TRANSPARENCY
[p. 181] TRANSPARENCY
2 Corinthians 3: 12 - 18; 2 Corinthians 4: 1 - 6
I see a principle in Scripture, and that is, that if God reveals Himself to us in a certain way, we are privileged to answer to the particular revelation. We spoke on a former occasion of stability. We saw in Christ the stability of God’s purposes. “Whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him is the amen, for glory to God by us”. Everything has its yea and amen in Christ. Then the apostle goes on to speak of the work effected in the saints, for the saints are to answer to what God has made known as to His purpose. I now pass on to another point.
If God comes out without a veil, then we are to be without a veil — we are to be transparent. Transparency did characterize Paul as the servant — the minister. No doubt he had a peculiar place, but what the minister was, we are to be. If God comes out without anything to obscure or hide, then transparency is to mark the saints, they are to be without a veil; and I hope to show you how that is brought about. In chapter 4 we get the marks of transparency, and I judge that all of us are to be characterized by it. Certainly, nothing can be more important for a servant than to be transparent. The apostle says as to himself, “By manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God”. In his work and service, the apostle was transparent, so that his testimony was in no way obscured. He was without a veil as to the gospel.
My first point is that, in Christ, God is presented without a veil. I shall show how this has come to be. There are two things in Christ; one is, that [p. 182] God has come out; and the other, that man has entered in. In the Old Testament neither was true. Now, it has pleased God to come out in the grace of His ways; God has revealed Himself through the death of Christ. As the result of this, man goes in, not in the flesh, but by a new and living way, as alive by the Spirit.
It is of all importance to see how God has removed the veil on His side (read chapter 3: 13 - 18). The “open face” in verse 18 refers to the Lord, not to the apostle; that is, the Lord is with unveiled face, no veil is on the face of Christ to hide His glory — the light that shines there. It is in contrast to Moses, who had a veil on his face before the people. You get the same thought of a veil in chapter 4: 3; “If also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost”. In chapter 4 the point is, that there was no veil on the side of the servant. Moses veiled his face, but it was right for him to do so. A veil is that which hides divine effulgence. Moses was compelled to veil his face, for there was divine effulgence there, and God did not allow Israel to see it because He was dealing with man then on the ground of flesh and responsibility. When God comes out in divine effulgence, He makes known His heart to man. When the Lord Jesus was upon earth, the brightness partly shone forth (John 3: 16). There was the effulgence of God, though it did not come out fully then. It awaited the cross. When God comes out according to His glory, He deals with men according to His love, not according to man’s works; and the result is that the believer is to have eternal life, according to John 3: 16. Moses was the law-giver; when his face shone, he was really beyond his system. Many Christians, in the same way, are bound up in their systems, but personally they are beyond them. Moses personally was a most distinguished man of faith. So when he [p. 183] went in to God, he came out with the reflection of His glory. Moses as law-giver brought the law, for God was going to test man; but personally Moses had access to the mercy-seat at all times. It was from off the mercy-seat that God gave him His communications.
The effulgence of God was veiled even when Christ was here. It was veiled by the flesh. The Lord had natural links, and that tended to hide the divine effulgence in the face of Christ. Now all is altered. We see Him at the right hand of God; and who sits there? The Son of God. The great proof of His being this was the resurrection from the dead; the next proof is in the fact of His being at the right hand of God (see Hebrews 1: 13), and we have the divine effulgence in His face. The glory of the Lord is now revealed. There is the declaration that He is the Son of God. All is out now, and you never apprehend the full height of the gospel until you apprehend that Jesus is the Son of God. At Pentecost, the testimony of Peter and John was that the One who by the wicked hands of the Jews had been crucified, was exalted and made Lord and Christ, and they preached forgiveness of sins in His name, and the gift of the Holy Ghost; but the full height of the gospel is in connection with “the glory of the Lord” — what He is as the Son of God.
The testimony of the apostles at the beginning of the Acts was based on the commission in Luke 24. This gospel is still preached. It was preached on the day of Pentecost, but it does not make known the purpose of God in regard of man, it is not the full height of the gospel.
When we come to Galatians 1: 16, we have Paul saying: “When it pleased God ... to reveal his Son in me, that I should preach him (as glad tidings) among the heathen”. Then, in chapter 4, “God sent forth his Son ... to redeem them that [p. 184] were under the law, that we might receive sonship”. The question here is not of responsibility, nor of repentance and remission of sins, but of God sending forth His Son to effectuate His purpose, that we might receive sonship. He makes known the height of His purpose in the One whom He sends forth, His grace is commensurate with the Person who comes out. If we did not know forgiveness, we could not come into this; but, knowing forgiveness, we learn that God sent forth His Son that we might receive sonship.
