Created for Glory (2 Cor 3:18)
We must behold glory now in order to safely reach glory
By Jay Wegter
Beholding the glory of the Lord must begin now if we are to safely reach our heavenly home. That is the premise of this sermon. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). Unlike biblical principles such as meekness in our relationships, generosity with our resources, and boldness in our witness—beholding glory seems really ‘out there’, almost remote, abstract, other-worldly. It seems less concrete than a principle, a promise, or a precept. Yet, beholding is our calling, it transforms us, it is our blessed requirement and privilege to behold the glory of the Lord.
What is this ‘glory of the Lord’?
The glory of the Lord centers on His priesthood. Christ intercedes for the weakest believers and for the sins of believers (Jn 17:20) (Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, p. 178). Christ freely pleads our cause, He takes no fee. The Lord is full of sympathy and tenderness as our merciful High Priest (Heb 2:17). He has shed His blood to purchase life and salvation for the elect; and if they should not be saved, He would lose His purchase (Ibid, p. 180).
We have a friend in the court of heaven who speaks a good word for us. He pursues and follows our cause in heaven. This ought to animate and encourage us in prayer. If we came in our own name in prayer, it would be presumption. But, Christ intercedes for us in the force and efficacy of His own blood (Ibid, p. 182). Christ shall judge the world (Jn 5:22), but because He intercedes for His own, they shall be absolved (Rom 8:32-34). Will Christ condemn those for whom He prays? Believers are His spouse (Eph 5:25-27). Will He condemn His own spouse? We see here the constancy of Christ’s love to the elect, He not only died for them, but intercedes for them in Heaven (Heb 7:24-25). When Christ was done dying, He was not done loving. He will never leave praying until His petition—that His people be with Him is granted (Jn 17:24).
When we pray, we need to fix our eye chiefly on Christ’s intercession. Consider the sad condition for the unbeliever, He has none in heaven to speak a word for him. To be shut out of Christ’s prayers is to be shut out of Heaven (Jn 17:9) (Ibid, p. 183). Whoever is our advocate must be our propitiation to pacify God (1 Jn 2:1). Angels cannot be our propitiation; therefore, they cannot be our advocates.
Christ assuming our human nature was a master piece of wisdom and a monument of free grace. He took our flesh upon Him that He might take our sins upon Him and so appease God’s wrath. He took our flesh that He might make human nature appear lovely to God and the divine nature appear lovely to man. Upon our fall from God, our nature became as odious to God as vermin is to us. Our sinful flesh was like a decaying corpse, loathsome to behold. God could not endure to look upon us. Christ taking our flesh makes this human nature appear lovely to God. Christ being clothed with our flesh makes the divine nature appear lovely to man (Ibid, p. 194).
By His obedience, Christ gained the ‘equipment’ necessary to save to the uttermost (Heb 7:24-25). Christ’s obedience was perfect, voluntary, unto death; and exalting positive righteousness. All His obedience earned exaltation (Acts 2:33-36; Phil 2:5-11). Christ’s obedience in His condescension in taking on human nature, was to keep the covenant perfectly; to become subject to the penalty of the law; to follow the moral and ceremonial law—by this He gained infinite merit for us (‘His equipment’). Christ laid down His life by His Father’s command, resulting in justification (Jn 10:17-18) (Craig Biehl, The Infinite Merit of Christ).
The saints are not just detached observers of God’s glory; for God not only displays His glory, but communicates His glory to them (2 Thess 2:13-14). The Son is glorified in the creature by communicating Himself to the creature—so we are ultimately made like Him in holiness (Ibid, Beihl).
The Bride will find her completeness in Christ—her perfections are communicated to her by her Savior so that she has not spot or wrinkle (Eph 5:27). The redeemed become vessels for the communicable attributes of God. The saints have to be glorified in order to experience the communication of God’s glory to them. Having these virtues (or communicable attributes) through Christ is the only way to enjoy God perfectly in glory (Ibid, Biehl).
In the covenant of redemption conceived by Father, the Son binds Himself to suffer the wrath due His people. He glorifies God in doing so. In voluntarily taking this on, He exhibits and displays the Father’s love. His love for His sheep makes their salvation His reward. To receive the reward of His obedience is to have His obedience put on their account (imputed to us). The joy set before Him is His mediatorial glory (Heb 12:2). In the justification of believing sinners by the righteousness of Christ, the purpose of God in the display and extension of His glory is advanced (they are accomplished together) (Ibid, Biehl).
