2 Corinthians 3 and 4 are rich in visual imagery. There’s talk of veils and mirrors, clay jars and hidden treasure, and wonder of wonders, the tangible glory of God manifested to humans. Paul employs all these images to describe for us the splendor of the gospel, and the power that is available to those who believe in Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 4 verses 3 and 6, Paul writes that “the gospel is veiled to those who are perishing” yet to us who believe, he “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” The language is beautiful, but what linguistic picture is Paul painting with these words?
Paul wants his readers to comprehend the beauty—the glory—of the gospel, and so he seeks to compare it to the covenant of the Law. In chapter 3 Paul takes us back to the foot of Mt. Sinai, where Moses receives the Ten Commandments for the second time. Remember the first time he received God’s word on the two stone tablets? It didn’t go so well. But that’s another story—about a jewelry collection, a golden calf, and two smashed stone tablets—that we’ll save for another time.
There on Mt. Sinai, but before receiving the Ten Commandments for the second time, Moses makes a bold request of God. In Exodus 34 we read that Moses asks the Lord to show him his glory. How audacious for a mere mortal, formed out of the dust of the earth, to entreat the God of the universe so boldly. Yet, shockingly, Almighty God agrees to Moses’ request and allows his glory—all his goodness, grace, and mercy—to pass before Moses.
After being in the presence of God, Moses descends the mountain and his face literally shone—even though he didn’t actually see God’s face. God’s glory passing in front of him was enough to bring about such a magnificent transfiguration. It was as though the glory of God splashed onto Moses and he carried the remnants of it with him down the mountain and into the camp of Israel. Yet instead of being filled with awe and wonder at the deep love of Yahweh to allow his glory to pass before Moses, the children of Israel responded in outright fear. They couldn’t bear to look on Moses’ face after he had been in the presence of God, so they demanded he wear a veil to hide the residual glory of God that continued to rest on their leader.
Even though with every passing day God’s glory was fading from Moses’ face, they still demanded he wear a veil because beholding God’s glory was too much for them. I don’t know about you, but for my money, that’s one of the saddest stories in Scripture—that God’s own people, whom he loved and protected, would not want to see even a fading reflection of his glory.
As Moses placed the veil on his own face, the people threw a thick veil over their hearts, not desiring the close intimacy with God that Moses enjoyed and could have been theirs to experience in some smaller measure. Paul writes that all who reject this intimacy with God are veiled, but that when we come to Jesus, the Holy Spirit lifts our veil. Intimacy with our holy God is restored as the Holy Spirit ushers us into true freedom.
As people of the New Covenant, we are conduits through which the glory of God can be revealed. The promise for all believers is that our own faces will shine with the glory of God—even as Moses’ did.
“We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3. 18).
We are all being transfigured into his image—moving from one level of glory to another. This is not hyperbole but the truth of the work of the Spirit within us. We are all becoming like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus.
A mirror in the ancient world was not fashioned from treated glass like today, rendering an accurate reflection of the one gazing into it. Ancient mirrors were typically made of polished metal and gave a crude, cloudy, and even distorted image of what they were reflecting. Sometimes, when we hold up our mirror to the Lord, the image we reflect back to the world is also distorted because we carry a distorted image of God.
If our God image is of a demanding perfectionist with standards too high for us to ever attain, the image we reflect back to the world may be the face of shame and guilt. If our image of God is that his blessings are in limited supply, or that he’s stingy and may never make us the beneficiary of his gifts, then the image we reflect back to the world may be the sour face of jealousy or the grumbling eye that declares nothing is ever good enough.
If deep inside we feel that a part of the work of the gospel depends on us and how good we are, the image of God we reflect may be one of constant worry and striving. And if we’ve been in Church our whole life and “heard it all before,” our hearts may have become a little too familiar with the glory of the gospel. If we’ve begun to take the gospel for granted, we likely reflect a joyless, unthankful image back to the world around us.
But, if your God image is centered on his love and holiness, his faithfulness and trustworthiness, if the wonder of Calvary has not grown old, if for you all is grace and all is gift, then the mirror of your face brightly reflects the glory of the Lord Jesus. All the redeemed are mirrors reflecting the image of God. May we all, by the power of the Holy Spirit, reflect the true glory of Jesus who embodies in every way the glory of the Father.
