The Light of Glory

The miraculous things Jesus did were connected with His claims of being the Son of God, the Messiah sent by God to be the Saviour of the world.  Early in the public ministry of Jesus, a Pharisee named Nicodemus made this observation in John 3:2:  "This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Jesus turning water into wine and healing the sick were signs that pointed clearly to the fact He was not an ordinary man of Nazareth.  We look for signs to help us navigate to our intended destination.  The preaching of Jesus concerning repentance and the Kingdom of God, combined with His righteous life and miraculous power, directed people to conclude He was either indeed the Christ or a charlatan.  His conduct on the cross alone signaled to a Roman soldier Jesus was surely a righteous man.  Jesus rising from the dead (just as He said) is the indisputable sign that has led disciples to this day to conclude He truly is the Son of God.

While Christians may not be known for performing miracles as frequently as Jesus, God has done and is doing something miraculous within each one of us who have been born again by the Gospel.  Having been justified by faith in Jesus, God has set us apart as His servants and continues to sanctify us, refining us to be more like Him.  The fact we all have a long way to go until perfection does not take away from how far He has miraculously brought us by His grace.  Whether we are baking in the kitchen, gardening or building, the use of our hands and clothes we wear will require washing for to be clean.  Similarly, while God has once for all freed Christians from the power and penalty of sin, we still fall short of His righteous standards; we still need to confess our sins, repent and return to the LORD.  We need regular washing in the water of the word to submit to God's continuous purifying, refining work in our minds and lives.

Because we continue to live in bodies of corruptible flesh after being spiritually born again, there remains physical weakness and frailty that is always inclined to return what Paul called "beggarly elements," turning to legalsim in pride, or imagining we can make ourselves acceptable by our efforts when we received salvation and forgiveness freely by grace through faith in Jesus.  There is a chance we can revert back to focusing on ourselves or on what others are doing rather than praising and glorifying God for what Jesus has done by obeying Him.  Paul acknowledged some people were blind to the Gospel, and they were prevented from recognising Jesus is the image of the almighty God.  He then wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:5-6:  "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. ⁶ For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Rather than promoting himself, Paul and his fellow bondservants to Christ chose to serve God's people for Jesus' sake.  A miraculous change occurred in the heart of Paul and other Christians when they were born again by faith in Jesus, for they gladly loved their enemies and rejoiced in trials for Christ's sake.  Their loving service was exercised with intent to "give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" to spiritually blind or their brethren.  Jesus is the only Man who ever lived who never needed to change, for He always lived to glorify the Father as the Servant of all.  Paul went from a Jewish Pharisee full of himself and drunk on authority to making tents to earn money so he could pay his way to travel and share the Gospel with Gentiles free of charge.  Paul's humble actions, personal sacrifice and relentless faithfulness to preach Christ rather himself truly was miraculous.  May it be the life and light of Jesus shines brightly through our lives so God is glorified and Jesus is better known by all who know us.