Heavenly Mindedness (67)

 

“I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof. And that city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God lightens it, and the throne of God and the Lamb are therein: and his servants shall do Him service, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.”  [G. Vos using excerpts from Revelation chapters 21 & 22]

 

“…and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.”  

 

At the conclusion of the previous post, I asked you to compare 2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Colossians 3:1 – 4; and 1 John 3:1 – 3. What do you see when you consider these three passages? What are their patterns? How does the Holy Spirit speak to us when we meditate on them? How might these passages be appropriate for Advent? What do these passages teach us?

 

Well, for sure they are appropriate for Advent in that, as Athanasius taught, Christ became as we are so that we might become as He is; and note 1 John 4:17, “…as He is, so also are we in this world.” Even now we sit in Christ in the heavens (Eph. 2:4 – 7), and we are “complete in Him” (Col. 2:10; Heb. 10:10). Yet, we have the tension of realizing that “…it has not appeared as yet what we will be” (1 Jn. 3:2). But, yet again, the glorious unveiling of Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27), is such that it will bring about, and coincide with, the deliverance of creation from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21). In some enigmatic fashion the creation knows this, even if we don’t (Rom. 8:22). Note the word “freedom” in Rom. 8:21 and in 2 Cor. 3:17, freedom in the glory of God is a hallmark of the salvation that Jesus Christ has given to us – we are not to continue in slavery and fear, for we have received the very Spirit of the Living God, and His Spirit in us causes us to cry, “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15).

 

Consider Paul’s words in 1 Thess. 2:13 – 14:

 

“But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

O dear friends, it is our Lord’s desire that we receive His glory, live in His glory, and share His glory; indeed, this is our Lord’s very prayer for us (John 17:22, 24). What a tragedy that we do not acknowledge this, teach this, live this. What a travesty that we do not live in the forensic and organic reality of justification by faith, sanctification by the Holy Spirit, and deep assurance in the Word of God that we are “beloved by the Lord” and that God has called us to “gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (see also Romans 8:28 – 39). 

Can the angels believe that while our Father desires to treat us as sons and daughters, and that while our Lord Jesus Christ desires to treat us as brothers and sisters (see Hebrews chapter 2), that we insist on rejecting their glorious love for us, living as infants at best, and as slaves to sin at worst? Why do we reject the freedom that we have in Christ and insist on wearing grave clothes when Jesus Christ commands, “Unbind him, and let him go” (John 11:44)? Isn’t it time we leave the stench in the tomb? Can we not find assurance in Christ and grace for one another to unwrap the grave clothes that bind our hearts and minds, that keep us from freedom of movement in Christ?

 

What do we see in the above three passages?

 

They all speak of transformation into the image of Christ. They all give us a picture of lives focused on Jesus Christ, orientated toward Jesus Christ, beholding Jesus Christ. The principle is, as we behold Jesus Christ we are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:17 – 18 is preceded by a glorious contrast between Christ and the Spirit of life, and Moses and the Law of condemnation, the letter which kills.

 

“…not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death…for if the ministry of condemnation…much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.” 

Now I think the reality is that most of us have difficulty with these statements and prefer to gloss over them and explain them away. We are embarrassed that Paul wrote them, and others like them, after all, it’s the Law of Moses we’re talking about, the Law that God gave on Sinai…this is embarrassing. And yet, the trajectory of 2 Corinthians Chapter 3 is our transformation into the image of Jesus Christ as we live in the freedom and liberty that we have in the Holy Spirit and the New Covenant. The Law of Moses cannot transform us into the image of Jesus Christ, the Law cannot produce godly living, the Law cannot transform our hearts and minds; we will not find transformative Life in the Law, but we will find Life in Jesus Christ.

 

There is a similar, though more complex, trajectory in Colossians chapters 2 and 3, which we’ll consider in a future post; for now I’ll point out that in Colossians chapter 2 Paul is dealing with both the Law as well as various forms of so–called special or hidden “knowledge.” When we ponder 1 John 3 we’ll see another trajectory, in chapter 2 John deals with the world (this present age) and the antichrist. What I’m saying is that all three of our paradigmatic passages of transformation into the image of Christ are contrasted with passages having to do with things that destroy our souls. We see the same contrast in Revelation 14, in which those faithful to the Lamb have the name of the Lamb and of the Father written in their foreheads; this is in contrast to the name of the beast in Revelation 13. The name (or number) of the beast transforms into the image of the beast, the Name of the Lamb and the Name of the Father transform into the image of God. Which name are we receiving today?

 

I suppose I should point out that to realize that the Law of Moses can only bring death and condemnation is not the same as teaching that Genesis – Malachi can only bring death and condemnation, or even that Exodus – Deuteronomy can only bring death and condemnation; what we call the Old Testament, including the Pentateuch, is critical to our life in Christ. Why? Because Jesus Christ is revealed in Exodus – Deuteronomy, as indeed He is throughout Genesis – Malachi; and this revelation of Him is critical to the Gospel witness, it is critical and foundational for the New Testament and our life in Christ.

 

At its most basic, we ought to see that the resurrected Jesus Christ revealed Himself to His disciples through the Old Testament (see two instances of this in Luke 24). If we cannot see Jesus Christ in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, then we ought to be on our faces with open Bibles imploring the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and ears and hearts to His Word. Were we to excise all direct references, implied references, and Old Testament patterns and paradigms from the New Testament, the New Testament would cease to exist. So let us not make the heretical error of thinking that to teach others that Christ has freed us from the Law of Moses means that we should not teach and glory in the Old Testament, that thinking is foolishness…and make no mistake, it is heretical.

 

We’ll come back to our passages in 2 Corinthians 3, Colossians 3, and 1 John 3 in the next post.