The Glory of the New Covenant 2 Corinthians 3

The Glory of the New Covenant 2 Corinthians 3 Guess what? This past Friday it snowed in my hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Hattiesburg is 70 miles from the Gulf of Mexico; it only snows every few years, and it s usually just a dusting. But two days ago they got over three inches of snow. When I saw the photos of snow (which my mother emailed to my brothers and me), I had a flashback to my high school days. When I was a freshman in high school, one day we got a couple of inches of snow, so my brothers and I built a snowman on the roof of our house. My brother Jeff (who was our publicist) called the Hattiesburg American, our local newspaper, and told them, I was walking down S. 31st Avenue, and I saw that some kids built a snowman on their house. You should go take a picture of it for the newspaper! So they came out an photographed my brothers and me on the roof with our snowman. There we were on the front page of the paper saying, Look at us! See how fun and creative we are. Be impressed with us! Don t you wish you were us? In one way or another we all do this, right? We all want to be noticed and appreciated in different ways. Sometimes we even want to be envied for our knowledge, our accomplishments, our appearance, our affluence, etc. This craving to be noticed is often fueled by our insecurity or by a misplaced sense of identity. But today I would like you to consider the possibility that there is an appropriate desire to be noticed. Specifically, we should want people to notice the glory of God in our lives. We don t want people to be impressed with us, but with God who is glorious. Jesus told His followers, You are the light of the world. A city on a hill that cannot be hidden...let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16). When we are like our Father in heaven, people should notice. And we should want people to notice. Today s passage is 2 Corinthians 3, a passage that speaks about being transformed from one degree of glory to another through our relationship with God. We were created with glory. In Psalm 8 David expressed amazement that God even noticed humanity. In light of the rest of creation, David was amazed that God had made humanity just a little lower than the angels and had crowned him with glory and majesty. This glory, however, was compromised by sin. Paul wrote in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Because of sin, every single one of us has a deficiency when it comes to the glory of God; we are lacking when it comes to exhibiting God s perfection and beauty. Today s passage explains how God restores that glory through the new covenant in Jesus blood. The term glory has a variety of different nuances. If something has glory, it is weighty or substantive; it is radiant, impressive, beautiful. As Brian mentioned last week, the glory of God isn t so much a freestanding attribute; rather, it is a quality that infuses all of God s attributes. For example, Ephesians 1 speaks of the glory of God s grace. God s

#2 Glory of New Covenant, 12/10/17 2 grace is weighty and magnificent and beautiful. His compassion is glorious. His forgiveness is glorious. 2 Corinthians 3 emphasizes the glory inherent in the new covenant. In the Bible a covenant defines a relationship between two parties. The marriage covenant, for example, defines how husbands and wives should relate to each other. This is reflected in wedding vows where a couple promises to love each other for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, until they are parted by death. The new covenant in Christ s blood defines how God and His people are to relate to each other. When you enter into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus, you are bound to God for eternity. In this new covenant, God says, I will be your God, and you will be My people. Today s passage, 2 Corinthians 3, tells us that in the new covenant God transforms us through His Spirit into people who are increasingly glorious. People should notice the glory of God in our lives. Hopefully by the end of this message that statement will mean something to each of us. I am going to summarize the first eleven verses in this chapter, and then we will consider the last seven verses in more detail. In the first eleven verses Paul establishes two things. First, he establishes that the old covenant (the Law) came with glory. The example he gives is from Exodus 34. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets that contained the ten commandments, his face shone with glory. The glory (or radiance) on his face was a reflection of the glory of God, His radiant brilliance. The glory on Moses face faded with time, but it was an observable, undeniable glory. First, Paul establishes that the old covenant came with glory. Second, Paul establishes that since the new covenant is superior to the old covenant, its glory must surpass the glory of the old. As a matter of fact, Paul writes, the glory of the old covenant has been swallowed up by the glory of the new covenant, much like the radiance of a match is swallowed up by the radiance of the sun. Here is Paul s comment in verses 10 and 11: 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. In the new covenant, God imparts a kind of glory that surpasses the glory of the old covenant. It not only doesn t fade away, it intensifies as we are transformed from glory to glory. Let s consider the last seven verses of this chapter to understand this glory that others should notice in our lives. Paul s argument here is complicated in places, but the overall point he is making should be clear: we experience and exhibit increasing glory in the new covenant. The New Covenant promise of being transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3) In light of the conclusion that the glory of the new covenant surpasses that of the old, Paul writes this:

