(tm) Transformed by the Glory of the Lord
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The Glory of God, that even now is working in the personality of each of us as we give our lives to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, will increase day after day until we are filled and clothed with the Spirit. If we move forward with God until the Holy Spirit has become the Source of our life, then, at the coming of our Lord, Christ, the Holy Spirit will make alive our mortal body.
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (II Corinthians 3:18)
The text of the third chapter of II Corinthians includes a reference to the face of Moses (verse 13). The condition referred to is described in the thirty-fourth chapter of Exodus:
And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him. (Exodus 34:33-35)
Moses’ face was transfigured permanently because of repeated exposure to the Glory of the Lord. In the same manner the character and personality of the Christian undergo a permanent transformation as he beholds the Glory of the Lord in the new covenant.
When we rest our faith on Christ the light of the Glory of God shines in our heart. Repeated exposure to the Glory of God, as it is reflected in the face of Christ, transforms the disciple just as the face of Moses was transformed. The overcomer beholds God until he is in God’s image and is able to commune with God directly, as was true of Moses.
Therefore (Revelation 22:4 is able to announce, "they shall see his face." But Exodus 33:20 declares, "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live." Anyone who has set his heart on beholding God will be brought to the death of his sinful, self-centered nature. Only the pure in heart shall see God.
For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (II Corinthians 4:11)
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inner man is renewed day after day. (II Corinthians 4:16)
The formation of Christ in the heart is not completed instantly (although we are saved from wrath instantly). The forming of Christ is developed over a period of time while being forged in the fires of temptation, confusion, and trouble. It is "command upon command, command upon command; rule upon rule, rule upon rule; here a little, and there a little" (from Isaiah 28:10).
The end result of the Divine transformation is Christian character—character that has been changed permanently into the image of Christ. First John 3:2 declares that "when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." We shall have been "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).
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