The glory possessed by Christ in heaven is His absolute righteousness acquired during His state of humiliation. It sprang from His obedience and suffering and self-sacrifice in our stead. Thus, the new covenant is about abundant forgiveness and righteousness acquired from Christ’s state of humiliation. These blessings are intimately tied to the glory of the Lord. (Geerhardus Vos, Grace and Glory, p. 96).
In our text (3:18), “the Lord is the Spirit” is not written to produce confusion between the divine Persons, but is to bring out the practical inseparableness of the exalted Christ and the Holy Spirit in the work of salvation (the nature of the Spirit is to act—Christ became a ‘life-giving Spirit’—1 Cor 15:45) (Vos, p. 99).
Beholding the Glory of the Lord began at Salvation
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:3-6).
The pure Godhead is terrible to behold (Jer 30:21; 1 Tim 6:15-16). In our mortal state, we could not see the Godhead and live. But, Christ clothing Himself with our flesh makes the divine nature more amiable and delightful to us (2 Cor 4:6). We need not be afraid to look upon God through Christ’s human nature (note Christ as our ‘observatory of God’). A custom of old among shepherds was to clothe themselves with sheepskins to be more pleasing to the sheep. Christ clothed Himself with our flesh that the divine nature might be more pleasing to us, that the sight of God might be delightful and not terrifying and formidable. By offering up His flesh on the cross, believers are brought all the way to God. For, the cross of Christ makes us acceptable to God and the cross makes God beautiful to us (Watson, p. 194).
Believers are constantly renewed out of enjoying and possessing God. Enjoying God has a transforming effect. The veritable power of God is demonstrated in making man like Himself. Those who dwell together in holy companionship of the covenant grow like each other. This is a deep mystery. It has caused God’s gift of Himself to us to assume even the form of the incarnation, in which He became flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones—so also in the opposite direction; it makes us believers partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:3)—putting upon our souls God’s image and superscription (2 Thess 2:13-14) (Vos, p. 21).
The Benefits of beholding the Glory of the Lord
The NT word for behold includes the idea of contemplating and reflecting upon (in the case of our text, reflecting upon Christ in His exaltation). We must know the benefits of beholding the glory of the Lord—understanding what happens to us when we behold the embodiment of all virtue as we gaze upon Christ exalted in our human nature. The great benefit according to our text is that we are incrementally changed into His likeness (2 Cor 3:18).
How does that happen? As creatures created to be worshippers, we are transformed into the likeness of what we worship (Ps 135). When created things absorb us (instead of ‘things above’, we are also transformed—but in an idolatrous manner (sensual, selfish, greedy, proud, protective, covetous—that is what finite integration points do to us). By contrast, when we consistently behold the glory of our Lord, our desire to imitate Him will be compelling. It is impossible to continually behold this glory and remain the same person.
How the church needs the regular revelation of the glory of Christ. For in gazing by faith upon the exalted Lord in the Scriptures we behold our forerunner who is preparing a place for us, and who will receive us unto Himself (Jn 14:1-3; Heb 6:18-20). In beholding Him, we see the goal of our existence—to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. We see the God-man, the source of our eternal life, purpose, calling, and destiny—the communicator of God’s glory to us. We see previews of the weight of glory to come (2 Cor 4:17-18). We gain insights into what ‘the heavenly man’ really is (1 Cor 15:46-49), for Christ is the prototypical glorified human—the ‘first fruits’ of all who await resurrection in Him (1 Cor 15:20-24).
There is great benefit in seeing all of life from the perspective of beholding glory—it is a vantage point like no other. It is rectifying activity that instills eternal values. Our man in glory is the eschaton (last) Adam (1 Cor 15:45; Heb 6:18-20) who represents His people before the throne of God. He has unbreakable solidarity with His people—this is foundation of our hope. The destiny of the saints is wrapped up in Him; they are mystically united to Him (Rom 6:5ff.). As we behold His glory, we gain glimpses into the infinite might of our Champion, our Overcomer who in His power is taking us from dust to glory (Jn 6:39-40). Beholding is how we grow and cultivate a ‘divine viewpoint’. Beholding develops a passion for the glory of God.
