“But we all,
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” 2 Cor.
3:18).

God’s thought
is to have a people on this earth walking in the steps of His own Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is now in the heavens. If God is seeking to have a people who
are heavenly in their practices, ways, walk, character, and relationships, then
we cannot possibly go on with the world. When I read in the Scriptures of God’s
beloved Son cast out of this earth, rejected, refused, despised, and spit upon,
and then see the glory of God put in the face of that blessed Man up there, I
have no question whatever about the character of the ministry that God has for
me here on earth. The very rejection of Christ upon the earth and the very
glory of Christ in the heavens opens my heart to all the liberty that is up
there, but equally shuts me up to the narrowness of His path down here. Do we
really want to be governed in our ways by the thoughts of God? May He give you
and me a firmer grasp in our conscience as to the relationship that is ours
with the glorified Man in heaven! His purpose is to find down here on this
earth a people who live after the fashion of that blessed One who is in glory.

“We all, with
unveiled face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord” is in contrast
with Moses who had his face covered that the children of Israel could not look
upon it. You will recall that Moses went up to the mount to receive the tables
of testimony, and when he came down the second time his face shone. The shining
of Moses’ face as he came down was the reflection of the condemning power of
that law which man could not stand, and therefore he covered his face when he
came out to man. Man could not look at him because every ray that shone from
that face made a demand upon man which he could not meet. But here is a more
brilliant glory:a glory that shines, not from the face of a poor weak man like
Moses, but the whole glory of God itself shining forth in the face of His own
Son. Is not that a wonderful thing, that you and I are positively capable of
looking at the radiancy of the glory of God as it streams from that blessed
face? Capable of gazing at it! Why? Because we have received righteousness
instead of condemnation, and the Holy Spirit in us instead of our being in
bondage; and every ray of glory that shines from that blessed face in the
heavens is the reflection to our soul of the completeness, sufficiency, and
fullness of His finished work.

But there is
more than this. As I look at that glory it has a formative power in me.
What we all need is to be long enough in the presence of that blessed,
glorified Christ to catch the features of that Christ, and so have Him engraved
upon the “fleshly tables of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:3). It is not an effort.
You might try to be like Christ in glory until you are worn out trying, and you
would not catch one feature of His. The very fact of your striving proves your
inability. But what is it? It is a thing that nobody can explain. I do not
believe you can ever convey to another what it is to sit engrossed with that
blessed One who is there in glory. Who could explain it? It is impossible to
describe it, and yet it is a reality that the person who sits in the
company and presence of the glorified Christ contracts moral likeness to Him.

Where did Moses
get the glory that was streaming from his face? He was alone with God in the
mount, and the glory, though it was connected with the ministry of
condemnation, was reflected upon his face when he went down. You and I, with
unveiled face no veil either on us or on that blessed One up there (for I think
the passage will bear the thought of that), everything is open, unveiled; so as
we by faith look at that blessed One, He is engraved on our hearts by the
Spirit, and when we come down there is the reflection upon us.

You know
perfectly well what it is to meet a person who gives your heart the sense that
he has been with Christ. But how seldom is it the case! Sadly, we leave so much
the impress of ourselves upon them, instead of Christ. What we should
long for is to be just like clay in the hands of the potter, absolutely
passive, so that the potter might leave the mark of His own beautiful hands
upon us. (Ed. note:No doubt the author means “passive” in the sense of a
moving wheel that is propelled by the power of the engine and directed by the
hands on the steering wheel rather than in the sense of one lying in bed
asleep.) How wonderful it would be for us, as we move through these scenes of
sorrow, difficulty, trial, and temptation, and sin, to be distinguished not so
much by what we say and do as by the way the Potter’s hand governs us, controls
us, guides us. That is the meaning of 2 Cor. 3:18.

It is a
wonderful thing that God should take such a thing as clay in which to reflect
His glory. Instead of demanding or seeking for anything from us, it brings to
us from the heavens the thing we could not give, and besides that, it
transforms us into the image and likeness of Christ as we are sufficiently like
clay in His hands.

Now, may I ask
you affectionately—and I do not want to make anybody depressed—how much of your
time do you really sit down in the Lord’s presence? How much time and leisure
have you, not merely from the business of this world, but even supposing your
service is for the Lord:how much time have you for this that I am speaking of?
Do you not know that in order for there to be great outgoings there must be
great incomings? There will be no out shining if there is no in shining. We
need to take time out from the things without and within to sit down in the
solitude of the presence of that blessed, holy, glorious Man who is in heaven,
finding our delight in Him for His own sake.

Someone once
said to me, speaking of another, “I like to be in the company of So-and-so.” I
replied, “Why?” The answer was, “Because he always reminds me of a third
person.” “Who is that?” “The blessed One in glory.” Oh, what a blessed thing it
is to walk through this world, and as we meet each other in our business, our
households, our domestic relationships, to remind each other of that One in
glory, to have the fullness of that Christ in measure reproduced in poor,
wretched creatures like you and me! It is a most blessed thing—the most
marvelous ministry that could be conceived!

How little our
hearts are really up to God’s wonderful purpose in giving such a ministry as
this from those opened heavens! How little affection there is in our hearts to
enter into the purpose of God and into His thought, that, in a world that
rejected His Son, cast Him out, despised Him, nailed Him to the cross, there
should be those who are the expression and manifestation of that blessed,
wonderful One whom the world rejected, but whom God glorified. Do your hearts
desire that? Is that what you long for? Is that your purpose and object? God
will help you if you have such purpose of heart.

Suppose I see
one turning his back upon everything in this world, who looks for nothing in
it, who has no interests here, who does not expect anything, and would not take
anything from the world. I say, “What surpassing power is displayed in that
man!” If I see a poor, feeble creature lying on a bed of sickness, racked with
pain, the poor body pressed down with disease morning, noon, and night, and one
who might be tempted to say, “What good am I, a trial to everyone about me and
a burden to myself?” Yet if I see, amid all the weariness and pain,
satisfaction and quietness instead of complaint, and instead of quickness of
temper, the blessed manifestation of Christ in meekness and endurance, I say,
“What surpassing power is there!”

That is what
this ministry is able to do, beloved friends, and that is God’s thought about
us in relation to it. This is the testimony that is really lacking at this
moment. Every one has heard us speak of doctrines, and we are supposed
to be clear about them. But other people do not understand these doctrines
because they fail to see anything that corresponds to them in our lives! Oh,
for the manifestation of the truth, the exhibition of Christ that would stop
the mouth of the rejecter and commend itself to the consciences of men! “By
manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in
the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2). Oh, may our hearts prize more than ever this
blessed ministry, characterized as it is by such glories as we have had before
us!

(From
“Surpassing Glory and Surpassing Power” in Christ:His People’s Portion and
Object.)