Enjoy the Christ of Glory as our Treasure: Behold His Face & Live in His Presence

God’s shining in our hearts brings into us a treasure, the Christ of glory; the face of Jesus Christ is the treasure in our spirit, and when we have His present shining and speaking, we have the treasure of His face, and He has a way to shine in us and through us.

May we learn to spend much time with the Lord not only in the morning but even throughout the day so that we may contact Him, be shined on by Him, and be infused with Him.

To know God, we need to come to Christ, for Christ is the image of God. God is invisible, but Christ is visible. How do we come to Christ? On the one hand, Christ is in our spirit, and on the other hand, He is embodied in the Word.

When we come to the Word of God by the exercise of our spirit, turning our heart to the Lord, we behold the Lord face to face, and we are infused with Him. No one has ever seen God, but Christ, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him to us.

As we read the Gospels and turn our heart to the Lord, we are infused with this lovely One.

What a wonderful person Jesus Christ is! He is not just loving, caring, and gracious; He is the expression of God as love, light, life, holiness, righteousness, and glory. God is light, life, and love; these are the essence of His being.

But how can we see God expressed, or how can we experience these characteristics of God? It is by coming to Christ.

When we heard the gospel, something of Christ shone on us and within us. There was an impression of Christ, a vivid image of the wonderful person of Jesus Christ, that was imprinted on our being as we heard the gospel, and we simply reacted to this by believing.

We believers in Christ are not in any way more special than others; what is special about us is the Christ of glory who was infused into us and imprinted into our being.

Day by day we are learning to drop our concepts and turn our heart to the Lord so that any veils from our eyes may be taken away.

The god of this age is actively trying to blind us by placing veils on our eyes and almost anything in this world can become a veil frustrating us from seeing the Lord.

We may enjoy the Lord in the morning, but then we have to do some things at work, and these things become a veil.

We may even be in a meeting, enjoying the Lord with the saints, but then a notification comes on our phone, and we are transported into a different realm.

May we actively cooperate with God to be delivered from the enemy’s blinding work by dropping our concepts and turning our heart to the Lord so that we may see the Lord face to face!

God’s Shining in our Hearts brings into us a Treasure, the Christ of Glory!

In 2 Cor. 4:4 Paul tells us that God wants to shine forth Christ into our being, even to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ. Wow! Then, in v. 7 he said, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.

What is the treasure in the earthen vessels? We know that we are earthen, and so we are an earthen vessel; but what is the treasure in us? Christ as the life-giving Spirit in us is the One who shines and works; this is the treasure we have in us.

God’s shining in our hearts brings into us a treasure – the Christ of glory, who is our treasure. The Christ of glory, who is the embodiment of God to be our life and our everything, shone into our hearts to become our treasure.

Thank the Lord for the illumination of the gospel of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ; this shines in us, and we have a treasure.

Because of the shining in our hearts, because Christ has shined Himself into our hearts, we now have a treasure that is so wonderful, precious, and marvellous (Matt. 6:21; 13:44)! Hallelujah!

May we seek to know this One, know His preciousness, and know Him as the most wonderful One. May we realize that, even though we are fragile, mortal, and weak earthen vessels, we have in us a priceless treasure, which is the Christ of glory.

A priceless treasure is contained in worthless vessels. By containing such a priceless treasure – the Christ of glory shining Himself into us – we become ministers of the new covenant with a priceless ministry.

And the power for us to carry out our ministry, the excellency of the power, is not of us but of God.

Christ came into us not only as our life to regenerate us and make us His believers, the children of God, and the members of the Body of Christ; He also came into us as the priceless treasure.

This treasure, the indwelling Christ of glory, is in us, and this treasure in us is the divine source of the supply for the Christian life (2 Cor. 4:7).

The excellency of the power is not of us but of God; there’s an excellent treasure in us, and the power is of God, not of us. Praise the Lord!

We have a motor in us, a divine motor, which is the divine source of the supply for our Christian life; this motor is not our own energy or zeal but the indwelling Christ, the Christ of glory shining Himself into us.

Whenever we contact the Lord by turning our heart to Him and exercising our spirit to enjoy Him, we are filled with energy and supply for us to live the Christian life and the church life.

