2 Corinthians 4:5-6 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.… Note — I. THE SUBJECT OF THAT KNOWLEDGE in which Paul delighted — God. A most needful knowledge. For a man not to know his Maker is deplorable. The proper study of mankind is God. Paul does not mean the knowledge of the existence or character of God; he had known that from the O.T. before his conversion. He meant that now he knew God in a clearer and surer way, for he had seen Him in the person of Christ. He had also received the knowledge of "the glory of God." He had seen that glory in creation and in the law; but now, beyond all else, he had come to perceive it in the face, or person, of Jesus Christ, and this had won his soul. Consider this glory in the face of Jesus Christ — 1. Historically. In every incident of His life God is seen. (1) At Bethlehem I perceive a choice glory, for God despises the pomp which little minds esteem so highly. The glory of God in Christ asks no aid from the splendour of courts and palaces. Yet mark how the Magi and the shepherds hasten to salute the new-born King. (2) In the temple. What wisdom there was in that Child! "The foolishness of God is wiser than men."(3) In the carpenter's shop. See there how God can wait! We should have hastened to begin our life-work long before. (4) In His public ministry. Behold, while He feeds five thousand, the glory of God in the commissariat of the universe. See Him cast out devils, and learn the Divine power over evil. Hear Him raise the dead, and reverence the Divine prerogative to kill and to make alive. Hear how He speaks and infallibly reveals the truth, and you will perceive the God of knowledge to whom the wise-hearted owe their instruction. When He receives sinners, what is this but the Lord God, merciful and gracious? (5) But never did the love of God reveal itself so clearly as when He laid down His life; nor did the justice of God ever flame forth as when He would suffer rather than sin should go unpunished and the law be dishonoured. (6) In His resurrection He spoiled principalities and powers, led death captive, and rifled the tomb. (7) In His ascension His Godhead was conspicuous, for He again put on the glory which He had with the Father or ever the world was. (8) In heaven they never conceive of Jesus apart from the Divine glory which perpetually surrounds Him. (9) The glory of God will most abundantly be seen in the second advent. 2. By way of observation. In the material universe the reverent mind perceives enough of the glory of God to constrain worship, and yet after a while it pines for more. Even when your thought sweeps round the stars, and circumnavigates space, you feel that even the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. In Christ, however, you have a mirror equal to the reflection of the eternal face, for "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." He is the image of God. In the person of Jesus we see the glory of God — (1) In the veiling of His splendour. The Lord is not eager to display Himself. "Verily thou art a God that hidest Thyself." God's glory in the field of creation is as a light shaded to suit the human eye, and in the face of Christ it is so. How softly breaks the Divine glory through His human life! When Moses' face shone the people could not look thereon, but when Jesus came from His transfiguration the people ran to Him and saluted Him. In Him we see God to the full, but the Deity so mildly beams through the medium of human flesh that mortal man may look and live. (2) In the wondrous blending of the attributes, behold His mercy, for He dies for sinners; but see His justice, for He sits as judge of quick and dead. Observe His immutability, for He is the same yesterday, to-day. and for ever; and see His power, for His voice shakes not only earth, but also heaven. See how infinite is His love, for He espouses His chosen; but how terrible His wrath, for He consumes His adversaries. (3) In the outgoing of His great heart; for He is altogether unselfish and unsparingly communicative. We may conceive a period when the Eternal dwelt alone. He must have been inconceivably blessed; but He was not content to enjoy perfect bliss alone. He began to create, and probably formed innumerable beings long before this world came into existence; and He did this that He might multiply beings capable of happiness. This is His glory, and is it not to be seen most evidently in Christ, who "saved others, Himself He could not save"? Neither in life nor in death did Christ live within Himself; He lived for His people, and died for them. (4) There are two things I have noticed in the glory of God. I have stood upon a lofty hill and looked abroad upon the landscape — (a) I have felt the outflow of Deity. Even as the sun pours himself over all things, so does God; and in the hum of an insect, as well as in the crash of a thunderbolt, we hear a voice saying, "God is here." Is not this the feeling of the heart in the presence of Christ? Is not He to us the everybody, the one only person of His age? I cannot think of Caesar or Rome, or all the myriads that dwell on the earth, as being anything more than small figures in the background of the picture when Jesus is before me. (b) I also have felt the indrawing of all things towards God as steps to His throne, and every tree and hill has seemed to return to Him from whom it came. Is it not just so in the life of Christ? "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." 3. By way of experience. Have you ever heard Christ's doctrine in your soul? If so, you have felt it to be Divine. Has your heart heard the voice of Christ speaking peace and pardon through the blood? If so, you have known Him to be Lord of all. There are times when the elevating influence of the presence of Christ has put His Godhead beyond the possibility of question. II. THE NATURE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. How, and in what respects, do we know the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? 1. By faith. Upon the testimony of the Word we believe that God is in Christ. The Lord hath said, "This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him" (1 John 5:20). 2. By consideration and meditation. The more carefully we pay attention to the four evangelists the more is our understanding persuaded that no mere man stands before us. 3. By inward consciousness. We have come into contact with Christ, and have known, therefore, that He is God. We love Him, and we also love God, and we perceive that these two are one. It is by the heart that we know God and Christ, and as our affections are purified we become sensible of God's presence in Christ. 4. Moreover, as we look at our Lord we begin to grow like Him. Our beholding Him has purified the eye which has gazed on His purity. The light of the sun blinds us, but the light of Jesus strengthens the eye. III. THE MEANS OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. 1. Why did not everybody see the glory of God in Christ when He was here? Answer: It mattereth not how brightly the sun shineth among blind men. Now, the human heart is blind, and, moreover, there is a god of this world, the prince of darkness, who confirms the natural darkness of the human mind. He blinds men's minds with error, ignorance, or pride. As only the pure iii heart can see God, we, being impure in heart, could not see God in Christ What, then, hath happened to us? That same God who said, "Light be," and light was, hath shined into our hearts. 2. Do you see the glory of God in Christ? Then let that sight be an evidence to you of your salvation. When our Lord asked, "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And our Lord replied, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, but My Father which is in heaven." "No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost." "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." IV. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. Some expositors make the verse run thus: "God... hath shined in our hearts, that we might give out again the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Never is a gleam of light given to any man to hide away. Only think of a person, when his room is full of sunlight, saying to his servant, "Close the shutters, and let us keep this precious light to ourselves," So, when a child of God gets the light from Christ's face, he must not say, "I shall keep this to myself," for that would shut it out. No; you have the light that you may reflect it. If you have learned the truth, make it plain to others. Let Jesus manifest Himself in His own light; do not cast a light on Him, or attempt to show the sun with a candle. Do not aim at converting men to your views, but let the light shine for itself and work its own way. Scatter your light in all unselfishness. Wish to shine, not that others may say "How bright he is!" but that they, getting the light, may rejoice in the source from which it came to you and to them. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. |
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