In the new covenant, all has been changed—the veil has been rent and through it, believers have an unobstructed view of the glory of God in the face of Christ. And with this vision comes assurance of atonement, satisfaction, access to God, peace of conscience, liberty, and eternal life. (If these spiritual riches are to be testified to your own soul as your eternal possessions, then you must behold the glory of the Lord!). This Christ glory is a living and self-communicating power, transforming both those who mediate it (preach it), and those who receive it—from glory to glory into the likeness of the Lord (Vos, p. 97).
You don’t have to climb up to heaven to see that the sun is there—you are bathed in its warmth and brightness. You do not need to go into heaven to see if Christ is interceding for us. For, we behold Him in the Word interceding, and we can look into our own hearts. Are they quickened and inflamed in prayer? Can we cry Abba, Father? By this interceding of the Spirit who dwells within us, we may know Christ is interceding above for us. Faith is an act of recumbency, of reclining upon Christ (Watson, p. 184).
Faith throws itself into Christ’s arms. It says, “Christ is my priest, His blood is my sacrifice, His divine nature is my altar, and here I will rest” (Heb 13:10ff.). This faith is seen by its effects. It is a refining work and a resigning work. It purifies and refines. If Christ appears for us in heaven, then we must appear for Him on earth. He is not ashamed to carry our names on His breast. Shall we be ashamed of His truth? He lays out all His interest for us at the throne of grace. We must lay out all our interest for Him. Spend and be spent for Christ’s glory. Let your heart study for Him, your hands work for Him, your tongue speak for Him (Mt 10:32-33). If Christ be an advocate for us in heaven, we must be His agents on earth acting vigorously for Him in every sphere. Love your intercessor (1 Cor 16:22) (Watson, p. 185).
The Break from Divine Glory in our Fall in Eden
By nature, beholding the glory of the Lord is utterly foreign to us, for the ability to behold God’s glory was lost in the fall (Rom 3:23). Since Adam, our bent is to take man’s side, not God’s side. We prefer victimhood rather than repentance and contrition over sin. We are fixated on what we perceive by our five senses, instead of the spiritual vision we are called upon to exercise in faith. Thus, to be able to take God’s side against our sin, corruption, and rebellion is entirely a work of grace.
God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29), it is impossible to contemplate God as He truly is apart from Christ, the ‘refuge of His people’ (Heb 6:18). The ‘terror’ of coming to terms with the holiness of God is considered a ‘conflict of interest’ by the natural man. In the book of Exodus, we read of Moses who was permitted to view but a portion of the glory of God from the safety of a split rock. This prefigures Christ, the ‘Rock’ split (crucified) in order to ‘hide’ His people (Ex 33:21-23; 1 Cor 10:4). The believer’s safety in Christ functions somewhat like an observatory. From the protection of our union with Him who made atonement for us, we gaze in awe upon the majesty and perfections of the Godhead.
When drawing near to God, our vantage point, or ‘observatory’ of security is the robe of righteousness with which Christ has clothed His people (Is 61:10; Gal 3:27; Phil 3:9).
From our refuge in the Lamb of God we are able to love God, worship God, revere God, and fear God (Ps 31:19). For, the fear of God is His due (Ps 29:2; 90:11). And oh, there is much in Him that inspires reverential fear. For God is glorious in judgment as well as in grace—a theme that cannot even be adequately contemplated unless one is hidden in His Son (Rom 9:22-24). For, God will ultimately, like a furnace consume everything that is not like Him in holiness (Heb 10:27; 12:29). What a far cry this is from the benign, congenial god of so many pulpits today.
How did our flight from God begin? It started with the ancient lie in Eden which produced a tear, a chasm in the soul of man. Spiritual darkness rushed into that void. Like a steel wedge, the ancient lie cleaved apart man’s perception of God’s glory and man’s good operating together. Once the lie was believed, and acted upon by eating the forbidden fruit, it produced blindness to the glory of God.
Now the lie serves as a tool and weapon of Satan to intensify bondage to sin and the fear of death (Heb 2:14-15). Presently the lie dominates the human condition; it could be expressed as a riddle for Adam’s race: “How could God do all things for His glory and at the same time have the best interest of sinners in mind?” “In other words, how can God the Judge extend His glory, and at the same time be infinitely good and loving to sinners?” It appears impossible that divine justice and mercy should ‘hold hands’.
