“Don’t Hide the Glory!”

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Note: As a point of interest, beginning last week, I will be doing a 4 week series on 2 Corinthians 3 & 4, which will take us up to the beginning of Lent.

God’s covenant with humanity has always been a conundrum, a real puzzle for us. What did God actually mean when he told the people “I will be your God, and you will be my people.”? (Exodus 6:7; Jeremiah 7:23, 30:22; Ezekiel 36:28) What did Jesus mean when, at the Last Supper, he told his closest friends “This cup is the new covenant in my blood ….” (Luke 22:20)?
It means that the covenant – both the old one and the new - is sure and unbreakable – but it is up to each of us to claim and accept that covenant for ourselves. God doesn’t force it upon us, Jesus’ blood doesn’t evaporate after so many years, there is no expiration date on grace – it is always there for us to experience, and one day, to accept and receive.
When Diane and I were in Israel, we went to Nazareth and walked up on the hill that is believed to be the place where the people tried to throw Jesus off (Luke 4:14-30). As we stood there – looking one way toward the city, then turning around and looking off into a deep valley – I was reminded that as much as the world may want to throw Jesus off the cliff because they don’t like his message, they can’t. As much as they want to get rid of that new covenant that they mistakenly see as restrictive and demeaning, they can’t. As much as folks want to hide from that glorious gift, they can’t. Their only option is to either accept it or to reject it, but they can never get rid of it.

Someone once asked a rabbi if it’s necessary to follow all the traditions of Judaism in order to affirm the Jewish faith. The rabbi took a glass of water and poured part of it out on the ground. “The water in the glass and the water on the ground”, he explained, “are identical. But for me to drink the water, I need to have it in the glass.”

How many people do you know who are trying to nourish themselves spiritually by squeezing a drop or two of moisture out of the dirt on the ground, instead of simply accepting the glass of Living Water that Jesus holds out to them – the glass that will never run dry?
The covenant can be denied and the glory can be ignored, but what good would that do? It might make us more comfortable with the life we are living, but we can never make it go away. Francis Thompson wrote a poem named “The Hound of Heaven”. The premise is that God pursues us relentlessly, and never tires or gives up. And the pursuit will continue until we either stop running and surrender our lives to Jesus, or we die and pass away from the earth.

Hide the covenant? Avoid the God given glory? Not likely! We can only deny them.

Read 2 Corinthians 3:12-14

The veil, for me, is symbolic of our feeble and wholly inadequate attempts to hide from God. We don’t understand him, we don’t appreciate him, we don’t seek him out, we’re afraid of what discipleship might mean for our life. In Exodus 34:29-35, Moses’ face gains an incredible glow – a radiance – that emanates from his face after he meets God and receives the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. The people were afraid to come near him, so he put a veil on his head to shelter them from the sight. God’s glory was just too much for them to look at.
And Paul tells us that the veil that shields the world from the Glory is still in place today, and that it is only when we come to Jesus Christ that it will be lifted. Isn’t it a shame that people would prefer to be blindfolded than to be the reflection of Divine Grace? Hearts are hard, lives are governed by personal pride, and there is no sense of the need for repentance – there is only the veil of oblivion.
And he says that the veil remains in place against the old covenant, and only is lifted when we accept the new covenant in Jesus. The old covenant was based in the law, but the new one in grace. The old covenant was about being righteous, but the new one is about receiving righteousness. The old covenant was impossible to live up to, but the new one makes all things new, including the life that is the “old, sinful me”! Is it any wonder that the veil remains against the old covenant? But in Christ Jesus, the Lord God Almighty has provided us with a way to experience the glory once again.

Read 2 Corinthians 3:15-18

The lifting of the veil has never been dependent on our own ability. As in all matters of faith, God does it for us. Accept Christ and see. Accept Christ and know. Accept Christ and live. Accept Christ and be! Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and life begins anew.
Romans 8:1-2 tells us “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” In this, the law of Moses seems to be the veil that blinds us. And isn’t that true? When we lean wholly on the law, we are lead to believe that we can actually attain glory all on our own. If we can just live that right life, if we can just get our focus on following all that has been prescribed, if we can just live a life that is good enough, if we can just …., well, then we will have made it! But unfortunately, no one can possibly live a life that is “good enough” for God!
And the Romans passage continues – “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” Because we are sinful, the law is made powerless to save us. Usually, we think of the law as being the object that leads us through our sinful state, but it isn’t. Think about our own secular laws. If we commit a crime, it isn’t the law that sets us free – the law can only condemn! It is only by the mercy of the court, of the Judge, which I don’t believe is evident very often, that we can be set free.
The law punishes, the law convicts, the law is in place to prove just how terrible we are. And it does that very well. But Jesus came to bring glory into our miserable and completely inadequate lives. No condemnation, no conviction, no chastising – only forgiveness and restoration and glory for those who turn back to Jesus. And the veil is lifted from our faces – not for our benefit it seems, but for the benefit of others. Remember that Moses put the veil on because of the adverse reaction of the people to the glory that was on him. The veil went on for the benefit of the people, and when it comes off, it is for their benefit, too.

Are you prepared to wear the glory of God so that the world might come to know Jesus Christ? The Christian’s veil has been lifted, but the world is still blinded by theirs. They have no vision, no hope, and they are still condemned by “the law of sin and death”. They have no way out but through Christ, and if no one tells them, shows them, how will they ever know? We read in Romans 10:14-15 – “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”. Trade in the blinding veil for beautiful feet! What a deal! For when we hide the glory of God deep within our own life, it is no different than replacing the veil that Christ has lifted! We will never be the witness who shows Jesus to another; we will never be the means through which another will hear about the love that Jesus hold for them; and we will never be the means by which another will come to believe, and then can call on the only Name that can lift the veil of darkness from their eyes.
We can never take it away, and they can never take it away. Only Jesus can.

Don’t hide the glory as Moses did – even if others want you to. And they will try as hard as they can to get that radiance in you covered up! But we aren’t called to obey the world – we are called to obedience in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, [and] are being transformed … with an ever increasing glory” Every time we share Jesus with another person, every time that we reflect the grace and mercy of Christ to the world, every time that another begins to see Jesus because of our witness, the law of sin and death loses another round, and the law of the Spirit wins another one! And the glory that surrounds us increases one more step in intensity.
Be on Jesus’ winning team. Show his glory to the world! Reflect his grace to those who are still in darkness.