Monday Meditation
January 04, 2016
From the desk of A.J. Higgins
The Gospel of the Glory of Christ
” … The light of the glorious gospel of Christ … ”
2 Corinthians 4:4
The gospel message is indeed glorious, but as Darby, Newberry, and a host of others translate this verse, it is the gospel of the glory of Christ which Paul preached and which shines into hearts at conversion. But even this rendering of the verse has two possible meanings. Does it mean that the gospel message brings glory to Christ? Or does it mean that the message of the gospel reveals the glory of Christ?
While both are wondrously true, it is obviously the second which is being emphasized here. The heralding of the gospel reveals the glory of Christ. The scene of His greatest shame is also that of His glory. Numbered amongst transgressors, He is revealed in all the incomparable worth of His Person.
If glory is, as we have been taught, the manifest of moral excellence, think of:
The Glory of His absolute selflessness. His Father’s honor and glory were His great priorities. He had come to do His will, to accomplish His work, and to fulfill His Word (Heb 10:5-9). But note as well that on the cross, He thought of His mother, Mary, of those who had crucified Him, and of a thief by His side. “Others” were ever upon His heart and not even the sufferings of the cross could reverse His priorities.
There is the Glory of His unrivaled love. At the moment when the hatred of men reached a high-water mark, when the flood gates of human and diabolic malice spewed forth in a relentless rage, He loved and gave Himself for us. The “many waters” of human evil were not able to quench His love.
There is the Glory of total Self-Control. Absolute omnipotence resided in Him, yet He had full control over it. No provocation, no reviling, no threats or taunts could provoke from Him the slightest response. He alone of all the sons of men had power to control His tongue. No word of bitterness erupted and no expression of anger was ever heard; it never even arose in His mind, much less escape from His tongue. No effort was made by Him Who possessed all power to use that power to vindicate Himself or extricate Himself. Divine omnipotence was under total control.
The Glory of His Unshaken Confidence in God was displayed. As the “author and finisher” of faith, He endured the cross with full confidence in resurrection and glory. The blasphemy of men, claiming that despite His life of trust in God, He was now being forsaken, did not move Him from the pathway of faith. The diatribes of men and the darkness of the heavens, the slander of the ungodly and the separation from God – nothing dimmed His absolute calm repose in His God.
The full description of His glories as seen at Calvary will take ages to unfold and to appreciate. Once the mind has begun to think on this theme, the streams of truth are endless. They are “the glories which eternal years shall never all unfold.”
Consider:
Trace additional themes of the glory of His humility, meekness, kindness, joy, longsuffering, and grace.
Contrast each of these with what was revealed of the heart of man at the cross.
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