Beholding and Reflecting the Glory of the Lord to be Transformed into His Image

We all as believers in Christ, having an unveiled face, need to behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit; when we’re beholding and reflecting the Lord, we are conformed to His image to shine Him forth to others. Amen!

Thank the Lord that we have received the gospel of the glory of Christ, and the Lord has shined into us.

Because the Lord shined in our being, we were enlightened to see our fallen and pitiful situation, and we repented before the Lord.

When we repented and believed into the Lord Jesus, He came into us as the shining of God’s glory, and we received a little of the glory of God into us.

He became the treasure in our earthen vessel.

Before we were saved, we had an earthen vessel which was frail, weak, and mortal, but after believing into the Lord and receiving Him into our being, we had a treasure, the Christ of glory, in our earthen vessel.

Today all believers in Christ are earthen vessels containing a glorious treasure, an excellent treasure: the Christ of glory!

Day by day we are being conformed to this treasure so that we may be so one with the Lord that He shines forth through us.

Thank the Lord that, even though we are weak, frail, and mortal, and even though we are still full of mistakes and sins, the Lord as the treasure is in our vessel.

The more we spend time with Him, the more we realize how precious He is.

The treasure in our vessel is nothing else but the wonderful face of Jesus Christ on whom the glory of God is.

The glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ, and the face of Christ is the treasure in our vessel. Hallelujah!

This means that, day by day, we need to spend more time in the face of Jesus Christ, having a personal facetime with Him to behold Him and reflect Him.

The more we are in the Lord’s presence, even looking at the index of His eyes, the more we are infused with Him.

The more we spend time with the Lord, not only in a peaceful way in our morning or evening time with Him, but even throughout the day when we’re so busy but take some time to enjoy Him, the more we are infused with His glory and we shine with Him.

We are daily being transformed from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

The Lord is operating in us and He is transforming us into the glorious image of Christ so that He may be the firstborn among many brothers. Praise the Lord!

We Behold and Reflect the Lord with an Unveiled Face to be Transformed into His Image

2 Cor. 3:18 is a beloved verse to us in our Christian life, for it tells us that we all with an unveiled face need to behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as from the Lord Spirit.

This verse doesn’t say that we behold the Lord’s face or the Lord Himself but the glory of the Lord.

Hallelujah, today we can behold the Lord’s glory and we can be transformed into the same image as He is!

To behold the glory of the Lord is to see the Lord ourselves, therefore being infused with His being to become the same as He is.

To reflect the glory of the Lord is to enable others to see Him through us.

We believers in Christ not only have a glorious ministry, the ministry of the new covenant (2 Cor. 3:8-9) but we ourselves are glorious, for we’re beholding the Lord’s glory with an unveiled face to be brought on from glory to glory!

Our ministry as new covenant ministers is what we are; the Lord’s glory saturates our being, and we simply behold and reflect the Lord to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Hallelujah!

We begin our morning as believers in Christ by contacting the Lord, calling on His name, and being in His presence to behold and reflect Him.

We turn our heart to Him. We do not want to have our heart turned away from the Lord; rather, we turn our heart to Him so that we may have an unveiled face and behold the Lord’s wonderful face.

When we turn our heart to the Lord and deal with anything that He shines on, we can behold Him and we can reflect Him.

To have an unveiled face is to have a heart turned to the Lord, for our unturned heart is a veil that covers our face not to see the Lord.

When we’re unveiled to behold and reflect the Lord, the Lord as the Spirit has a way of transforming us into the image of Christ, for there’s no more insulation between us and the Lord.

We human beings are like mirrors: we reflect what we behold.

If we behold football or the news, we will reflect these things to others when we meet them.

If we behold games and entertainment, we reflect these things, and we tend to congregate with those who pursue the same thing.

As believers in Christ, we need to behold the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face so that we may reflect Him.

We are like mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord.

This is a lifelong process, for so many times throughout the day there are veils that are put on our eyes and we don’t behold and reflect the Lord.

We need to learn to turn our heart to the Lord again and again so that we may be beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord.

When we behold and reflect the Lord, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done.

We are simply infused with Him and we are inwardly changed; we are metabolically transformed into His image.

As we behold and reflect the Lord, we are metabolically transformed to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence. Wow, Amen!

This causes us to have our image and likeness changed: we no longer express ourselves, for we behold the Lord and we reflect Him.

What others see in us is not a human being who follows Jesus but Jesus Christ Himself being expressed through us.

They see a human being, but this human being beholds and reflects the glory of the Lord just like a mirror, and he is being transformed into the same image as Christ.

Those around us do not know who Christ is and what He is like, but when they see us, they see Christ, for we are beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face.

May we be such ones today. May we remain in the process of being transformed so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ, and He might be the Firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29).

Lord Jesus, we come to You to behold and reflect You like a mirror! Amen, Lord, we turn our heart to You so that we may behold the glory of the Lord and reflect it to others. We apply Your precious blood and we deal with anything that hinders us from seeing You. Turn our heart to You again. We choose to turn and set our heart on You. Oh Lord, may we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, be continually transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit! Work Yourself as glory into us. May our face be unveiled so that we can behold and reflect You today. Amen, Lord Jesus, free us from any bondage and any veil and cause our heart to turn to You so that we may behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the Lord! We want to behold the glory of the Lord to see the Lord ourselves, and we want to reflect the glory of the Lord to enable others to see Him through us! Amen, Lord, be seen through us!