The Beauty of the Gospel answers a dark ‘Riddle’—How can God remain Holy and Righteous and yet love and receive Sinners?
The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to the riddle. The boundless wonder of divine love and mercy is that God is glorifying His grace in the recovery of sinners (Eph 1:5-12). “Righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps 85:10). The Son fulfills all righteousness on behalf of His people by voluntarily taking on their nature in order to redeem, and win and woo His Bride; what a great mystery:
By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory (1 Tim 3:16).
Christ is God’s ‘mystery’—all the treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge reside in Him (Col 2:2). For Christ and Him crucified is the solution to the riddle (1 Cor 2:2). In Christ, God’s glory and our rescue are accomplished together. In the Son, God becomes known as “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:26).
The gospel proclamation that Christ has been sacrificed for the guilty has the power to pluck from the heart of a man the poisonous thorn of original sin. Our condition in Adam is one of hostility, craven fear, rebellion, and suspicion toward God (Col 1:21). This is the moral and spiritual state of every child born into this present darkness.
Divine glory in the face of Christ crucified is the light that expels enmity from the
darkened sinner’s heart. The cross of Christ addresses that dark riddle ‘head on’. “. . .God. . . has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:8b-10).
In our Savior’s Person and work, God’s glory and our good are accomplished together so that the wedge is removed and the riddle is solved. Of all the things God could do to bring glory to Himself, whether forming a myriad of glorious angels or calling a fathomless cosmos into existence, or directing the greatest and smallest providences in history, or designing the boundless beauty of plants and animals—the greatest manifestation of His glory is the recovery of sinners through Christ (Rev 5:9-10).
The Bride beholding her Husband’s Glory in Love
This is a love story to overshadow all other love stories. For, Christ voluntarily takes on our nature in order to assume all the liabilities of His bride: her alienation, wrath, guilt, death, condemnation and suffering. This incredible vicarious work on her behalf is the measure of His love for her and the infinite price necessary to make her His forever (Eph 5:25-27; 1 Jn 4:10; Rev 1:5). The divine ‘glory story’ of a crucified and risen Savior is how Christ reveals God to blinded sinners, restoring their ability to behold glory. It is how the sinner is disarmed of his hostility toward God (Col 1:19-20). This glory story is an ‘unfinished love poem’ which will not be complete until the Bride for Christ is in the nuptial chamber with her loving King. This glory story works on a man from the inside out—it is the abundant life spoken of in John 10:10—the fountain in the soul springing up unto eternal life (Jn 4:14)|.
The Word of God is calling us to a ‘glory check-up’. Has this glory story been indelibly written upon your heart by the Spirit? Do you long to have this glory story written there in a more captivating way? Do you find your spiritual eyes straining to see this vision more clearly? Do you bring this story to your imagination? Do you meditate upon this glory story and stand in awe and delight that God has placed you in His plot? This kind of response is necessary if you are to make it through this life without being hamstrung by the iron-fisted idols of this world.
Do you desire to have a deeper impression of this glory story etched upon your own heart? Then, your loyalty to Christ must go deeper—beholding His glory must become your vocation. Pray for a spirit of wisdom and understanding in regard to Him (Eph 1:17-18). Dare to draw near through the ‘new and living way’—through the flesh of Christ offered for you (Heb 10:19-22). Take joy in obedience and make no provision for sin in regard to its lusts (Rom 13:14). Pant after God—believing He desires to meet with you (Ps 42:1). Long for greater views of the King in His beauty (Ps 24; 45; Is 33:17). Do not settle for anything less than an entranced vision of God. For, nothing less than beholding the glory of the Lord has the power to transform you and transport you. Refuse to settle for spiritual stagnancy and unfruitfulness.
Beholding the glory of the Lord is our primary calling now. To behold the glory of the Lord in His Word is how we grow in our knowledge of God (2 Pet 3:18). It is how we consolidate and review our true treasure. It is how the communal life of the Trinity is imported into our experience. To adore Christ and be loyal to Him now involves the willingness to bear His reproach (Heb 13:13). Reproach can come in subtle ways: friends and relatives may infer that you are a bit eccentric in your devotion to Christ. Oh, how easy it is for your associates to talk this way when the rightful King of the cosmos is in a kind of ‘exile’.
When Christ came to earth, it was in partial disguise—He looked like any other mortal:
Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him (Is 53:1-3).