#2 Glory of New Covenant, 12/10/17 3 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. Paul makes an interesting comparison and analogy here. He says that he is not like Moses who put a veil over his face. Exodus 34 records that after Moses had been in the presence of God, his face would shine; the glory/radiance of God made Moses radiant. When Moses came down from the presence of God, the people saw his face shining as he talked with them and related what God had said. When he was finished talking with the people, he would put a veil over his face until he went back into the presence of God. Here in 2 Corinthians 3 Paul writes that the reason Moses put the veil over his face was so that the people wouldn t see the glory of his face fading. The purpose of a veil was to obscure/block vision; in this case Moses veil blocked the people from seeing his fading glory. Paul says that he is not like Moses because he uses great boldness in his speech. Sometimes the term boldness is translated openly. Boldness is basically being open or transparent about the truth instead of covering it up. Paul will explain that there s no need to hide because our glory in the new covenant isn t fading; it is increasing! In verses 14 through 16 Paul continues to discuss the old covenant. Instead of talking about the veil over Moses face, he discusses the veil that lies over the human heart. 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. Paul is highlighting the spiritual insensitivity in Moses day and in his own day. Whenever people heard the teachings of Moses in the temple or the synagogue, they failed to understand the fading glory of the old covenant; they didn t understand that the old covenant pointed to something greater and more glorious. Just as Moses had a veil over his face, they had a veil over their hearts which prevented from from seeing spiritual truth. Paul s conviction (and the experience of many in this room) was that this veil (spiritual blindness) is removed in Christ; whenever a person turns to the Lord in faith, the veil is taken away. We affirm this every time we sing Amazing Grace : I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. In verses 17 and 18 Paul explains that the Holy Spirit removes the veil from the human heart. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. When Paul says that the Lord is the Spirit he is saying that the Spirit is the Lord who removes the veil from the human heart. The Holy Spirit is the personal presence of God on earth. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty/freedom. When the Spirit removes the veil from your heart, you experience freedom in many different ways. In

#2 Glory of New Covenant, 12/10/17 4 this context, I think Paul is talking about freedom from the bondage of sin, freedom to know and experience God, and freedom to be the person God created you to be. Before I came to Christ, I would have guessed the opposite - that a relationship with God would make my life smaller and less satisfying. But my experience is that when I am walking by the Spirit, my life is larger and more satisfying. This is the type of life that Paul describes in verse 18. Paul explains that believers in Jesus experience the glory that belongs to God and progressively possess that same glory. 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. Whereas Moses went up on the mountain alone and met with God, Paul writes, But we all... behold... the glory of the Lord! What Paul writes in verse 18 is true of every single believer. This is the norm in the Christian life; what Paul is describing isn t meant only for a few really, really spiritual people. But we all, with unveiled face... Just like Moses met with God face-to-face, as believers in Jesus Christ, we can speak with God directly. The death and resurrection of Jesus tore down the veil between God and man. With nothing blocking our spiritual sight, we all are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord... Mirrors in the first century were made of polished metal. Paul may be implying that we aren t looking at the glory of God as directly as we will one day; in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul spoke about seeing in a mirror dimly. But he is saying that we do behold the glory of God; it isn t hidden from us. The main way we see glory of God (His essence and weightiness) is by fixing our eyes on Jesus. In John 1, John writes, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). When they saw Jesus, they saw the glory of God. They saw the character and essence of God in the flesh. The reading guide we have provided will direct you to Exodus 33 and 34. There you will read how Moses cried out to God, Show me Your glory! In response, God said, I will make my goodness pass before you... and will proclaim [My] name... (Exodus 33:18-19). The glory of God was associated with His name/character. God proclaimed His name, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth (Exodus 34:6). When people saw Jesus, they saw this character of God! When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we behold the glory of God; we come to understand the magnificence of His goodness and grace. What Paul writes next can give us a vision for our lives, a vision for a life of increasing glory. He writes that as we behold the glory of the Lord, we are transformed (a

