Beholding the glory of the Lord
2 Corinthians 3:12-18 · Vern Peterman · Apr 18, 2010
1 & 2 Corinthians, No. 42
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926205561

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be completing our study of 2 Corinthians chapter 3. We've been approaching it in three parts. We studied the first part just before the Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday services, and then we resumed in the middle of the chapter last Sunday. Today we're going to be stepping into the last part of this chapter that Randy just read for us.

And looking at that, we point out last week, verses 1 through 6 carry the theme of letters, either letters as individual letters, as we would count A, B, and C, or letters in terms of letters written in a document being a letter. Verses 7 through 11 that we covered last week carry the theme of glory. I think the number is something like 10 times the word shows up there in that passage in those verses. Today we'll be moving on into verses 12 through 18.

They carry the theme of the veil and towards the end, those who are unveiled and why. And it will be helpful for us to observe a few things about the veil as we go through this chapter and through this particular passage. And one is, what's the reason for the veil?

And we're going to find, in fact, that that changes a little bit. The first reason is that Moses put the veil on initially because the Israelites saw that, boy, his face was a little too bright. It's kind of like some of those teeth whitening things that you got going on these days. You know, a little too bright. Anyway, the veil also, as you notice through this chapter, changes location. The veil starts on Moses' face. It moves to the hearts of the Jews. It starts on the face, it moves to the hearts. Three, how the reading of the law impacts the hearts of the Jews. As the law is read, what happens to their hearts?

We're going to take a look at that as we step into this passage. And fourthly, what it means for us, us in the church, us who are in Christ, us who have looked to the Lord Jesus Christ, what it means for us to be unveiled. So we'll be looking at those things as we go through this passage.

You have quoted here from Exodus 34, also on a slide on the first page of your handout. This set of verses, Exodus 34, 33 through 35, that's all that the Old Testament says about Moses in the veil. What we're going to find as we go through this passage in 2 Corinthians 3 is that additional things are revealed to us about the veil and why Moses kept wearing it. The passage is going to reveal things that aren't here in this Exodus passage. Some special insights that Paul had.

Looking at this entire chapter, and that's why you'll have the verse reference going through the entire chapter, there's a reference to Spirit, capital S, meaning the Holy Spirit, or lowercase spirit, which refers to our own spirits, or that which is spiritual. That word shows up in either form a total of seven times, three times just in the last two verses. So we're going to be seeing that as we go through it. One of the other things we're going to be pointing out here, while the law is spiritual, it defines actions and behaviors and also blessings in the physical realm.

Do you get that about the law? The law stands out here with this big hard piece of stone and says, do this and don't do that. It requires that you do it. It does not help you to do it. But it says, while it offers no help, that if you don't do it, the result is condemnation and death, which is exactly what we saw in the last passage last week. Even the Ten Commandments is a ministry of law that is a ministry of death and condemnation. That's the point that he makes here. Now the question comes up, and we addressed it last week, but important to bring up again.

Is the law bad? No, the law is not bad. The problem with the law is not that the law is bad. The problem is mankind will never live up to all the requirements of the law. We pointed out last week there are 613 laws in the law of Moses. 365 of them, the number of days that we have in our typical year, are things not to do. Don't do this. Don't do that. That's the character of the law. Don't do this. Don't do that. Do this. Don't do that. All 613 of them telling you things to do and things mostly not to do.

The problem with the law is we cannot do it. We can't pull it off. The song that goes along with that is, Do this and live, the law commands, But gives me neither feet nor hands. A better way His grace doth bring, It bids me fly and gives me wings. bears the problem with the law. It asks for you to do something, it gives you terrible consequences if you fail, but it offers no help, none whatsoever. That's the problem with the law.

The ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of righteousness, as it's also called in the middle of the passage, works from and blesses in the spiritual realm. We have in our hearts the continuously indwelling Holy Spirit. If you're a believer here today, that's true of you. Every single believer has a continually indwelling Holy Spirit all the time. With almost two dozen ministries that the Holy Spirit carries on in the heart and life of the believer. Isn't that great? That's wonderful.

The law never offered that. The old covenant that the Jews were under never had that. Plus the blessings, unlike the blessings of the law. The law said, if you do this, you won't get these diseases. If you do this, then you'll have plenty of material blessings. If you do this, you'll be healthy. If you do this, you'll live long in the land.

However, our blessings, not under the law, are in the spiritual realm. We have here Ephesians 1-3. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing. Where? In the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Radical difference. The other thing that starts off here in this passage in verse 12, is the ministry of the Spirit, which is also the ministry of righteousness. That's verses 7 through 11.