Is it any wonder that He prayed in John 17:24 that His disciples would someday be able to behold His glory unmediated (no longer ‘in a mirror dimly’—1 Corinthians 13:12), but face-to-face—beholding the glory He had with the Father before the foundation of the world?
Oh, consider the wonder, the mystery and the paradox of Christ. Who could have understood that the Creator and Upholder of the cosmos could bleed and die, and that the Lawgiver of the universe would consent to be murdered by His creatures. During His earthly ministry, only those called by the Spirit truly recognized Him (Jn 6:68-70). His credentials, origin and mission were from the Heavenly Father (Jn 6:39).
Yes, the Son of God is the rightful King; He is the perfect lover of God and people. He obeyed His Father perfectly; He is the Leader with no will to power, the Shepherd of souls who lays His life down for His own. His rightful kingship is founded upon His authority as the One sent by His Father (Jn 12:44-50). His throne is a mediatorial kingship; He rules His subjects and He represents His subjects as their High Priest (Heb 7:25).
Jesus of Nazareth came into an enemy occupied world, not finding one acre entirely devoted to God. Subjection to Him liberates His subjects from the cruel reign of sin and Satan, the wicked usurper (Jn 8:34-36). Christ Jesus, the rightful King has the power and intent to make all of His enemies a footstool for His feet (1 Cor 15:24-27; Heb 1:13; 10:13). Though all authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth (Mt 28:18) for the present, the rightful King is not physically amidst His people, but is in a kind of ‘exile’.
Loyalty to Christ, the ‘exiled’ rightful King will cost you a great deal now—you will have to ‘lose your life in order to find it’ (Mt 10:39; Jn 12:24-26). Recognition of the rightful King and subjugation to Him now is the condition necessary to be reconciled to Him (Acts 10:42-43; Rom 10:9-10).
Those who have seen His glory gladly submit to the King now, while He is in ‘exile’ (Acts 2:19-21). Bowing before the rightful King now, while He is away is how sinners are delivered from the dominion of Satan the usurper—the present ‘god of this world’. Christ promises He will receive every true believer unto Himself and will publicly recognize them as His own when He returns to occupy His rightful throne (Mt 10:32-33). Subjection to the rightful King is submission to God Himself (Jn 12:44-45). For, there is no loyalty to God without submission to the Son of God who is King (Acts 2:36). When He suddenly reinvades human history, He will return in blazing glory and separate the sheep from the goats (Mt 25:31-34ff.).
The rightful King is like no other sovereign—He is both a King and a Priest; a Ruler and a Mediator. He gives His own blood to win a people and a Kingdom. Loyalty to the rightful King now is the only loyalty and faithfulness that God will recognize on judgment day (Lu 12:8-9). There is no reverence and respect for God Almighty without reverence and respect for the way of salvation that He has appointed (1 Jn 5:10).
The Barrenness of this present World
This world is filled with idols, snares, and traps. The only way to get through it successfully is to keep beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ. To finish well, to stand before the Son of Man, to hear ‘well done’, and enter the Kingdom of God, it will require that all of the faculties of one’s soul be involved. This is a far cry from mere mental assent to certain historical truths about the Son of God. In His Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan likened this present world to a massive city of destruction facing imminent demolition. ‘Pilgrim’ (the believer) has fled the city in haste and is pressing on to the Celestial City with all of his might.
Not only are spiritual dangers external (as in false doctrine), they are internal as well. Calvin suggested that the heart of man is an idol factory. The apostle John ends his first epistle with encouragement and a warning about idolatry, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 Jn 5:19-21).
When one considers what is at stake—your eternal destiny, the urgency in this endeavor of reaching heaven requires that our affections be fully engaged in our pursuit of God (Hos 6:3-6). Illicit desires must be replaced with pure desires—Puritan Thomas Watson in speaking of the riches of God’s grace urged believers to ‘dig more gold’.
God’s glory story; His redemptive plot must capture and fire the imagination if His glory is to transform and control us. But, we are not used to bringing imagination to the holy things of God; created things more easily captivate our thoughts. We tend to bring our imagination to movies, books, drama, romance, sports, travel, and video games. But, a vivid imagination is in fact employed when we meditate on Scripture. The imagination has the power to project on the screen of the mind the worthiness of an object of desire. For example, when the Word commands us to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’ (Heb 12:2), we are being exhorted to dwell upon the superlative example of Christ’s obedience to the Father—an obedience involving the most intense suffering—an obedience that purchased our salvation (Heb 12:3-5).
