
I only give you these examples just to prove the effect of beholding the Lord’s glory, and I desire that the Lord would fasten on your heart and mind the wonderful excess of grace that has come to us through the gospel. It is not only that by the blood of the Lamb I am without a spot, and can go into the holiest of all, but what I say is, and it is the height of all blessedness, beholding His glory I am transformed into the same image, into the very highest condition, into consonance with His glory, the expression of His satisfaction according to all His attributes. Not love apart from righteousness, nor righteousness apart from love; but now not a single attribute of God is wanting, the circle is complete, and I am made to share in the whole range of it. And how? By looking at the Lord’s glory.
I have no doubt in my mind by the way people speak, that they do not reach this. They say they are looking at the Lord, and thus their speech betrayeth them. I say, You have left out a word. What word? Glory. It is looking at the Lord’s glory. Why is it necessary to put in that word? Because it is the expression of God’s satisfaction according to all the attributes of His nature, resting on the One who has accomplished my redemption. And beholding it, I am transformed into the same image, into conformity to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; in the face of the One who bore my judgment, and glorified [p. 266] God under the weight of it! And beholding His glory, I am changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The Lord grant we may not only hear about it, but understand it, to the praise and glory of Him who wrought it, for His name’s sake.