It goes along with that, an extraordinary hope. You see, the law did not offer hope. You know, we get this little question, you know, if you order something at the drive-up window at the fast food place, you know, they're going to ask you, you want fries with that? When the law is given, do you want help with that? No. There's no help offered with it. You just got to do it. That's what you get. There's no help with it.

However, with the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of righteousness, there is help, abundant help with that. And along with the help, an extraordinary hope. Since we have this hope, Paul writes, we have hope. We have not just an I hope so kind of hope, too, but we have a hope that's a certain hope. That extraordinary hope inspires boldness before the Lord and before others.

You see, when the law was given on Mount Sinai, there was flashes, and lightning, and thunder, and it was scary, and anybody, and even any animal that came up to the mountain, you had to kill it. Just a scary thing all together. In the ministry of the Spirit, in the ministry of righteousness, rather than a warning, stay away from the mountain, God's there. Instead, the Lord says, come.

The Lord says, He loved and He gave in order that we would be with Him forever. It's not like the hope of Moses. Moses' hope was different. I hope these Israelites don't notice that my glory is fading. The face isn't as shiny as it used to be. I hope they don't notice. I think I'll keep the veil on just because I don't want them to see that the glory is fading. The glory was made to fade. So the hope of Moses was an I-hope-so hope. It was a hope that tried to hide.

The next thing you'll see in verses 14 through 16, you'll see here is a pattern. It's on page one of the handout that you have there. And the point we want to make right off at the start, the beginning of verse 14, their minds were hardened. Now, hard minds, how many of you like hard minds? It seems in this context it's not a good thing, right? Not a good thing.

But the other thing we'll point out about these verses is that this part of verse 14, beginning with for until, until the very end of the verse, and then verses 15 and 16 are actually rhyming. He's saying the same thing, restating it. What do I mean by that? It begins in each part with for until this very day, or but to this day. So those are rhyming similar statements. The next one, at the reading of the Old Covenant, or whenever Moses is read. Moses was a euphemism for the law given in the first chapters, first books of the Bible.

The next part, the same veil remains unlifted. That is, the veil remains over their heart. And then finally, because it is removed in Christ, but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. So these verses have kind of a rhyming pattern, a repetition, a restatement pattern that's typical. It's actually a Hebrew pattern of speech and writing. I would suggest to you that we also have cult groups today who have a veil over their hearts. They read Whatever they have in it, what they will often tend to do is pick out of parts of the Law of Moses that they like and then add their own.

You know the ones that sometimes come up two by two at your door and knock persistently? The ones who come at an inconvenient moment? Yeah, those. They often will come up with ways of being saved that are based on law. I recently had a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses come over, and I said, I tell you what, I can't talk with you now, but I'd love to have you come over and talk later, and so they did. And so I said, you mean to tell me that you have to go door-to-door, otherwise you won't keep your salvation? That's right. And you fill out cards every week that report how you've gone door-to-door in order to keep your salvation right.

They've come up with their own laws, they've come up with their own rules, and I would suggest they have a veil over their hearts. They don't understand grace because they think that they have to keep the law, the law that's been totally made up, in order to stay saved. That's pretty sad, huh?

I told them that. Now, I want to point out something else because, in fact, as we go through this passage, There is something we call a chiasm. Some of you have heard me use that term before. Let me explain it for those of you who either it is new or need a refreshing.

A chiasm is a mirror image in writing. It's a mirror image in written form. And we see it in pictures where there's a reflection in a smooth lake or something of that sort. And it turns out that the last two verses of this passage, verses 17 and 18, are in a mirror image form.

What do I mean by that? What we have here on page one is a slide that shows the beginning and ending and then the middle parts. We've distinguished these parts by their position with insets and by color alternation. The glory of the Lord is the middle of this passage.

You see, in our day, if we want to emphasize something in writing, what do we do? We put an underline, or we put it in bold, or we italicize it. Well, they didn't have that in earlier times, in biblical times, so what they tended to do, and it shows all the way from Genesis into the very last books of the Bible, the whole book of Jude is one big chiasm. And they would emphasize by putting something at the center and then by repetition. That's part of what Paul had repeated earlier. Remember in verses 14 and 15 and 16, a repetition pattern? Here, everything that's around the center gets repeated in a sort of a rhyming pattern.

