Through the Illumination of the Gospel we receive the Christ of Glory as our Treasure

According to 2 Cor. 4:4 and 6, the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ, meaning that the gospel of the glory of Christ is a lovely person, Jesus Christ, in whose face we can see the glory of God, and who comes into us as our treasure. Amen!

Our Christian experience, both initially and throughout our Christian life, can be likened to taking pictures with a camera.

Our being is like the camera with its many components.

We have the “film”, our spirit, where Christ wants to imprint Himself, but in order for Christ as the glorious scenery outside of us to be imprinted onto us, there are a few conditions.

First, there needs to be the light; if there are low light conditions, the image is blurry and not clear, but if the light conditions are excellent, the image is clear and crisp.

We need the Lord’s shining on us through His word.

When we come to a gospel meeting as an unbeliever or when a friend or relative speaks to us about the Lord Jesus, there is the shining of the light.

However, if our “shutter” is closed, nothing can get in. We need to open the shutter, that is, remove any veils from our eyes so that we may see the glorious Christ.

Christ is glorious, marvellous, all-inclusive, and vast, but if we’re veiled, we can’t see Him or enjoy Him.

Therefore, we need to cooperate with the Lord to remove the veils from our eyes.

As unbelievers, when we heard the gospel, there was the shining of the light, and we were just open and unveiled, so the Lord could illuminate Himself into us.

As believers, now that we have Christ in us, we need to continually come to the Lord to behold Him so that we may reflect Him, therefore being transformed into the same image as Him from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

When we come to the Lord either personally by contacting Him and having fellowship with Him word, or corporately when we meet with one or more saints, we need to turn our heart to the Lord and learn to drop our concepts so that He may shine on us and infuse us with Himself as the glorious Christ.

When we turn our heart to the Lord, are willing to drop our concepts, and come to Him in His word or in the meetings of the church with the exercise of our spirit, something amazing happens: we are infused with the glorious Christ, for the glory of God in the face of Christ is infused into us to be permanently imprinted into us.

This is truly divine and mystical heavenly photography, and it is something we all experience and cannot deny that happened to us.

May we learn to deal with the components of the “camera” of our being so that the divine scenery of the all-inclusive Christ with God’s eternal economy would be infused into us to be imprinted and transfused into our being until we become what we see – we become the same as He is in life, nature, expression and function, but not in the Godhead.

God, Image, Christ, Glory, Gospel and Illumination in 2 Cor. 4:4 all Refer to the Wonderful Person of Christ

It is easy for us as believers to read the Bible, even memorize many key verses, but miss the main points or the burden in the verses.

And even if we receive certain light from certain verses, it’s easy for us to forget; therefore, we need to be reminded through receiving fresh light and new understanding as we come to the Lord’s word in a prayerful way.

2 Cor. 4:4 is a wonderful verse speaking of God, image, Christ, glory, gospel, and illumination, all of which are in apposition, referring to the same wonderful person of Jesus Christ.

The expression “the image of God” shows that the image is in apposition to God, for God has an image, and the image of God is God Himself.

If you want to see God, you will see His image, and when you see the image of God, you see God.

If God disappears, His image disappears, but when His image is there, God is there.

The image of God is nothing less than God Himself. According to Col. 1:15, the image of God is Christ.

God is the source, He is invisible, but He has an expression, and explanation, something visible that can be touched and seen and which expresses Him in full – this is Christ.

Christ is the image of God. He came to express God, define God, manifest God, explain God, and make God known to man.

And this Christ is glory; according to Heb. 1:3, Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory.

Christ is not only the image of God but also the effulgence of His glory.

He is the shining out of God’s glory, the manifestation of God’s glory; Christ is glory.

So the image of God is God and God is His image, Christ is the image of God, and Christ is glory.

Fourth, Christ as the glory is the gospel; the book of Acts shows us again and again that the believers preached Christ Jesus as the gospel (Acts 5:42; 8:35; 11:20; 17:18).

The gospel is not a set of teachings that Christians teach to convince others to join Christianity. The gospel is not only the good news, even though it is the best news.

The gospel is a person, Jesus Christ Himself, and we as believers in Christ do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as the gospel.

Some Christians today preach a gospel apart from Christ; Christ is not the center of their gospel.

What you hear from them is condemnation or the promise of prosperity; the gospel is just Christ Himself.

May we see that, according to the divine revelation in God’s word, the gospel is the living person of Jesus Christ, and this Christ is the image of God, who is God.

The gospel therefore is God Himself embodied and expressed in Christ.

Fifth and finally, the gospel is the illumination, the shining forth, the enlightenment.

Because Christ is glory, He is glorious; the gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, and this gospel illuminates, radiates, and shines in the heart of man.

Many can testify that, when they received the gospel, that was the first time that they had seen the light; there was the illumination of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that was shining in them.

As a result, Christ, the living person who is the embodiment of the Triune God, was illuminated into their being.

This is something that even those who turned from the Lord cannot deny; they may not practice the Christian life, but they can never deny that something of the glorious image of Christ has been infused into them.

Some may even try to reject or “erase” the impression of Christ in their being, but they can’t do it; once the impression of Christ enters into a man, it remains with them forever. Hallelujah!

The illumination is the gospel, the gospel is the glory, the glory is Christ, Christ is the image of God, and God Himself as the light shines in the face of Christ to illuminate Himself into us to infuse Himself into us.

Abraham could not resist such a One, neither could Paul.

None of us can resist Him; even the vilest offender who is met by the God of glory who is full of love, compassion, and forgiveness, melts down and opens to the Lord to receive the imprint of the glorious image of Christ into their being. Hallelujah!

