THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
Message Six
The Triune God in Christ Being Life to Us by Shining in Our Hearts
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 4:4, 6-7; 3:18; Matt. 17:2; Eph. 5:8-9; Rev. 22:4a, 5b; 21:23
I. "In whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them"—2 Cor. 4:4:
A. Satan, the god of this age, has blinded the thoughts and the minds of the unbelievers so that the illumination of the gospel of Christ's glory might not shine in their hearts:
1. Those who are blinded or veiled think that they do not worship anything; actually, their god is Satan.
2. Atheists worship Satan without knowing what they are doing.
3. Nearly all people today have been blinded by the god of this age.
B. Christ as the image of God is the effulgence of His glory; hence, the gospel of Christ is the gospel of His glory that illuminates, radiates, and shines in our hearts—Heb. 1:3; 2 Cor. 4:6.
C. The gospel of the glory of Christ is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God—1 Tim. 1:11.
D. By dispensing God's life and nature in Christ into God's chosen people, the gospel of the glory of Christ shines forth God's glory, in which God is blessed among His people—Heb. 1:3; Eph. 1:3, 6, 12, 14.
II. "The God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ"—2 Cor. 4:6:
A. God's shining in our hearts results in the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that is, in the enlightenment that causes us to know the glory of God in the gospel of Christ—vv. 4, 6.
B. The illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ; this indicates that the gospel of the glory of Christ is a lovely person on whose face we can see the glory of God—vv. 4, 6; Matt. 17:2.
C. The glory of God manifested in the face of Jesus Christ is the God of glory expressed through Jesus Christ, who is the effulgence of the glory of God; to know Him is to know the God of glory—Acts 7:2; Heb. 1:3.
D. The more God shines in our hearts, the more we will shine on others so that they may have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that is, the knowledge of Christ, who expresses and declares God; the gospel of the glory of Christ first shines into us, and then it shines out from within us—John 1:18; Matt. 5:16; Phil. 2:15.
III. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us"—2 Cor. 4:7:
A. Through the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, the Christ of glory as the excellent treasure is received by the believers; now the shining reality of Christ, the embodiment and expression of the Triune God, is the treasure within us—vv. 6-7:
1. God's shining, which is God's dispensing, in our hearts brings into us a treasure, the all-inclusive Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God as the life-giving Spirit to be our life and everything—vv. 4, 6-7; Col. 2:9; 3:4, 11; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
2. This priceless treasure, the indwelling Christ, is the divine source of the supply for the Christian life—Phil. 4:13; 2 Cor. 13:5; 4:7.
B. This priceless treasure has made us, the earthen vessels, ministers of the new covenant with a priceless ministry; this is by the divine power in resurrection; the excellency of this power is surely of God and not out of us—3:6; 1:9; 4:7.
C. Those who receive the gospel of glory through our shining will have Christ as the precious treasure dispensed into them; then, like us, they will be earthen vessels containing this priceless treasure—vv. 4, 6-7.
IV. "We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit"—3:18:
A. To behold the glory of the Lord is to see the Lord ourselves; to reflect the glory of the Lord is to enable others to see Him through us.
B. The glory of the Lord is the glory of the resurrected and ascended Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us to make Himself and all that He has accomplished, attained, and obtained real to us so that we may be one with Him and be transformed into the same image as the Lord from glory to glory; in this way He is making us the same as He is—Luke 24:46; Heb. 2:9; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29.
C. This is an ongoing process in life in resurrection—2 Cor. 3:18.
V. "You were once darkness but are now light in the Lord; walk as children of light"—Eph. 5:8:
A. As God is light, so we, the children of God, are children of light—1 John 1:5; Eph. 5:8; John 12:36.
B. We are not only children of light—we are light itself; we are light because we are one with God in the Lord—Matt. 5:14; 1 John 1:5.
C. When we are in the light, we are outside the realm of right and wrong—v. 7.
D. If we walk as children of light, we will bear the fruit described in Ephesians 5:9:
1. The fruit of the light must be good in nature, righteous in procedure, and real in expression, that God may be expressed as the reality of our daily walk.
2. The fruit of the light in goodness, righteousness, and truth is related to the Triune God:
a. God the Father as goodness is the nature of the fruit of the light; therefore, goodness in verse 9 refers to God the Father—Matt. 19:17.
b. Righteousness refers to God the Son, for Christ came to accomplish God's purpose according to God's righteous procedure—Rom. 5:17-18, 21.
c. Truth, the expression of the fruit of the light, refers to God the Spirit, for He is the Spirit of reality—John 14:17; 16:13.
VI. "They will see His face…The Lord God will shine upon them"—Rev. 22:4a, 5b:
A. To see the face of God and of the Lamb will be a blessing of the Triune God enjoyed by God's redeemed in eternity—v. 4a.
B. God Himself in the Lamb will shine on us, and we will live forever under His glorious illumination—v. 5b; 21:23.