When we are in the sweet organic union with the Lord, contacting Him in a fresh way, we can do anything in Him, for He lives in us and He does everything in us.

Because of the treasure within us, we can do many things, and because of this priceless treasure in our earthen vessel, there are many things we cannot do (1 Cor. 2:4; Eph. 1:19; 3:7, 20; Col. 1:29).

There are certain things that we just can’t do, and there are certain places we cannot go to, simply because of the indwelling Christ, the Christ of glory.

And at the same time, there are some places we can go and are going, and there are some things that seemed to be impossible but now we can do them because of the indwelling Christ, the treasure in our earthen vessel.

May we learn to turn to the Lord and contact Him in a fresh way so that we may be freshly infused with Him, have the shining of His face, and be inwardly supplied and energized to live the Christian life.

It is only when we remain in the touch with the Lord, beholding Him face to face, that we can do things that are seemingly impossible and we can reject certain things that everyone else is doing.

Lord Jesus, thank You for shining Yourself into us to become the treasure in our earthen vessel! Hallelujah, God’s shining in our hearts brings into us a treasure – the Christ of glory! Wow, the Christ who is the embodiment of God has come to be our life and our everything! What a mercy that we, earthen, fragile, and weak vessels can contain such a priceless treasure! Thank You, dear Lord, for coming to indwell us and be our treasure within. Shine in us more today. Infuse us more with Yourself as our treasure. Keep us open to You. We turn our heart to You. We want to remain in Your presence, beholding You face to face. Hallelujah, the Christ of glory as the priceless treasure is contained in our worthless human vessel! Praise the Lord, because of this priceless treasure, we are now ministers of the new covenant with a priceless ministry! Wow, Lord, You are our divine source of supply for our Christian life. We partake of You, we enjoy You, we are one with You, and we live because of You today!

Behold the Lord’s Face and Live in His Presence to sense Him as the Priceless Treasure

All believers in Christ have within them a priceless treasure, the Christ of glory; however, not all of them are enjoying this treasure, nor are they sensing that the indwelling Christ is such a treasure to them.

The expression “this treasure” in 2 Cor. 4:7 refers to verse 6, where Paul speaks of the face of Jesus Christ. The God who said, out of darkness, light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; but we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Wow!

When God shines in our hearts, He illuminates us so that we may know the glory of God in the face of Christ. The glory of God manifested in the face of Jesus Christ is the God of glory expressed through Jesus Christ.

When we know the Christ of glory, when we behold His shining face, we know the God of glory.

This God of glory appeared to Abraham many thousands of years ago and attracted him, even calling him out of his people to be a people to Himself. He had to go, even though he did not know where he was going, because of this priceless treasure.

Literally, the Greek word for “face” in 2 Cor. 4:6 is the same word translated “person” in 2:10. It refers to the part around the eyes of a person, the look as the index of the inward thoughts and feelings, which shows forth and manifests our whole person.

This means that, whenever we have the Lord’s eyes, when we intently look into His eyes and have no veil between us, we have the treasure within, and we sense the priceless treasure.

The most intimate thing is when we look at someone’s eyes and we sense what they need, what they want, and what we should do; we communicate merely with the eyes, not with words.

The Lord Jesus is a wonderful, living, shining person, and when we look into His eyes, when we behold His face by exercising our spirit and turning our heart to the Lord, we sense how precious and wonderful He is.

It is true that we are earthen vessels containing a priceless treasure, but do we live in the sense that the Christ of glory is the treasure within us? Unless we have the index of Christ’s face, unless we behold His face and look into His eyes, He cannot be a treasure to us in reality. Oh Lord!

In other words, we may live the Christian life and do many good things, not sin, and stay away from many evil things, but unless we have the index of the Lord’s eyes by beholding His wonderful face, we do not sense the Christ of glory as the priceless treasure indwelling us.

Paul in 2 Cor. 2:10 lived and acted in the index of the Lord’s eyes. He had just rebuked a brother and dealt with a particular negative situation, and now he was willing to forgive this brother not because he wanted to but because he was beholding the Lord’s face.

He beheld the Lord’s face, looking intently into the index of His eyes, and the Lord wanted him to forgive the brother. It was not Paul who took the lead; it was the eyes of Christ, the person of Christ, who took the lead in this. This is how we should live our Christian life today.

