The Goal is Whole: Who am I? W5: Growing into Glory

FULL STUDY:

Paul summed up the state of the fallen race with these words,

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).

No person is excluded here. It applies to everyone! The new creation is God’s solution to this, with the ultimate goal that we no longer fall short of His glory, but instead enter fully into the glory Jesus has. His glory is His dignity, reputation, and magnificence. It includes His beauty, and His manifest presence or substance. This glory is our destination-identity. We begin with a measure of this, and grow more and more into it as we co-operate with the Holy Spirit. In this way, our experience of the new identity is progressive.

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul explained how we enter this glory. It is quite a long passage, but let us read through and allow its revelation to break through in us. When we see its reality, we can accelerate in our knowledge of God and the glory that has been opened to us,

“Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. 12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, 13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. 14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 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 Corinthians 3:4-18).

New creation in place of old, Spirit in place of the letter of the law, righteousness in place of condemnation, unveiled in place of hardened. These are all awesome revelations of our identity in the new creation. But Paul’s main theme here is the revealing of God’s glory. Moses in the Old Testament had an encounter with God from which he carried His glory, but the people couldn’t look at it – Moses had to cover his face with a veil. Look at the contrast Paul is emphasizing with the new creation. The whole passage is really one big crescendo building up to the last three verses:

“16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 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 Corinthians 3:16-18).

“Whenever a person turns to the Lord...” This is not just for the elite, like Moses, it is for every one of us that turns to the Lord!

Here is the climax of the passage again:

“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 Corinthians 3:18).

Unveiled face means unhindered. Beholding "as in a mirror" suggests we see the glory in ourselves. His glory is within us! As we behold the glory, so we are transformed! Transformed into the Lord’s image!! And how does that happen? It happens through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is with us. He has been sent to us on a mission to transform us into the glory of Jesus, manifestly. This is so far-reaching!

Glory is all about God manifested. It’s His presence. It’s His magnificence, it’s His purity, His beauty, His awesomeness! This is what we are called to partake in. It’s the distinct mark of our true new creation identity.

What we have in Christ is complete, but it always needs to be embraced, activated, and engaged with. As we do that, we are transformed from glory to glory. Some translations carry, “from one degree of glory to another.”

The Mystery Revealed

This revelation of glory is the revealing of a great mystery, in Christ:

“Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:25-27)

Christ in us is the hope of glory! The reality of Christ in us is a constant witness to the unfolding glory, which is the riches of the mystery. Fallen man fell short, but the new creation gets His glory! This was not revealed previously, the law and prophets (old testament) do not contain it. Paul said his mission in preaching the Word is to make known this mystery. It is the end-goal of the gospel!

Jesus was extremely excited about this truth, making reference to it in His prayer before He went to the cross to open this up for us:

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 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 loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:23-24).

We see the “one degree of glory to another” at work here. He said He had already given them the glory He had been given, which was on a human level – the measure of glory that they could already receive in their fallen state. But there was another degree of glory He knew He was heading towards. That was the glory He would have after He was victorious at the cross, was resurrected, and had ascended back into the throne room of heaven.

Notice in the prayer that the glory is linked both to union with Christ, and the unity of the body. This is new creation community!

Jesus wanted us to be with Him where He is, to “see that glory”. It would be easy to conclude that this is a future state, when we are in heaven with Him one day. But remember we are in Him now, seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). And now, the Holy Spirit in us reveals His glory as in a mirror. This is the glory He wanted us to “see”, and it is part of our identity now! This glory is the manifestation of Jesus WITHIN US - as we look in the mirror we see Him, because He is in us. This is the goal, and as we embrace this, so His glory can manifest.

Let us engage with the Holy Spirit to make this real in our experience, it is our identity in the new creation!