The more you apprehend the glory of the Lord, the more you perceive the fulness of the grace of God; thus we are in the light of His purpose. Nothing is more important or blessed than to apprehend the purpose of God for you. Many Christians do not go beyond the question of their responsibility being met. What I understand in the glory of the Lord is, that the more you behold it, the more you see the grace of God, for the glory of the Lord is commensurate with the grace of God, and that is in the gift of sonship.
So long as Christ was here, there were glimpses of His glory seen, but now there is no veil, He is no longer “after the flesh”, but declared to be Son of God with power by resurrection of the dead: He is at God’s right hand, the One to whom it has been said, “Sit on my right hand”, and He has power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. In John 17 He prays to be glorified to this end. The full light of God’s purpose has been disclosed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the full light of grace shines out in the Son of God.
Now a few words as to the servant. We have to answer to the way in which God has come out; so the apostle says, “We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
[p. 185] nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God”. Notice three points:
- “manifestation of the truth” (verse 2);
- “preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord” (verse 5);
- “hath shined in our hearts” (verse 6).
The second mark is, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord”. When a servant has a true idea of “Christ Jesus Lord”, he does not preach himself. When he is marked by assumption and self-importance, he is out of the place of a servant. A servant in my house is not to assume a place of prominence. Apostleship only made a man a Levite; a believer is a priest. The competition among saints should be as to who will go the lowest. The one who has the greatest grace goes lowest; he does not lord it over saints but serves them. The Lord at the right hand of God was the One whom the apostle preached, because He is the One vested with power to remove all that stands in the way of the accomplishment of God’s purpose. So we get in Ephesians 6, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”. He has might to subdue all to Himself, and all that stands in the way He will remove. The apostle evidently had a great sense of who the Lord was: the One at the right hand of God, with unlimited power from God to give effect to the purposes of God. So he preached Christ Jesus the Lord, and “ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake”, He had naturally parts and energy to be a leader among men, but as Christ’s apostle he competed to take the lowest place. It is a great thing if you give saints the impression that you are their servant. If you have a true sense of the glory of the Lord, this is the place that you seek to take.
Now I come to the third point: “Hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. The shining was into the heart of the apostle. Nothing is effective in us till the heart is touched. The apostle’s heart was touched by what God had made known to him of His glory. God’s Son was revealed in him. The glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. In Him is the effulgence of all that God has [p. 187] made known of Himself in the accomplishment of His purposes. There are two things in this world, sin and death, which are a contradiction to the glory of God. The first compromises the righteousness of God, and death calls in question His power. But in the Lord we see God glorified. Who is going now to say that God is unrighteous or that He is weak? The blood of Christ is the witness that sin is intolerable to Him, and is a proof of His righteousness. The resurrection of Christ is the evidence of His power. The righteousness and the power of God are thus witnessed in Christ. No one could doubt now that God is righteous and that He is powerful. But more than that, in the face of Jesus His love and grace shine out — He did not spare His Son. The great motive at work in all was love. All has come to light now, and God’s love was the spring of all for man. “The kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared”. The time arrived when God saw fit to make known His love. All His attributes were vindicated where they had been compromised, and the grace and love of His heart are made known. The greater our apprehension of “the glory of the Lord”, the greater our apprehension of the grace of God.
God will display His grace in the saints, but there is no end to love. Love will have company, and thus, “for his great love wherewith he loved us”, we are raised up, and made to sit down in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We are raised up to God’s habitation. God will have us there. All this had shone into the heart of the apostle and had taken complete possession there; so he had the greatest delight in making known “the glory of the Lord”, the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ, and thus that the aching heart of man might find its resting place in divine love.
The apostle had these marks of transparency.
[p. 188] No intrusion of the flesh was allowed so as to make himself prominent and obscure the truth. When the truth takes possession of the heart, a man is so delighted that he takes pleasure in proclaiming it, whatever the difficulties may be which he has to pass through. May God give us understanding to see how completely God has revealed Himself. And the servant is to be a reflex of it. The apostle could say he was so, without a veil; that, if his gospel were veiled, it was veiled in them that are lost.