We need to do all things in the index of the Lord’s eyes, beholding Him face to face, and remaining in His presence constantly. This means that we need to forsake our old person and instead take Christ as our person by looking at the index of His eyes.

We are so much focused on what we need, what we want, and what is going on with us; when we lift our eyes from our situation and condition and simply behold Christ’s face, we focus only on Him.

When we look at the index of the Lord’s eyes and enjoy His presence, we will have a sweet sense of the preciousness of the indwelling Christ, the Christ of glory as our priceless treasure.

We will then be very happy, and even more, He will have a way to shine in us and through us – the glory of Christ will shine out from within us! Hallelujah!

Christ is the most excellent One in the whole universe, and we have Him in our earthen vessel.

Since we have the Christ of glory within us as the treasure, we do not love the world. We don’t love the world not because we are told not to or because we have to; we don’t love the world because the whole world is inferior to the treasure in our earthen vessel.

The excellent and lovely Christ is our indwelling treasure, and we love to look into His face and be infused with Him. Because He is so precious and wonderful, we give up and set aside all other things, for we only want to gain Him and be found in Him!

As we behold His face, looking intently at the index of His eyes, we sense His preciousness, and we can be fully one with Him in whatever we do. Actually, it will be Him working in us and through us, expressing Himself in us and through us.

Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You and we want to behold You face to face. May we learn to forsake our old person and instead take Christ as our person by looking at the index of Your eyes! Amen, Lord, keep us in Your presence, enjoying Your fresh presence moment-by-moment. We want to have a sweet sense of the preciousness of the indwelling Christ of glory as we behold You face to face. Dear Lord Jesus, You are the most precious One. You are the most excellent One. You are the most lovely One. Nothing is more precious or more excellent than You. Because we love You and we behold You, we are willing to give up all other things and not love the world and the things in the world. Amen, Lord, You are the treasure within, and we love spending time with You to behold You so that we may be infused with You! May we live in Your presence today so that we may sense Your preciousness and sweetness and so that we may shine You forth!

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 Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 317 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 17 (msg. 5), Christ as the Image of God and the Treasure.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – 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.
  – 2 Corinthians (Program #15) – The Ministers of the New Covenant (7b), via, Bible study radio.
  – Our need to be unveiled, a portion from, The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – This Inexhaustible Treasure, via, Living to Him.
  – Beholding and reflecting, a portion from, Life-Study of 2 Corinthians, Chapter 24.
  – The Treasure of Excellency in Our Vessel, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Christ’s making His home, a portion from, The Subjective Experience of the Indwelling Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – 8 – The Ministry Abounding with Glory (5) – From chapter eight of The Ministers in the Lord’s Recovery – Genuine Ministers of the New Covenant, via, Shepherding Words.
  – 2 Corinthians 3:18—Beholding and Reflecting the Lord with an Unveiled Face, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The indwelling, pneumatic Christ as revealed in the Epistles of Paul, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Indwelling Christ – the Secret of the Christian Life, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Something every heart is loving: / If not Jesus, none can rest; / Lord, my heart to Thee is given; / Take it, for it loves Thee best. / Thus I cast the world behind me; / Jesus most beloved shall be; / Beauteous more than all things beauteous, / He alone is joy to me. / Bright with all eternal radiance / Is the glory of Thy face; / Thou art loving, sweet, and tender, / Full of pity, full of grace. (Hymns #547 stanzas 1-3)
  – I come to Thee, dear Lord, / My heart doth thirst for Thee; / Of Thee I’d eat, of Thee I’d drink. / Enjoy Thee thoroughly. / Just to behold Thy face, / For this my heart doth cry; / I deeply long to drink of Thee / My thirst to satisfy. / Thy glorious, radiant face / My heart delights to see; / Here I’d abide and ne’er depart, / Beholding constantly. (Hymns #812 stanzas 1-3)
  – Here I behold Thy radiant face, / Its light upon my heart doth shine / With healing rays consuming all / The weaknesses and faults of mine. / ’Tis here Thy light illuminates / My true condition unto me; / ’Tis here Thy blood’s effectiveness / To cleanse from sin I gladly see. (Hymns #813 stanzas 2-3)