#2 Glory of New Covenant, 12/10/17 5 continuous process) into the same image from glory to glory. In other words, we are transformed into the image of Christ; we become like Him in many different ways. For example, we see people as He did. Instead of being hardened toward people who are distressed and downcast, our hearts go out to them. We see them as sheep without a shepherd. And this transformation is from glory to glory : from one degree of glory to another. The glory that humanity had at creation is being restored (and then some). It is appropriate to desire that God do this work of giving us ever-increasing glory. This may be a new concept (desiring every-increasing glory), but it s really just another way of thinking about discipleship and sanctification and spiritual maturity. One thing that this category can do for us is keep us from having small spiritual ambitions. Instead of thinking, I d like to be a little more kind some day... we can/should think, I want my kindness to be glorious! Remember how the glory of God isn t so much an attribute as a quality that infuses all of His attributes. In the same way, this restored glory should infuse all of the virtues that the Spirit produces in our lives. For example, one virtue we find throughout Scripture is generosity. It s one thing to think, If I have to, I ll give a little of my time and energy and money to people in need. It s another thing to think, I want my generosity to be more and more glorious. I want my generosity to be more substantive/weighty, more beautiful, even magnificent... because that s how God has given to me. Another virtue is forgiveness. One person might say, I will forgive you this time, but don t let it happen again. I never want to be wronged and I never want anyone to take advantage of me again. But what might is look like if that person were transformed into the image of Christ? What if that person s forgiveness were infused with glory? It s hard work getting to this place (requiring lots of prayer and conversation, depending on what is being forgiven), but s/he might say, Of course I will forgive you. God has forgiven me more than I will ever forgive you. God has said to me, I will never make you pay for what you ve done. The debt is paid by My Son on the cross. And so I m never going to make you pay for what you ve done for me. I m never going to throw it in your face. I m never going to shame you. You are free from the debt you owe me. That type of forgiveness is dripping with the glory of God. People will notice that type of forgiveness. I experienced that type of forgiveness this past week; it was glorious. What is one virtue that you want the Spirit to take from one degree of glory to another? Is it patience or self-control? Is it justice or mercy? This is what God does in the new covenant. It isn t raw effort; it is from the Lord, the Spirit. And it s not about people being impressed with you; it s about people being impressed with your God. The new testament teaches that there should be continuity between what we experience in this life and what we experience in the next life. If anything characterizes the life to come, it is glory. Numerous passages state that Jesus will return in glory. Christ came in humility at His first advent; He will return in glory. This doesn t imply that Jesus will no longer be humble. Rather, this stresses that His resplendent glory will no longer be muted. Only those who believed saw His glory at His first coming, but nobody

#2 Glory of New Covenant, 12/10/17 6 will miss His glory when He returns. It will be like lightening which flashes from the east to the west. And when He returns, those who know Him will be instantaneously glorified. When we see Him, we will become like Him (1 John 3:2). This includes our bodies; our bodies will share His glory. In Philippians 3:20 21 Paul wrote this: 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. What happened to Jesus will happen to His people. Since He was raised with a glorious body, we will be raised with a glorious body. The transformation we ve been talking about in 2 Corinthians 3 will be completed when Christ returns. Even our bodies will experience the glory of God. We will be given immortal bodies (i.e., NOT mortal, not subject to death and decay). We will be given bodies that can withstand the glorious presence of God. There should as much continuity as possible between the lives we live now and the life we will have then. Therefore, let s pursue this vision of 2 Corinthians 3. This Advent season, let s make it our ambition to be people in whom others notice ever-increasing glory from God, the Spirt.