August 19

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.—2 Corinthians 4:6.

CHRIST is the image and express character of his Father's glory, as the impression in the wax is of the form and fashion of the seal. There is no excellency in God, which is not completely, adequately, and distinctly, in Christ: so that in that glass wherein we may see him, we may likewise see the glory of the Father. Now the gospel is the face of Jesus Christ,—that which sets forth as lively his grace and spirit to the soul, as if he were present in the flesh amongst us. Suppose we that a glass could retain a permanent and unvanishing visible representation of a man's face within it; though he himself were absent, might we not truly say, This glass is the face of that man, whose image it so constantly retains? So, inasmuch as Christ is most exactly represented in his gospel, it is therefore justly by the apostle called the face of Jesus Christ; and the glass wherein we see the image and glory of God. As it is the same light which shineth from the sun upon a glass, and from a glass upon a wall; so it is the same glory which shineth from the Father upon the Son, and from the Son upon the gospel: so that in the gospel we see the unsearchable treasures of God, because his treasures are in his Son.

Here then we see, how, and wherein, we are to look upon God, so that we may abide his glory, and be comforted in the light of the knowledge of his glory. We must not look upon him in his own immediate brightness and essence,—nor by our bold curiosities pry into the secrets of his unrevealed glory, for he is a consuming fire, an invisible, an unapproachable light; we may see "his back-parts," in the proclaiming of his mercy; and we may see "the horns" or bright beams "of his hands," in the publishing of his law: but yet all this was under a cloud, or under the hiding of his power; "His face no man can see, and live." We must not look upon him only in ourselves. Though we might, at first, have seen him in our own nature,—for we were created after his image in righteousness and true holiness, yet now that image is utterly obliterated, and we have by nature the image only of Satan and the old Adam in us. We must not look upon him only in Mount Sinai, in his law, lest the fire devour us, and the dart strike us through: we can find nothing of him there but rigor, inexorableness, wrath, and vengeance; but we must acquaint ourselves with him in his Son, we must know him, and whom he hath sent together; there is no fellowship with the Father, except it be with the Son too.

We may have the knowledge of his hand, that is, of his works and of his punishments, without Christ: but we can not have the knowledge of his bosom, that is, of his counsels, and of his compassions; nor the knowledge of his image, that is, of his holiness, grace, and righteousness; nor the knowledge of his presence, that is, of his comforts here, and his glory hereafter, but only in and by Christ. We may know God in the world, for in the creation is manifest "that which may be known of him;" namely, his eternal power and Godhead. But this is a barren and fruitless knowledge, which will not keep down unrighteousness; for, "the wise men of the world when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations," and held that truth of him which was made known of him in the creation, in unrighteousness. We may know him in his law too; and that in exceeding great glory; "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power." But this is a killing knowledge, a knowledge which makes us fly from God, and hide ourselves out of his presence, and fight against him as our sorest enemy, and come short of his glory: therefore the law is called "a fiery law," or "a fire of law," to show not only the original thereof, for it was spoken out of the midst of the fire; but the nature and operation of it too, which of itself is to heap fire and curses upon the soul; and therefore it is called the ministration of death!

But now, to know the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, is both a fruitful and a comfortable knowledge. We know the pattern we must walk by; we know the life we must live by; we know the treasure we must be supplied by; we know whom we have believed; we know whom we may be bold with in all straits and distresses; we know God in Christ full of love, full of compassion, full of ears to hear us, full of tongues to commune with us, full of hands to fight for us, full of eyes to watch over us, full of power to preserve us, full of grace to transform us, full of fidelity to keep covenant with us, full of wisdom to conduct us, full of redemption to save us, full of glory to reward us. Let us, therefore, put ourselves into this rock that God's goodness may pass before us; that he may communicate the mysteries of his kingdom, and of his glory unto us; that by him our persons may be accepted, our prayers admitted, our services regarded, our acquaintance and fellowship with the Lord increased by that blessed Spirit, which is from them both shed abroad in his gospel upon us.