Be Unveiled and Open to have the Illumination of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ

According to Heb. 1:3, Christ is the image of God and the effulgence of His glory; therefore, the gospel of Christ is the gospel of the glory of Christ that illuminates and shines forth. Amen!

We need to be updated and uplifted in our understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the gospel; the gospel is not merely to save sinners from eternal perdition and help them have eternal life.

The gospel is of glory, unto glory, and is the shining of Christ!

Christ through His incarnation was the shining of God, showing forth God’s glory in a limited way, for He was constrained by the shell of His flesh, His humanity.

However, some of the disciples saw His glory (John 1:14; Matt. 17:2).

In His human living He sought the Father’s glory, and through His death, the shell of His humanity was broken to release the divine life from within Him.

Then, in resurrection, Christ was glorified by the Father for the multiplication and reproduction of the Triune God into many human beings.

He became a life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, to impart all that God is into those who believe into Him.

The Lord’s whole life on earth was one big shining out of God; wherever He was, whatever He did, and whatever He spoke, there was shining out of Him – God was shined forth.

The people sitting in darkness saw a great light shining – Jesus Christ as the shining forth of God. He shined out all the different aspects of God, the riches of God’s glory.

When we speak the gospel, we continue this shining out of God, for we speak of this wonderful God-man who shined out God, and that shining imprints the very God of glory in Christ as the Spirit into those who hear. Wow!

When we speak to others about the Lord, we should not preach merely what we know or enjoy about Him but shine Him forth, speak Him forth, so that Christ may be imprinted into those who hear us.

As we speak of the Lord’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, light shines, and the God of glory shines on the face of Jesus Christ to illuminate the hearts of the hearers. Hallelujah!

We have a glorious gospel, for our gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, shining forth Christ to infuse Him, imprint Him, and illuminate the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in the hearts of men.

May the Lord enlighten us, remove any veils from our eyes, and cause our heart to turn to Him so that we may see this wonderful Person, and we may shine Him forth to others also.

The Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of the Glory of Christ that Illuminates and Shines forth

When we preach the gospel, we do not go out to convince people of the existence of God and the imminence of His judgment; when we preach the gospel, we speak of the gospel of the glory of Christ that illuminates and shines forth.

Christ is the very image of God, and He’s the effulgence of the glory of God (Heb. 1:3); therefore, the gospel of Christ is simply the gospel of His glory that illuminates and shines forth (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3; 2 Cor. 4:3-4; Rev. 6:2).

When the gospel is preached, light must be there; there should be the shining of Christ. Satan, the god of this age, has blinded the thoughts and the minds of the unbelievers so that illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ would not shine into their hearts.

Therefore, our preaching of the gospel is an unveiling, a removing of the veils, until there’s the shining of the gospel of the glory of Christ into them.

And this is done not only in a setting called a “gospel meeting” or a “gospel crusade”; this needs to be done in our daily living.

We need to be people who are in the light. We need to be those who are under the Lord’s shining every day.

We need to let the Lord shine on us, remove our veils, and impress Himself with His image and all that He is into our being.

The shining of Jesus Christ needs to be in our daily living, even in our behaviour.

Merely knowing that the gospel is of glory and it shines forth Christ does not suffice; merely preparing to speak in a gospel meeting or when we meet a new one is not enough. Our daily living needs to be in the light of the Lord.

For this, we need to be fully open to the Lord, fully unveiled, so that we may behold Him and reflect Him.

We can use the illustration of a classical camera regarding this. The camera has a lens, there’s a film (or a memory card) inside it, and there’s a cover over the lens.

You can press the shutter button as much as you want, if the lens cover is not removed, nothing gets imprinted on the film.

Similarly, if there’s no light, there is no scenery to be taken in.

When the God of glory shines through the gospel (the light is shining) and the heart of the hearer is turned to the Lord (the lens cover is removed), there is a lot of click-click-click, that is, a lot of the glorious Christ being imprinted onto the heart of the hearer.

This is the preaching of the gospel. This is the shining in of the glory of God.

The gospel of Christ is the gospel of the glory of Christ, and the preaching of the gospel illuminates the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, imprinting Christ into our heart.

The gospel of the glory of Christ is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which both Paul and we were entrusted (1 Tim. 1:11).

The expression “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God” refers to God’s economy in 1 Tim. 1:4.

We were entrusted with a gospel that is filled with glory, that shines with glory.

The gospel we were entrusted with is the effulgence of the glory of the blessed God (Heb. 1:3; Rom. 1:25; 9:5).

The gospel of the glory of Christ is simply an illumination of man and especially of his mind and thoughts, for that’s where the light comes in first.

The gospel is preached to touch man’s heart, to get into man’s heart; however, it doesn’t stop there.

It has to reach the film, that is, the human spirit.

When the heart is turned and touched, the Lord has a way to infuse something of Himself into our heart, and once His image is infused and imprinted into us, that’s it – we are saved!

What we’re talking about is not a physical picture of Christ being imprinted into us, a man of this stature and with this kind of hair and clothes, etc; we are speaking of the glory of Christ, the effulgence of God’s glory, being infused into us.

Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory, the coming out of the glory of God; furthermore, He is the impress of His substance, for He wants to impress the substance of God into the heart of man.

