What’s the secret to keeping going? When the trials keep coming, when there’s another hospital appointment, another crisis, another challenge? We saw at the beginning of 2 Corinthians that Paul faced severe trials, and these led him to depend more on God (1:9). He’s about to reveal further trials that he faced (4:8-9), but here in chapter 3 we see what kept him going through the trials – it was “beholding the glory of the Lord” (3:18).
When Paul says, “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord” he is showing how much better the new covenant is than the old. He’s referring back to when Moses used to meet with the LORD to receive His Word and then pass it on to the people (Exodus 34:19-25). Whenever this happened, Moses had to put a veil over His face because the radiance was too much for the people. Paul says how much more glorious is the ministry of the new covenant that brings life. Whereas it was only Moses who beheld the glory of the LORD, Paul says “we all”! All of us can behold the glory of the Lord in Jesus, and we don’t need to put a veil over our face, for the glory now is unfading, it’s a ministry that brings life rather than death.
The more we behold the glory of Jesus Christ, the more we will be able to face the trials that come our way. That is the link between chapters 3&4. Chapter 4 begins with “Therefore…we do not lose heart.” Because we behold the glory of the Lord, we do not lose heart, we can keep going.
So how do we behold the glory of our saviour? Think about when there is a glorious sunset, you have to get outside and put yourself somewhere you can see it! We need to put ourselves where we will see the glory of our Saviour by opening our Bibles every day, by getting to Bible Study, by getting to a church that will teach you faithfully about Jesus and show you more of the glory of Jesus.
What do we see as we consider our Saviour in the gospels? We see the most wonderful man who ever lived, perfectly obeying God His Father, content, joyful, compassionate. Someone who drew near to the sick and lonely, who wasn’t out off by those who had been shunned by everyone else, who loved the sinner and the outcast. Someone who triumphed over temptation, someone who faced such anguish for me that it caused Him to sweat blood. Someone who was flogged for me, pierced for my transgressions to open the door to eternal life for me. Someone who defeated death, ascended into heaven and is reigning, and will return! Someone who guarantees the most wonderful future for me.
What a wonderful saviour we have. But it’s not just the New Testament that shows us the glory of the Lord, the Old Testament is full of shadows and promises about Him. Are you putting yourself in the way of seeing the glory of the Lord? The more you behold the glory of the Lord, the more you will be ready for the challenges that come your way. The challenges will come, because as Paul will tell us in chapter 4, we have this treasure in jars of clay, we are fragile temporary pots, but this is to show the glory is from God.
Light and Momentary Troubles 
Leave a comment