And so the emphasis, the focal point of this section here is the glory of the Lord. Now that makes sense, doesn't it? Glorifying the Lord, focusing on the glory of the Lord, that's in the middle. That gets emphasized by being put in the middle. So that's typically the point of emphasis in any of these chiasm structures. Other books, the Book of Ruth, the entire book is one big chiasm. Same with Galatians, same with Philemon. So here you have the beginning and the ending part, both of which refer to the Lord and to the Spirit, and the ministry of the Spirit.

You have also the part that is in blue, that's the first inset there, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, which is a process, right? And then are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, which is a process. The first one, we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, is a process that we do. How does the Lord carry out his part? We are being transformed. That's something he does. From the same image into the image of the Lord from glory to glory.

Now, but we all, this we all refers to all of us believers. I never did come up with quite an equivalent when I was down in Texas listening carefully, so they didn't have we all y'all, or we all y'alls that I found, but I don't know, maybe I just missed it. But the we all refers to all of us believers. Paul does that similarly in 1 Corinthians 10 and the book of James chapter 3 verse 2. The we all's are in contrast to the nation of Israel. We in the church, contrast to the nation of Israel, who had been under the law and what did it do to them?

They were hardened by it, they were blinded by it. I can't see, I've got this law veil over my eyes. It created a problem, not because the law is bad, but because man is not up to it. We all, are those from whom the veil has been removed and lifted. Why? Because as we turn to the Lord and are therefore in Christ, we have liberty. And by the way, I hope you've discovered that liberty.

You see, it's a ministry of condemnation under the law, right? A ministry of condemnation. But what does Paul say in Romans 8? There's therefore now what? A little bit of condemnation? Less condemnation? Less severe condemnation? No. There's therefore now what? No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so, as I've said it before, if you want condemnation, you have to go somewhere else. I just can't help you. Right? I just can't help you.

In the ministry of the Spirit, in the ministry of righteousness, there is liberty. So then he says there in verse 18, but we all with unveiled face. This context of wearing a veil means being under the law of Moses, this Mosaic law as it's called. And notice the veil over the heart is removed when a person turns to the Lord in faith. The veil over the heart is removed when a person turns to the Lord in faith. Not with, Lord, I've got this law almost down and I'm trying really hard. Lord, I blew it yesterday, but I won't do it again, I promise.

That's not what he says, is it? It's we turn to the Lord in faith. It's faith in Him, not faith in what we have done or are doing or hope to do. Calling upon the Lord's grace, not upon the works of the law to be saved. as we have here in this half funny, half serious picture of this man with a bunch of blocks on top of his head. How long do I have to do this to stay safe?

If we're looking to the law to get saved, I could say good luck, but that probably wouldn't do any good. The believer's beholding of the glory of the Lord is not enhanced by the law. It's a veil. Oh, let me take a closer look with this veil over my eyes. If we put the law glasses on, it doesn't help us see better.

The next part there is beholding as in a mirror. Now, these four words here are translated from just one Greek word. Beholding as in a mirror was actually just one Greek word. It was the verb form for looking in a mirror. This is the word that means, as they had in those days, a polished piece of metal, first surface mirror.

They didn't have clear pieces of glass. Glass had only been invented about a century before Paul wrote this, and the glass they had then was bubbly. The surface was not smooth either on the front or the back. It was not clear at all. So you didn't have really the opportunity for a glass mirror as we typically have, but they would have a piece of metal and they would polish it up clearly. Because it would tarnish, the piece of metal would oftentimes have a polishing cloth attached to it to polish it up really well just before you used it because the mirror would fog up the longer it would sit there, even in a matter of days.

Corinth was famous for its mirrors, and so interesting, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, each letter has a reference to a mirror, right? Paul said in 1st Corinthians 13, 12, we see in a mirror dimly. We of course have this passage, and then in James, Book of James, if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. In all three of these passages, as we examine them, we find that the mirror represents the written Word of God. Interesting pattern. Here's Paul writing to the Corinthians, famous for their mirrors, and in each instance, and he uses it in each of his letters, it's the Word of God. James makes that very clear if you read the passage, and that's why we have that here as a slide on page two. A mirror is the word of God very clearly in verse 23.

Now, the next one is the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord is the center of Paul's chiasm, as we pointed out. That's the focal point. That's the point of emphasis. Put it in the middle so that that's what your attention is drawn to. He wanted them to put their focus on the glory of the Lord. The word glory had been a significant word in the middle of the chapter. Now he returns to it. The glory of the Lord matters. By the way, why all the focus on glory?