Beholding and Reflecting the Glory of the Lord to become the Same as He Is and Express Him

We believers in Christ are in an ongoing life process of being transformed, for the resurrection life of Christ continually operates in us to transform us into the image of Christ as we behold and reflect Him.

Praise the Lord, we are being conformed to the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another degree of glory!

And the One doing all this as we behold and reflect the Lord is the Lord Spirit.

In 2 Cor. 3 the Spirit is revealed as the inscribing Spirit (v. 3), the Spirit who gives life (v. 6), the ministering Spirit (v. 8), the freeing Spirit (v. 17), and the transforming Spirit (v. 18).

When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and be infused with Him, the all-inclusive Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ from glory to glory.

On our side, we turn our heart to the Lord to have an unveiled face and enjoy the Lord as the Spirit, be freed from the bondage of the law, and be transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding and reflecting Him (2 Cor. 3:12-18).

As we do this, as we are beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face, we are transformed into the image of the Lord.

The glory of the Lord is the glory of the resurrected and ascended Christ who is the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us to make Himself and all that He has accomplished, attained, and obtained real to us so that we may be one with Him and be transformed into the same image as the Lord from glory to glory (Luke 24:46; Heb. 2:9; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29).

We just need to do the beholding with an unveiled face, and the Lord will do the rest.

As we are beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face, the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us makes all that Christ is and has done real to us so that we may be transformed into the same image as Christ. Amen!

In this way, we are becoming the same as He is, for the Lord Spirit is transforming us into the same image as Christ from glory to glory.

Little by little, day by day, the Spirit is making real to us all that Christ is, all that He has, and all that He has accomplished and attained.

He is the Spirit of reality making all that Christ is real to us.

This means that, even as Christ terminated everything negative and nullified the work of Satan, so when we behold and reflect the Lord all the negative things are terminated in us and the works of Satan are nullified in us.

We can apply and enjoy all that Christ is, all He has done, and all He has accomplished to our being and to our experience.

As we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face, the Lord terminates everything negative in our being and adds all that He is into us, causing us to experience a metabolic process of transformation until we are conformed to His image.

We are becoming the same as He is in an organic way by daily turning our hearts to the Lord so that we may behold and reflect Him!

We, human beings, are becoming God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.

Just as our children have our life and nature and are becoming the same as us except in being the parent, for they are born of us, so we are born of God and, as we remain in the process of being transformed, we are becoming the same as Christ in every possible way, except in His Godhead.

As He is transforming us into His image, our very being becomes our ministry; the glory of the Lord constituted and wrought into our being shines out from us, and we reflect Him to others – this is our ministry.

Our ministry is full of glory, for we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, and we’re inwardly transformed from glory to glory! Hallelujah!

May we all be such ones today and may we imitate those who are like the apostle Paul, beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord like a mirror to be transformed into His image!

Lord Jesus, keep us in the process of being transformed into Your image by beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord. We long to be unveiled and see You face to face. We love to be in Your presence, beholding and reflecting You to be transformed into the same image as You. Amen, Lord, we just open to You. We keep coming to You throughout the day to behold You and reflect You like a mirror. May we be infused with all that You are. May what You are and what You have accomplished become our experience and enjoyment today. Have a way to terminate everything negative in our being and destroy every work of the devil in us. Amen, Lord, have a way to make us the same as You are in life, nature, expression, and function, but not in the Godhead! We want to be just like You by being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit! Amen, Lord, shine through us! Be expressed through us to be our ministry full of glory toward others for them to see Christ and be infused with His glory!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg, 30, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life (2024 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 6, The Triune God in Christ Being Life to Us by Shining in Our Hearts.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – 2 Corinthians 3:18—Beholding and Reflecting the Lord with an Unveiled Face, via, Bibles for Europe blog.
  – Transformed by the renewing of the mind, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and critique.
  – Beholding and reflecting to be transformed into the image of Christ, a portion from, General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, A – Part 2: Romans through Philemon, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
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  – Being Transformed into the Image of the Lord, Life-Study of 2 Corinthians, Message Twenty-Four, pp. 209-212.
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  – Recommending the LSM radio broadcast on Life-study of 2 Corinthians here.
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  – Q&R Sessions with Co-workers by Uni Students – How real is God’s work of transformation? More via, Living to Him.
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• Hymns on this topic:
  – Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Fully opened from within, / With thy face unveiled, beholding, / Single, pure, and genuine. / Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Seeking Him in confidence; / Learn to touch Him as the Spirit, / Looking up in reverence. (Hymns #784 stanzas 2-3)
  – Changed into His likeness! / He the Spirit is! / If the Spirit governs, / He’ll fulfill my wish. / As a glass, beholding / With uncovered face, / I can see His glory / And reflect His grace. / O that no more covering / May the Lord obscure, / That I may reflect Him / With a heart made pure. (Hymns #399 stanzas 2-4)
  – “Consider Him,” and as you run the race, / Keep ever upward looking in His face; / And thus transformed, illumined thou shalt be, / And Christ’s own image shall be seen in thee. (Hymns #656 stanza 5)