Weekly Pursuit – Week 3 of June
Verse:
2 Cor. 4:4 “In whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.
Excerpts:
The gospel is the illumination, the enlightenment. The gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, which illuminates, radiates, and shines in the heart of man. When the gospel came to us, it came to us by shining, and this shining brought into us Christ, who is the image of the processed Triune God. As a result, Christ, the living person, was illuminated into our being.
The shining of God in our hearts is to illumine us that we may know the glory in Christ’s face. The glory of God manifested in the face of Jesus Christ is the God of glory expressed through Jesus Christ, who is the effulgence of the glory of God (Heb. 1:3); to know Him is to know the God of glory…. God shines in our hearts that we may shine on others so that they may have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that is, the knowledge of Christ, who expresses and declares God (John 1:18).
We need to preach the gospel in a very illuminating way. This means that while we are preaching, God shines into the hearts of those to whom we are speaking. We also need to help them to call on the name of the Lord Jesus in order that they would be brought to the face of Christ, have personal contact with Him, and experience God’s shining in their hearts. To preach in this way is to present not merely a gospel of certain facts but a gospel of glory. Those who receive the gospel of glory will have Christ as the precious treasure dispensed into them. Then, like us, they will be earthen vessels containing this treasure. (Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 317)
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