God Shines in our Hearts that We may Shine on Others with the Gospel of the Glory of Christ

2 Cor. 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.

As the New Jerusalem is being developed, worked out, and built up through our experience of all the aspects of the New Jerusalem, we need to cooperate with the Lord and be one with Him to preach the gospel of the glory of Christ so that many would become parts of the New Jerusalem.

The gospel that was preached to us and caused us to believe into Christ was the gospel of the glory of Christ, that is, the illumination of the glory of God in the face of Christ. When you see such a glorious shining of God in the wonderful face of Jesus Christ, you can’t resist but open to Him and let Him shine in you and infuse you with Himself.

Christ is the image of God; He is the effulgence of the glory of God, and the gospel of Christ is the gospel of His glory that illuminates and shines forth (see Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15).

In our Christian life and church life we need to be balanced: we need to both pursue the transformation and glorification in God’s life, the building up of the Body of Christ, and the preaching of the gospel of the glory of God. We can’t just “sit down and care only for our transformation and glorification”; we need to actively participate, in oneness with the Lord, in the proclaiming of the gospel of the glory of Christ!

Daily, as we spend time with the Lord, the glorious face of Jesus Christ is infused into us and imprinted on us; then, as we go to school or to work or at home, wherever we are and whatever we do, we should let our light shine before others.

We need to let Christ shine through us and reach others, speaking to them “in season and out of season” concerning the wonderful person of Christ whom we love, treasure, and enjoy. We preach Christ as the gospel by mainly letting Him live in us and shine in us, and as we interact with people and befriend them, we have a treasure in our earthen vessels that we want to speak of.

Our Gospel is the Gospel of the Glory of Christ

In 2 Cor. 4:4 we see that Satan is working to blind the thoughts of the unbelievers so that they would not see the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ. A believer is one who received the appearing of the God of glory through the gospel of the glory of Christ, and something of God was infused into him to believe into God.

Christ is the image of God, the effulgence of the glory of God, and He is the expression of the invisible God (see Heb. 1:3). The gospel preached by the disciples in Acts was actually Jesus Christ as the gospel (see Acts 5:42; 8:35; 11:20; 17:18). Christ Himself is the gospel, and this One is a glorious and wonderful Person. The gospel is the illumination, the enlightenment, of the glorious face of Jesus Christ into our heart.

When we received the gospel, the glory of God shining in the face of Christ illuminated us, and God Himself came into us as a priceless treasure. Now we as earthen vessels contain a priceless treasure, and the excellency of the power is of God and not out of us (2 Cor. 4:6).

The shining reality of Christ, who is the embodiment and expression of the Triune God, is now the treasure within. A believer is one who has received the shining of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in his spirit, and now he contains a priceless treasure – the glory of God in Christ in his spirit.

Satan blinds the thoughts and the minds of the unbelievers so that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ might not shine into their hearts. We need to cooperate with the Lord and let Him shine through us as the treasure within so that others may also see this glorious and wonderful One!

The reason we don’t love the world is because we love Someone Else that is much more precious and wonderful than anything the world has to offer. Christ is the most excellent One in the whole universe, and He is the treasure within.

Because we love Him, we see His preciousness, we treasure Him, and we consider Him as the most precious One, we don’t do certain things, we don’t go certain places, and we don’t say certain things.

The excellent and lovely Christ living within us is the most glorious treasure a man can have, and we love Him and want to share about Him with the whole world so that others may also get to know Him, receive Him, and be rich with Christ, the treasure!

God Shines in Our Hearts so that We may also Shine on Others with Christ as the Treasure

2 Cor. 4:4 In whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.

Becoming a believer is not “the end of it”; rather, when we receive the shining of God in Christ into our spirit, we treasure Him, love Him, and we want to speak to others about Him. God shines in our hearts so that we may also shine on others that they may have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (see 2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2, 5; John 1:18).