When we preach the gospel, we need to realize that the gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, and our preaching needs to be a shining out of Christ to infuse Him, imprint Him, and impress Him into man’s heart so that He would reach their spirit and regenerate them to make them sons of God. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, uplift and upgrade our understanding of the gospel. May we see that our gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the effulgence of God and the impress of His substance. Amen, Lord, we open to You today; cause our heart to turn to You and remove any veil from our eyes. We want to see You face to face to be infused with You. May the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ be imprinted into our being again and again until we are fully shining with this gospel of glory! Amen, Lord, may our daily living be in the divine light. Keep us in the light today. May our daily life with all its activities be under the shining of the divine light. May the gospel of the glory of Christ be spontaneously preached through us so that many would be unveiled, enlightened, and impressed with the glorious Christ!

Being Unveiled and Open to have the Illumination of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ

One very important matter in the preaching of the gospel is the unveiling of the hearers.

This is not something we can do but only the Lord.

Whenever the gospel is preached, a spiritual battle is taking place; the god of this age with his blinding work needs to be exposed and bound, and the veils need to be removed from the face of the hearers.

Satan knows that, as long as someone sees the Lord’s glory, he is captivated, and he will fall in love with Him; therefore, he seeks to blind the eyes of the unbelievers.

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 Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). Wow!

If we read this verse and pray over it, and then we consider our preaching of the gospel, we will realize how short we are.

But this is what the gospel really is; it is the illumination of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, which illuminates, radiates, and shines in our hearts (2 Cor. 4:4, 6).

When we preach the gospel, we don’t preach ourselves, our spiritual knowledge, the doctrines we know, or what we think others should hear. We speak Christ.

First, we need to be unveiled and open. We need to come to the Lord and allow Him to shine on us to expose and remove any veils from our eyes.

We need His living light to scatter all our darkness and everything make bright.

When the Lord’s light shines into us, it brings in the image of Christ.

This illumination shines into our spirit through our mind.

If our mind are open, and unveiled, the Lord can shine and bring the figure of Christ, the image of God, into us.

This is a “spiritual and heavenly photography” which we need to practice in the church life today.

We first need to be unveiled and open to the Lord so that He may shine on us and bring us in a beholding of His glory.

Brothers and sisters, when we behold the Lord face to face in our spirit, we cannot but reflect Him, and our reflection will be the illumination of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shining out into others’ hearts (2 Cor. 3:18).

By dispensing God’s life and nature in Christ into God’s chosen people, the gospel of the glory of Christ shines forth God’s glory, in which God is blessed among His people (2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3, 6, 12, 14).

The gospel is a dispensing, a shining, an infusing; the element of God is infused into others.

Sadly to say, however, there are so many gifted, and educated people today who seem to be so knowledgeable but are so blind, for they have many veils covering their eyes.

They may even criticize and persecute the genuine seekers of the Lord and speak evil of the Christians because they are so veiled, so blinded.

It’s not their fault: they have been blinded. Atheists today worship Satan and unwittingly do his work.

We need to pray for them to be unveiled and see the Lord in glory.

When the divine light shines and they have an unveiled face, they cannot resist the glorious Christ.

It is the Lord’s mercy when His light shines, but we can cooperate with Him today to turn our heart to Him.

Whenever the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and we can behold the Lord with an unveiled face.

May we be unveiled and may we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ day by day, being infused with Him to have the illumination of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

And may we let Him shine through us to so many others to enlighten them and bring them to repentance, help them receive forgiveness of sins, and enjoy an inheritance with the saints that are sanctified by faith in Christ (Acts 26:19).

Lord Jesus, remove our covering so that we may see the light! Remove any veil from our eyes so that we may see You face to face. We love You, Lord Jesus, and we open to You. We simply want to be infused with You today. Shine in our hearts so that there is the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. May there be an enlightenment that causes us to know the glory of God in the gospel of Christ. Amen, dear Lord Jesus, bring our whole being fully in Your light and keep us walking in the light. Thank You for entrusting us with the gospel of the glory of Christ, the effulgence of the glory of the blessed God! Shine through us, Lord, so that Your life and nature may be dispensed into so many people, for You to be blessed among Your people! Amen, Lord Jesus, we pray that the god of this age will be bound, his blinding work exposed, and many will be unveiled to see the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ!

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, Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 9 (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 New Jerusalem Light Being God as the Glory and the Lamb as the Lamp— the Redeeming and Shining God, a portion via, The Application of the Interpretation of the New Jerusalem to the Seeking Believers, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Experience God as light, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Gospel of the Glory of God is for New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Notes on the Gospel of God, via, Conversant Faith.
  – The Glory of God Becoming Our Experience, article via, Living to Him.
  – My Personal Testimony – Pursuing Christ, Living the Church Life, and Enjoying the Ministry, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Beholding and reflecting to be transformed into the image of Christ, a portion from, General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, A – Part 2: Romans through Philemon, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
  – 2 Corinthians 3:18—Beholding and Reflecting the Lord with an Unveiled Face, article via, Bibles for America blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #423 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Myst’ry hid from ages now revealed to me, / ’Tis the Christ of God’s reality. / He embodies God, and He is life to me, / And the glory of my hope He’ll be. / Glory, glory, Christ is life in me! / Glory, glory, what a hope is He! / Now within my spirit He’s the mystery! / Then the glory He will be to me. (Hymns #948 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Unsullied blaze of glory! / O ever-radiant Face! / Thy rich, unfathomed story / Transfigures us in grace! / Made like Thee, soon, completely, / With love-lit eyes we’ll scan / God’s face unveiled so sweetly / In Thine, Thou Son of man! (Hymns #64 stanza 3)