THE GLORY OF GOD ( PART 23 )

Pastor Christopher Choo

 Lesson 3321

THE GLORY OF GOD ( PART 23 )

From Glory to Glory ( Study 2 )

Yesterday we learned that the glory of the Old Testament was the Law and that of the New Testament is Christ.

Please note this significant change - from a somewhat impersonal relationship with God through His Law and a personal relationship with the Person of Christ, God's Son, who is the Word of God.

Paul goes on further to teach us another revelation - that the relationship with God's glory in the Old Testament has a physical aspect.

Moses absorbed and reflected God’s glory for a time after being in his presence (2 Corinthians 3:7–11, 13; cf. Exodus 34:29–35). Though Moses’ glow had a spiritual cause, there was nothing spiritual about the effect—any person, regardless of his relationship with God, could see the glow on Moses’ face, which he covered with a veil.

Not so the glory of the New Covenant. That can be seen only with a believer’s spiritual eyes—what Paul is doing his best to open so that we discern the gospel’s glory. So he writes, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Abba Father, Paul is intent on directing Christians to focus on the spiritual glory of the New Covenant rather than the physical glory of the Old, as many Jews in his day refused to do.

Indeed the supernatural power of the glory of the New Testament is able to transform us. And that brings us to God’s ultimate purpose and destination for every believer, to transform us into the image of his own beloved Son (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:28–30; Philippians 3:20–22 ).

To God be the glory!