2 Corinthians 3:12-18

2 Corinthians 3:12

Mirrors of Christ.

I. Note first what St. Paul means when he speaks of why Moses put the veil upon his face. You think it was because it was too bright that he did so. Not at all. When his face is shining with most radiance, then it is that he bares it before the assembled multitude. They dread to come near him, but they are persuaded to draw nigh, and with his face shining with the glory that it got from God, he talks to the people; when he has done speaking, he hides his face until he goes in again to speak to the Holy One of Israel; then he takes the veil off, and then it gathers fresh glory, and with this fresh glory he comes out and speaks again to the people. Moses, in his wisdom, judged it well to hide his face in between. The light began to grow shadowy and fade, until he went in again to speak to God. Where the Spirit of the Lord is not, there is slavery at all times, dulness and darkness and stupidity; people must often be left in that condition, just like the old Jews, because they would not make use of it if more was given.

II. As the picture of the sun dwells in the mirror, so the form of Jesus Christ, the idea of Him as we behold Him with unveiled face, dwells in us, as a power, as an indwelling force. The idea that you have drawn from seeing Christ, that is the mirror-form of Christ in your soul, and that is the Spirit dwelling in you and working in you in proportion as you have Him right and hold Him true. Give your souls to the Living One, and He will make them glorious. Let the love of God shine into your hearts and obey it, and then there is no limit to the eternal height to which you should rise, to the eternal breadth to which your souls should go up; nay, there is no limit to the depth into which your souls will be able to pierce the very Divine will of God, which is the universe, which is the life, which is the treasure of all existence.

G. Macdonald, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxxii., p. 33.

References: 2 Corinthians 3:12. A. J. Parry, Phases of Christian Truth,p. 46. 2 Corinthians 3:14; 2 Corinthians 3:15. A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart,p. 157. 2 Corinthians 3:15. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 281; Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 253. 2 Corinthians 3:15; 2 Corinthians 3:16. E. M. Goulburn, Thoughts on Personal Religion,p. 284.