You see, glory is the center theme of God's eternal purpose. To declare His glory, to share His glory, to reveal His glory that He might be glorified. To declare, reveal, and share His glory that He might be glorified. God's eternal purpose. So that's why glory and the glory of the Lord is right here in the middle. It's the focal point. It's the point of emphasis.

Glory, as we said last week, glory is the radiant essence of who God is. It's not just when the Broncos win the Super Bowl. It's not just when the Rockies go to the World Series. That's not all glory is. Glory is the radiant essence of who God is. All glory is derived from God. He is the ultimate source of all glory. Does He declare and reveal His glory? Yes, He does. And what's amazing, He shares His glory with us. But God is the ultimate source of all glory.

The Apostle John, as he recorded twice in the book of Revelation, two times made a mistake. He was there on the heavenly scene by special invitation from the Lord himself. But because John was out of his element, here he is on the heavenly scene twice, he begins worshiping an angel. Because the angels were so bright and so glorious, that you thought that was the Lord. Each time the angel said, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop. Whoa, no more, that's enough.

I'm not the Lord. Only worship the Lord. Now, glory isn't a thing or a commodity. It's not like you can go into the deli and say, hey, give me some of that premium deluxe glory over there, two pounds of it, please. You can't quite do that. Why? It's not a commodity. You can't just buy it. You can't just take some glory and put it in a box and ship it to your friends. Glory isn't a thing or a commodity. It's personal. And by the way, you ever heard the expression, don't take that personally? When it comes to glory, take it personally. Do take it personally. Why? It's because glory is personal. It is radiating from who God is, His own essence. That's when we say the glory of the Lord. We're not just looking at light like a light bulb. Ultimately, glory is the radiant essence of who God Himself is. If you look back at John 17, the Lord prayed for us.

Isn't that something? The Lord Jesus Christ, in the hours before He was crucified, prayed for you and for me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me. For You love Me before the foundation of the world. The Lord wants you to see his glory. And he even prayed for it personally. You could put your own name in there if you want. That's okay. So that they, put your name in there, may see my glory which you have given me. That's exactly what he wants.

Then it's our being transformed. The Greek word that's translated, beholding as in a mirror, is a present tense verb. It means that it's an ongoing action on our part as we are right now continuing to behold the glory of the Lord. So that's our part, but then the Lord has his part. Our being transformed. Now that's a present passive. It's an ongoing thing that the Lord does to us as we behold him. We behold him And the Lord transforms us.

We don't transform ourselves. The word there is a word that has been carried over in biology for metamorphosis. That's why I have the picture here of the butterfly going through its various stages. There is a transformation, a change in kind and character that happens there. It's the result of the Holy Spirit's ongoing action on each one of us as we behold the Lord in his word.

If you look to Romans 8.28 and 29, it says, Therefore we know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. Now, how many of you have looked at this word predestined and thought, oh, I hate the idea of just being a part of a big machine, and it just keeps cranking, and everything I do is predestined, and I can take no action, but God has already determined every breath that I take and every move that I make.

Ever thought that or known anybody that's thought that? Oh, the dreadedness of thinking that everything I do is predestined down to the finest detail. But notice what's predestined. Not your every move, not your every thought. God didn't predestine that you're going to do this thing, maybe even sin. God didn't predestine that. What is predestined?

Look, to become conformed to the image of the Son. That's what's predestined, and that's hopeful. Rather than dreaded, oh no, I can't think independently besides from what God's already determined I'm going to do. Even the next mistake that I make is what God determined. No! We have great hope. Why? Because no matter how I blow it, the Lord is ultimately going to conform me to the image of His Son. Does that mean I ought to blow it? No, it doesn't mean that at all.

But this verse is talking about all things to work together, all the circumstances. You might say, I wish the circumstance would work out this way. I sure hope this happens. I sure hope that doesn't happen. In the end, you know what's going to happen? You are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That's great hope.

I can't blow it. Isn't that wonderful? God isn't pacing the floor of heaven thinking, oh my. What am I going to do? Vern's blown it again. No, instead, that's what predestination is about. It's not dreaded. It's not, oh no, I can't change a single thought. It's a wonderful hope. I, as a believer, will be conformed to the image of the sun and all the things that are happening are directed in that way. But that's not the only process that makes you into the image of the sun.

Romans 12.2 makes reference to, I think, the same thing that this verse 2 Corinthians 3.18 is saying, and there's a transforming by the renewing of your mind. How? Beholding the Lord through His Word. Into the same image, the transformation, the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit refers to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, similar to those words in Romans 8, 28, and 29.