God’s redemptive plot is a love story like no other. There are dimensions of love in this plot which require that the imagination be exercised and stretched. “Reckoning” the truth of redemption so that one’s affections are engaged requires the use of the mind’s eye. Believers are to squarely and thoughtfully place themselves in God’s glory story, in His redemptive plot so that their hearts are enlarged in love, and in eagerness for Christ’s return. “. . . looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Tit 2:13).
The lusts of deceit fill this world (Eph 4:22). They continually make a play for one’s affections. Sin is a clever foe; it operates under camouflage. It works through the flesh— pretending to be a friend. Sin fights for your affections. Sin is a parasite that wants access to your soul’s faculties—it desires your heart for its own use and damning agenda. Sin has no independent existence—it needs a willing host to harbor it and to comply with its goal. Those same mental powers of imagination with which we are to dwell upon the Lord’s sublime glory are also capable of generating a fantasy of lustful enticement.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death (Jas 1:13-15).
Spiritual battles are won or lost at the level of spiritual sight. Whether the area of conflict is in the area of disillusionment, cynicism, lustful temptation, trust, discouragement, or accusation—the fight is won by engaging the eyes of the heart to see the beauty of our King and His Kingdom. Victory by means of faith (spiritual sight) (1 Tim 1:18) involves displaying to the eyes of the heart our true treasure and inheritance in Christ, our glorified Lord (1 Pet 1:3-5).
The Believing Sinner is created ‘anew’ to behold the God of Glory
Humans were created to find their highest good, purpose, and pleasure in beholding the glory of their Creator. As the image and likeness of God, humans were fashioned to behold the sublime glory of the Lord. The sublime is another word to describe the staggering beauty of God’s glory. The glory of God and the ache of the soul are made for each other. Saving faith is not a leap in the dark, it is the humble, happy sight of God’s self-attesting glory in the Word made manifest in the gospel of Jesus Christ (John Piper, “A Peculiar Glory”).
The sublime is awe-inspiring; it shows you something beyond yourself infinitely greater than yourself that takes you out of yourself. The ravishing power of this sublime glory transports us—off of self-concern, self-consciousness, self-protection and self-absorption. The sublime is so vast and sweeping in its majesty that it calls for the employment of all of the faculties and resources of a man or a woman (Grant Horner). (Ex. Ever heard a solo that devastated you?)
Our worshipping natures were created for the sublime; if the sublime glory of God is not displayed to us, we will look for the it elsewhere. The image of God was created for the sublime—if ministers and Christian leaders don’t provide that, they cheat their hearers. True preachers will preach a sublime message about a sublime God. In this experience of beholding God’s sublime glory is beauty, pleasure, purpose, sweetness, and relational love. Edwards called it ‘sweet entertainment’. This enjoyment of God in the soul is essential to our Christian walk.
Grace reclaims the image of God; grace has a goal—it is God’s plan to make us like Himself in holiness. God’s plan to make His people like himself in holiness will manifest itself in the lives of true believers. They will demonstrate a consuming interest in knowing God, walking with Him, and a passion for His holy character (also a worshipful investigation into His redemptive plan—i.e. ‘beholding’, and a strong desire in receiving holiness from Him.
Grace, glory and holiness form a unit; they are inseparably joined. Those who desire to receive holiness from God will make the sacrifices necessary to teach others what Christ has commanded. To behold the glory of the Lord is to have an echo of His holiness clearly discernable in your life. We must become like Him in holiness if we are to know Him intimately and experience fresh disclosures of His Person. He changes not; we must be changed. Beholding His glory is an essential part of this process of change (2 Cor 3:18; Cor 7:1).
Jonathan Edwards got is right; true religion resides primarily in the affections. It has everything to do with what you love. God’s glory story in Christ is a plot so compelling, the cosmos was created to be its stage. Beholding glory fits us for glory.
The reverse is also true; for where there is no awe of God, there will be no lasting pursuit of holiness. Let us remember that beholding His glory for the first time is how the Lord saved us (2 Cor 4:6). Continuing to behold His glory is essential to our ongoing transformation (2 Cor 3:18), and seeing His glory face to face will someday glorify us in an instant: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 Jn 3:2-3).