We need to cooperate with the Lord and be one with Him to preach the gospel of the glory of Christ in a very illuminating way. When we preach the gospel we don’t need to use gimmicks, drama, rock music, or any other worldly means of attracting people. When we preach the gospel we don’t need to speak doctrines to people, giving them “the truth in the Bible” as we see it.

Rather, when we preach the gospel we need to help others to call on the name of the Lord Jesus so that they may receive a glorious Person within them. We need to help others to receive a precious treasure – the Christ of glory – in their vessel.

It is not only “those who are evangelists” or those who “have a special gift of preaching the gospel” that need to speak the gospel. We all have both the responsibility and the privilege to shine out the gospel of the glory of Christ through our contact with people.

Maybe you’re not one who has the gift to preach the gospel and save hundreds at a time, but where you work there are some people that are empty vessels, ready to be filled with Christ as the treasure. You may not have the courage to stand up in a crowd and preach the gospel loud and clear, but when you go to school, when you are on the bus, when you walk on the street, or among your friends and neighbours there are some to whom you can speak something.

We need to let our light shine: we enjoy the Lord as the glorious treasure within, we love Him as the most precious One, and we need to speak to others about Him. In a very normal way, we can approach our workmate, our schoolmate, our neighbour, or our friend to tell him or her what we enjoyed of the Lord today.

They may not receive, they may not be interested, or they may be a little open; no matter their response or reaction, just speak! Encourage them to call on the name of the Lord, and the glorious treasure will fill their vessel!

There’s no real happiness and joy in Western Europe, no matter how modern things are, how high the level of education is, of how many outward things may be available. The so-called “Christian countries” like England, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, Finland, etc are actually predominantly atheistic countries, very dark and so far away from God.

But we have the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ, and we can let the divine light within us shine. As we go about your normal, mundane, routine, and even boring day-to-day life on earth, we live one spirit with the Lord, and we let Him shine through us.

Someone will respond to the shining – talk to him, have a normal conversation with him, shine into him with the divine light, and he will be born of the divine life to be a child of light, an earthen vessel containing a priceless treasure just like you!

Lord Jesus, we love You! You are the most precious One. You are the priceless treasure in our earthen vessel. We love spending time with You to be infused with You as the glorious treasure. Your shining in our hearts brings into us the glorious face of Christ shining with the glory of God. Lord, we want to cooperate with You to shine on others so that they may also receive the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! Lord, we want to be one spirit with You and let You shine through us into others to bring the treasure in many other earthen vessels! God of glory, shine in us and through us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msgs. 316-317), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 8 / msg 8, Having the Glory of God.
• Further reading on Christ as the treasure in our earthen vessels: see msg. 30 in, Life-Study of 2 Corinthians (by bro. Lee).
• Examples of speaking the gospel via fellow Christian bloggers:
  # Christian students on campus preaching the gospel, and a testimony from one living for the gospel full time (via ChristHall.org).
  # How to believe into the Lord Jesus, and a collection of Gospel articles (via holdingtotruth.com).
  # Contacting the fellow students for the gospel (via AChristianonCampus).
  # The gospel includes the New Jerusalem (via NewJerusalem blog).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # An uplifted gospel have we, / One we’re not ashamed to proclaim. / Our gospel’s the highest of all, / For it is God’s goal and God’s aim. / No longer so lowly and poor, / We’ve found that we’re God’s holy sons. / No more will we preach as before; / Now each man on earth can be won. (Hymns #1292)
  # Christ has put on human nature and become / a man like me, / He has died upon the cross that I from Adam / might be free, / He has risen and as Spirit He has come / to live in me / That He might be my life. / Glory! glory! Hallelujah! (Hymns #1017)
  # Earthen vessel I was made, / Christ in me the treasure laid; / His container I must be, / As the content He in me. (Hymns #548)
  # I love to tell the story / Of unseen things above, / Of Jesus and His glory, / Of Jesus and His love. / I love to tell the story, / Because I know ’tis true; / It satisfies my longings / As nothing else can do. (Hymns #1064)