So you have two processes that are making you into the image of Jesus Christ. The one process is the conformity through circumstances. God is going to use that process to predestine you to the image of Jesus Christ. But the process we're looking at here is as we also behold the Lord through His Word, we are also being made into the image of Jesus Christ, but not by the same process. God is using both those processes, and that's why we're meeting here today. We're not meeting here today because God has some sort of a checklist. All right, this person was there on Sunday morning at church. Check. Boy, that's great. I love that.

It doesn't warm the cockles of God's heart to have you just show up in this building, right? It is instead we meet here, why? Among the various purposes, the multiple purposes that God has for us meeting here is that we gather together to behold the Lord Jesus Christ through his word and therefore be transformed.

It's part of your becoming into the image of Jesus Christ. Part of the two processes that are taking place until we meet him face to face. So, into the same image, does it mean that we will all end up looking like 30-year-old first-century Jewish carpenters from Nazareth? Is that what it means to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ?

Probably not. Let's address that here. You see, God is working on changing your image. Oh, this isn't some PR campaign. No, that's not exactly what He had in mind. You see, in the New Testament, the Greek word that's translated image referred to a representation of something. That's why Jesus asked about this coin. Who's on this coin? Well, that wasn't exactly Caesar, right? But it represented Caesar.

That's the same idea. This image is not that it will make us into Jesus Christ like there's going to be millions of Jesus Christ's, but we will have an image that is like him, not to replace him, and not so that there are thousands of Jesus Christ's. But we will be like Him. The word image in the context here in the Romans 8, 28 and 29 refers to being changed into Christ's spiritual character. That's what it's talking about. Not turning you into a 30-year-old Jewish carpenter from Nazareth. And not turning you into a deity either.

His character, the character of Christ, that's what being conformed and transformed into his image means. Then he says from glory to glory, that's an expression Paul actually used similar kinds of terms to talk about increasing or growing. This is spiritual growth, folks. As we behold the Lord through his word and are transformed, we are growing. That's spiritual growth. We are growing.

As Paul said in just the previous chapter in the same book, for we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one an aroma, see the similar form, from death to death, and the other an aroma from life to life. It's either getting more deathly or more lifely. In this case, more glorious, growing in glory, being transformed into the image of the sun. That's the process. Now, the other thing, because this is a passive verb and it's a ministry of the Holy Spirit that we're transformed, it's not the result of our trying really hard to be glorious or to be worthy of Christ's glory. You can't work at it. There's no way that you can work at this. It can't be done. I better stop while I'm behind.

It is a process resulting from The ministries of the Holy Spirit. God's going to do it. It's not our job to go, do I look glorious yet? Probably not, especially when I'm looking at my armpits. The Holy Spirit has a ministry of bringing the Word of God to us, to bringing us to the Word of God, and transforming us into the image of His Son as we behold the Lord through His Word. All a ministry of the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit's working, it's the Holy Spirit's doing.

Now I want to apologize to a couple of musicians here, but this is a rewriting of a chorus that I think may be helpful. We now behold Him. We now behold Him. We are transformed from glory to glory. We now behold Him. Yes, we now behold Him through His Word, our Savior and Lord. Now, I want to go to this last verse in expanded and explained. Typically, I have not recently been doing that, but I think for this particular verse, it might be helpful. So you have it on page three of your handout? I'll read through it.

But all of us who are in Christ with a faith that is not veiled by the law, having died in relationship to the law and living by God's amazing grace, are right now continuing to behold as we read and hear the written word of God, seeing as one who looks into a mirror the glory, the radiant essence of who God himself is. Excuse me, of who Christ himself is. the glory that comes from Christ himself and we are in fact in the very process of being changed and transformed into the same spiritual character growing from one level of Christ's glory to the next and every part of his beholding and transformation is from the God-given ministries of the Holy Spirit.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that as we gather here and look at your precious word that it's not just a sociological phenomenon. It is not just a cultural event. But it is in fact an event that you're using to transform us into the image of your son. We thank you for the marvelous, amazing, gracious work that you're doing. And we thank you that not only as we gather, but in the events that you allow into our lives and even bring about intentionally, that you work all things together for good, that our predestination is not some dread machine in which we have no personal choice, but is instead Lord, your predestination, a hopeful predestination, that we be conformed to the image of your Son. We thank you for the conforming. We thank you for the transforming. We thank you for your precious Son. In Jesus' name, Amen.