This morning I was freshly impressed and supplied at the same time with God’s desire to shine in our hearts! In the Old Testament He was shining over people, mainly outwardly, but now in the New Testament, He can shine in our hearts!
Without the Lord shining in us, we are in darkness; any part of our being or anything in us that does not have the Lord’s shining is in darkness. But listen to what 2 Cor. 4:6 says,
Because 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.
Even in our dark situation, God shines to bring in light – He shines to illuminate the knowledge of God! And the knowledge of God is in the face of Jesus Christ! When we experience the inward shining, we have Christ being infused into us – we have the face of Christ shining in us, conveying us the knowledge of the glory of God!
This shining bring in the Christ of glory into us, and He becomes our hope of glory – the hope that He is gradually saturating our whole being until one day we will be fully transfigured and be like Him (Col. 1:27).
One day, when Christ comes, we shall be glorified in Him, and He will be glorified in us – the indwelling Christ will saturate and permeate our whole being, including our physical body! What a hope of glory we have by having Christ in us!
I was particularly touched with a paragraph from the life-study of 2 Corinthians regarding this wonderful treasure we have in our earthen vessels:
In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul goes on to say, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us”. God’s shining in our hearts brings into us a treasure, the Christ of glory, who is the embodiment of God to be our life and our everything. But we who contain this treasure are earthen vessels, worthless and fragile! This has made the vessels ministers of the new covenant with a priceless ministry. The excellency of the power is surely of God and not of ourselves. This treasure, the indwelling Christ, in us, the earthen vessels, is the divine source of the supply for the Christian life. It is by the excellent power of this treasure that the apostles as ministers of the new covenant are able to live a crucified life so that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifest.
Wow! We are the earthen vessels, but by the Lord’s shining in us we have a treasure being infused in us! This treasure is priceless and glorious! The coming in of this treasure brings in the new covenant ministry – we now can express Christ, the indwelling treasure, by the power of Christ and not by ourselves!
Outwardly we are earthen vessels, but inwardly we have a priceless treasure! This treasure within is none else but Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God to be in us as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit! Hallelujah for the treasure in our earthen vessels, which treasure has an excellent power – enabling us to live the Christian life and express God!
This treasure in us, as we behold the Lord and spend time with Him, is increasing! Also the vessel becomes more transparent! Eventually, the treasure will be fully seen in our glorification – when the Christ of glory will saturate our entire being with His element, making us His full duplication corporately! [enjoyment from the Holy Word for Morning revival on, The Crystallization-Study of Isaiah(2)]
Praise You Lord for the treasure in our earthen vessel! Thank You for making us the containers of Your Treasure! Keep us focused on You as our treasure, Lord! Keep shining in us and keep bringing in us more God every day! We want to become more transparent for others to see the treasure within! Lord, thank You for this treasure and thank You for the new covenant ministry! Thank You we have an excellent power to live the Christian life and to express You – because of the treasure in us! Praise You for You in us as the treasure!