May we not only understand these matters and how they interrelate, and know these things as a doctrine; may we have much prayer over these verses so that day by day, even moment by moment, we would be under the Lord’s constant shining and infusing of Himself into us.

Day by day we want to be infused with Christ so that His glorious image would be impressed into us, stamped on us, and illuminated into our being until we’re fully transformed into His image!

Lord Jesus, unveil us to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and receive the illumination of the gospel! Hallelujah, God is light, and the image of God is Christ. Lord Jesus, You are the image of the invisible God, and You are the effulgence of the glory of God. Thank You for coming to us as the image of God, a lovely person, to manifest God and express God. Amen, Lord, You are the gospel; Your lovely person is the gospel we receive, are saved by, and preach. What a glorious gospel we have! Our gospel is Christ Himself, who is the image of God and who is glory! Amen, Lord, may there be much illumination in people’s hearts through our preaching of the gospel of the glory of Christ! May the living person of Jesus Christ be illuminated into people’s hearts to be impressed into them. Amen, Lord, we want to remain open to You, fully unveiled, beholding You face to face so that we may reflect You as the glorious One, the gospel, with much illumination!

Through the Illumination of the Gospel, we receive the Christ of Glory as our Treasure

When we speak of the God of glory appearing to us even as He did to Abraham, we do not mean that God will part the heavens and shine on us to beam His glory on us, captivate us, motivate us, and completely change us.

The God of glory appears to us in the depths of our being, in our hearts, through the speaking of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

The God who said, Out of the 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 (2 Cor. 4:6).

The same God who created all things, including light, the universe, and all things in it, He shined in our hearts for one purpose: to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God is in one particular place: in the face of Jesus Christ.

This means that the gospel of the glory of Christ is a lovely person in whose face we can see the glory of God (Matt. 17:2).

The glory of God is illuminated in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the gospel, and by opening to Him to receive Him, we receive the glorious image of Christ into our being.

The glory of God manifested in the face of Jesus Christ is the God of glory expressed through Jesus Christ, who is the effulgence of the glory of God; to know Him is to know the God of glory (Acts 7:2; Heb. 1:3).

This is not the same kind of glory as in the Old Testament, such as the one that Moses had on his face but was fading, so that they had to cover him with a veil. This glory is permanent.

Actually, through the illumination of the gospel, we receive the Christ of glory as our treasure; He is now the treasure in our earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7).

Through the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, we receive the Christ of glory as the excellent treasure in our earthen vessel.

All believers in Christ have a treasure in them: the Christ of glory, who was infused and illuminated into them through the gospel of the glory of Christ.

This glorious Christ is the most excellent person in the universe. We treasure Him to the uttermost.

Nothing is more excellent than our wonderful Christ.

We do not love the world since we have Him as the most excellent One, the indwelling One, the treasure in our earthen vessel.

It’s not because the world is not lovable or unattractive, but because the Lord is much more precious, more valuable, and more enjoyable.

We don’t need to be told that we should not love the world; because we enjoy and partake of the indwelling Christ as the treasure within us, we are satisfied with Him, and nothing the world has to offer can compare to that (1 John 2:15).

And we daily are learning to come to the Lord, turn our heart to Him, be fully unveiled, and just behold Him and reflect Him.

We want to have more and more of the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, to shine on us.

We want more of this most lovely person to be infused with us, enjoyed by us, experienced by us, and constituted into us.

As we do this and that, as we take care of the daily things in our living, we learn to turn; we learn to turn to our spirit, turn our heart to the Lord, and behold Him with an unveiled face.

We want to behold Him until our vessel is conformed to the treasure within.

Lord Jesus, You are the most excellent and lovely One. You are the excellent treasure in our earthen vessel. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ have received the Christ of glory to be the treasure within us by the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ! We love You, Lord. We love to behold You. We love to come to You in Your word in prayer and fellowship so that we may behold You and reflect You. Keep us turning to You throughout the day, Lord, so that there would be a continual illumination of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in our spirit, and we would reflect Your glory! Amen, Lord, be expressed through us! Appear to us again and again as the God of glory, and appear to so many others around us through us so that You may infuse Yourself and impress Yourself with Your glorious image into them! We love You, the most excellent and lovely One!

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 the brothers 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, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 2, entitled, The Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The treasure in earthen vessels, a portion from, The Centrality and Universality of Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – A Journey from the Clay of Creation to the Glory of New Jerusalem, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Paul’s heavenly vision, article by Ed Marks via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Man – A Vessel to Contain God, article via, Living to Him.
  – The treasure being in earthen vessels, a portion from, The Crucified Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – 8 Verses that Show Jesus Christ Lives in You, article via, Bibles for America Blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Thou, living Word, didst flesh become, / With man on earth hast trod; / And all Thy words and conduct here / Expression gave to God. / O living Word, Thou art the life, / Thou art the living light; / As life Thou dost illuminate / The Father to our sight. (Hymns #58 stanzas 4-5)
  – In my spirit He regenerated me, / In my soul He’s now transforming me. / He will change my body like unto His own, / Wholly making me the same as He. / Now in life and nature He is one with me / Then in Him, the glory, I will be; / I’ll enjoy His presence for eternity / With Him in complete conformity. (Hymns #948 stanza 2-3)
  – Oh to be but emptier, lowlier, / Mean, unnoticed—and unknown, / And to God a vessel holier, / Filled with Christ and Christ alone! / Naught of earth to cloud the glory, / Naught of self the light to dim, / Telling forth His wondrous story, / Emptied to be filled with Him. (Hymns #589 stanza 4)