Chapter 16
All of God’s work, all He has planned and done, is in Christ. Christ is the centrality, not only of God’s work, but also of the Bible and the entire universe. God made Himself fully known in Christ, who died, resurrected and became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) in order to bring us the reality of God. “God in Christ,” (2 Cor. 5:19) – this is a statement that describes all of God’s actions in the New Testament.
Christ brought God to us and made it possible for us to enjoy Him, know Him and prove Him. Our service to God and our knowledge of Him essentially depend on our relationship to Christ. In this chapter we will see how to know Christ more, which will result in knowing our God more and serving Him in a better way.
Second Corinthians 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 Christ.” Paul applied God’s creation of light to His shining in our heart when we were regenerated. This shining illuminates us to know the glory of God in Christ. This means that God desires to cause His glory to be made know to us. God’s light, which reveals Christ to us, was put into us at the moment of our regeneration, and the more we receive light by being face-to-face with Christ, the more we know God.
This full revelation of God in Christ was apparently not given to those who lived in the Old Testament under the old covenant. It is as if they had a veil on their heart that did not allow them to see the light (cf. 3:15). However, in the New Testament, God Himself, who is light, (1 John 1:5), has shined in our hearts. Now there is light within us and we can walk in God’s light by having fellowship with Christ. However, when we do not walk in the light, acting by ourselves or sinning without repenting, we are in darkness and do not have fellowship with the Lord and our heart is covered with a veil, similar to the Old Testament.
In order for us to know God, we must know Christ because God relates to man through Christ. All that God is and has is in Christ. Thus many times the Bible uses expressions such as, “in the Son, the Beloved,” “in Christ,” “in Christ Jesus” and “through Christ.”
In the Old Testament when Moses wanted to meet with God he went to the Holy of Holies and remained before the ark of testimony. The ark typifies Christ. It was at the expiation cover upon the ark that God came to meet with Moses and speak to him. The expiation cover corresponds to the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16) to which we come in order to have fellowship with God and receive spiritual supply from Him.
Having personal, intimate fellowship with God is not the privilege of a few spiritual men, but should be a normal characteristic of every Christian. Through the death of Christ, access to the Holy of Holies was opened freely to every genuine child of God. Hence, at any time and in any place, we can come to the throne of grace with our face turned to Christ to be infused with His light.
In 2 Corinthians 4:6 two kinds of light are mentioned. One is the light of God that shines in our heart to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. This indicates that the light of God we receive when we are regenerated was given to us in order to bring us to Christ to know Him more. When we are enlightened by God we are spontaneously brought into fellowship with Christ, since in reality, the light of God is in Christ (John 1:4, 5, 8, 9).
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