September 9, 2011
What we focus on...what we give our attention to, is what we are becoming. The presence of the Spirit brings freedom and transformation to believers who keep their gaze focused on Christ Jesus.
One of my favorite verses about beholding and becoming is found in Corinthians:
"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. 3:17-18 ESV)
Here we see that it is the Spirit of the Lord that brings us into freedom-freedom to reflect the glory of the Lord in an ever-increasing glory.
In the Old Testament we can see the shining face of Moses as he beheld the glory of the Lord. Here he had to veil his face before he could speak to the children of Israel:
"Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him."(Exodus 34:29–35)
Moses veiled his face either because the glory of the Lord was too bright for the Israelites, or because he did not want them to see the glory fading. Unlike Moses, as believer's, we have unveiled faces, and everyone who encounters us should be able to see the glory of the Lord through us.
When we spend time in the presence of the Lord beholding his glory, the power and presence of the Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ. This is a process of transformation (ever-increasing glory) where there is a degree-by-degree change.
It was the Spirit of God that came upon Samson and he was able to demonstrate miraculous strength. The Spirit enabled Joseph so that he was able to interpret dreams, and the prophets declared the Spirit as righteousness and they felt the Spirit within them. The Spirit enabled David to be a conqueror in one crisis after another. It was the Spirit of God that confronted Saul of Tarsus on the Road to Damascus, where he was cleansed and commissioned, and became a proclaimer of the good news. Sustained by the Holy Spirit in the wilderness, Jesus came to his hometown in Nazareth and, standing up in the synagogue, He declared, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...To proclaim liberty to the captives..." (Luke 4:18).
The Spirit of God is active today in carrying out the mission statement of Jesus. It is the Spirit that releases us from the captivity of our past-the sins that we have committed, as well as the sins that others have committed against us. He intercedes for us with groans because He understands the pain that we have experienced in this life, and He understands the difficult issues that we encounter in our journey.
Sin and the affects of sin, have veiled our eyes from seeing ourselves the way God sees us. Instead of unveiled faces, we veil our faces because we don't feel worthy of beholding the face of Jesus. Our shame veils our eyes which keeps us from fixing our gaze on Jesus and seeing the beauty that God sees in us. We hide from God and from others. It is the Holy Spirit that wants to remove these veils that distort our view of God, ourselves, and others so that we may "behold" Jesus within us, “as in a mirror.”
What a privilege we have today of being able to abide in the glory of God without intermission. We can enter into his presence and behold that glory uninterrupted. With "unveiled" faces we can continually behold the face of Jesus and we become like him in the process.
Are you beholding Jesus today, and if not, what veils are getting in your way, keeping you from becoming Christ-like?
