TOPIC:‌“The Face of the Eternal God”

                 by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌II Corinthians 4:1-14

 

“God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6).

 

‌Let me ask you this question: Have you ever wondered what the face of Jesus Christ looked like? We have a number of excellent paintings of the face of our Lord, but none of them convey His actual appearance. That has been left to our imagination.

 

‌But according to the Apostle Paul, if we did have a picture of what Christ looked like we would behold glory and light upon it. Listen again to the beautiful way St. Paul describes it: “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6). Now if we will look at His face and respond to it, it will lead to our healing and forgiveness. But if we turn from it and refuse its light, it will lead to our destruction.

 

‌Let's take a closer look at these words of St. Paul regarding the face of the eternal God and the glory found upon it.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, first of all, how the face of the Eternal God shined in the PAST. Paul writes in verse 6: “God...commanded the light to shine out of darkness...hath shined to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

 

‌Now in those words of Paul we find two great works of God in the past. The first is CREATION - “commandeth the light to shine out of darkness.” The second is REDEMPTION - “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Both of these are facts of history.

 

‌There is no doubt that the writers of the New Testament speak of Jesus not as a legend or a myth, but as an historical and irrefutable fact who lived in Palestine centuries ago. He lived at a real time and died in a real place. And in this Jesus who lived centuries ago those early disciples saw the glory of God coming through from eternity into our world of time, space and sin. As the Apostle John so wonderfully wrote: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His gory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

 

‌Now the New Testament gives us a series of glories regarding this man Jesus. We have the glory of His BIRTH. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:17). We have the glory of His MIRACLES: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana . . .