JESUS CHRIST: THE MIRROR

THAT CHANGES US

Mike Blume
March 6, 2005 pm

Scripture Text:   2 Corinthians 3:6-18 KJV  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.  (7)  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:  (8)  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?  (9)  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.  (10)  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.  (11)  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.  (12)  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:  (13)  And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:  (14)  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.  (15)  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.  (16)  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.  (17)  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  (18)  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 KJV  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.  (6)  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:17 KJV  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:   Message: GLASS is to be understood as MIRROR in 2 Cor 3:18. Paul EXPOSED people to the LIFE of Jesus Christ the Lord. He was not preaching himself. He preached Christ. He was EXPOSING hearts of people that were opened and UNVEILED to the GLORY of God. God's glory was in the face of Jesus Christ. Or the LIFE of Christ. The BEING of Christ. There is a very important reason for us to see the LIFE of Jesus Christ. It affects us. It affects people who have been united to Jesus Christ by way of baptism into Jesus Christ (Rom 6:3). God desires you to UNDERSTAND some things about Jesus Christ since it has a lot to do with your lives, if you are baptized into Jesus. Without the UNION to Jesus through baptism, these things will only be what CAN BE appreciated in your own life once you do get baptized into Him. So these truths only regard people who are saved and serving Jesus Christ. Old Testament rituals prepared for the time of Jesus Christ by way of SYMBOLIZING facts about Jesus we need to know. Leviticus 1:1-4 KJV  And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,  (2)  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.  (3)  If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.  (4)  And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. The ATONEMENT sacrifice was the sacrifice of a life that was to be considered the same thing as the sacrifice of the person who offered it. Laying hands on the sacrifice united the person to the offering, and it showed that God considered the death of the sacrifice to be the death of the person who offered it. All this was due to sin. Sin brings death. But God made a way that YOUR SIN could be dealt with by DEATH, and yet allow you to personally continue to live. SACRIFICE was that way. By having the animal KILLED IN YOUR PLACE, God considered YOU TO HAVE DIED, and therefore to have paid your debt of DEATH. Lev 1:4 says this quite plainly. IT SHALL BE ACCEPTED FOR HIM. It is to be considered THAT PERSON. It's death is that person's death. This was the ATONEMENT. Jesus is called OUR atonement. Romans 5:11 KJV  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. He is our sacrifice for our sins. Hebrews 9:7 KJV  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: A man called a HIGH PRIEST offered the blood of a sacrifice in the ATONEMENT ritual in the Old Testament times. He offered this for himself and for the errors of the rest of the people of Israel. Hebrews 9:11 KJV  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Jesus Christ is the TRUE AND ACTUAL high priest that this man simply represented in that ritual. Hebrews 9:12 KJV  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He offered his OWN BLOOD as a sacrifice. Therefore, it is no wonder that we read: Romans 6:3 KJV  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Jesus' sacrificial DEATH is considered OUR DEATHS when we are baptized into it. 3.    Like the people who offered a sacrifice in the Old Testament temple to be considered as their deaths to free them from sins, Jesus' death is considered OUR DEATHS after we are baptized into His death. Getting baptized is like going to the HOUSE OF GOD with a sacrifice, and saying "I deserve death for my sins, so I therefore offer this LIFE as MY LIFE to count as MY DEATH to free me from sins." That is why belief and baptism saves us (Mark 16:16). So we experience a UNION to Jesus Christ. ATONEMENT UNION, because He is our atonement, and atonement makes us ATONED for, or "at-one". We are AT ONE with Jesus. "AT-ONED." The Old Testament saints became one with the sacrifice’s death because they laid their hands on the head of the animal before it was slain. We become one with Christ’s death by water baptism into His death. And we all know people do not sprinkle dirt on a dead body when they bury it. For that reason, baptism is not accomplished by sprinkling. The word "Baptize" is a TRANSLITERATION (not just a translation) of the Greek term BAPTIZO, which means to IMMERSE. Also, Romans 6:5 teaches we are PLANTED by baptism into Christ’s death. When you PLANT a seed, you do not sprinkle dirt on it. You IMMERSE it in the earth. Water baptism is by immersion to indicate a co-burial with Christ into His death. But Jesus did not remain dead as the sacrifices of old did. He resurrected. So because we were united to Him in His death, that union also means that we were buried with Him, and resurrected with HIM, and ascended WITH HIM and seated WITH HIM IN heavenly places (Ro. 6:4-5; Eph 2:5-6; Col 1:11-12)! And there are a lot more facts about Jesus Christ that we are in UNION with all because we are in UNION with Him. Union to Him means all that He is now that which we need to understand is true for us! They are our QUALITIES and CHARACTERISTICS as well, due to union to Him. 1 Corinthians 1:30 KJV  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: More than just his death is now considered our's. His righteousness is our's. His wisdom is our's. Only when something true of Jesus is revealed to you can you REALIZE (make real) it in your own life. Since you are united to JESUS, everything true of Him, except His deity, is true of you. And there are many, many things true of Jesus that most believers know nothing about. And more importantly, most believers know nothing of the fact that everything that is true of Him, except deity, is intended for them to see as true for themselves. Paul said we look in a mirror when we look at the glory of God. 2 Cor 3:(18)  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Jesus Christ is called a MIRROR. This is exactly what Paul meant when he said our baptism into His death causes us to be able to claim we died with Him, and were buried and resurrected with Him. Since everything that is true of Him is true of us, HE IS LIKE A MIRROR when you look at Him. So if you want to know what is true about yourself as a Christian, since you were saved, look at Jesus Christ. Paul taught in 2 Cor 3 Moses represented the law from Mount Sinai, engraved on tablets of stones called the ten commandments. And the law had a glory as represented by Moses’ face when it was veiled having been too bright for the people to look at him after he came down from the Mountain. And the veiled face of Moses also represents the obscurity of the people’s understanding of the purpose of the law. They could not look towards the fulfillment of law and to it’s end. Law would one day be done away with, and Christ was the fulfillment, but these people in that time did not know that. The new covenant is far more glorious than the old, because it never is to be done away with, and yet at the same time Christ’s face was not veiled! You would think a greater glory would cause Christ’s face to be veiled even moreso than Moses’ whose face represented the lesser glory. However, when James, John and Peter saw the face of Christ shine in glory in Matthew 17, it was unveiled glory. Paul said this unveiled face of Christ represents the clarity of plainness of speech in it’s ministry. We know the mind of Christ! We know the purpose of our covenant! And Paul called Moses' law a MINISTRATION OF DEATH. The LETTER of the Mosaic law kills, while the MINISTRY OF SPIRIT gives LIFE. So gazing at Christ's more glorious face does not slay but gives life. And Paul said that something happens when you look at this mirror. We all know what mirrors do to us when we look at them. They show us what we are. They reveal to you your state of appearance. But THIS MIRROR is a different sort of mirror, although it certainly does show you your characteristics. It does not show you physical characteristics. We require a BASIS to understand ourselves as Christians. We need something to go to in order to learn about our qualities now. We go to a physical mirror in order to realize our physical appearance. By the same token, we go to a SPIRITUAL MIRROR in order to realize our SPIRITUAL qualities. Paul said WE ARE CHANGED into the same image of Jesus we see when we look at Jesus as our mirror. Many people look at Jesus, but not as their mirror. They look at Him skeptically as a foolish religious fanatic. Others see him as a great teacher, and some even say he is from God. And many Christians see Him as an EXAMPLE to MAKE THEMSELVES COPY in their lives. BUT HE IS MORE THAN THAT! And He is intended to affect us more than that. HE IS EVERYTHING WE ARE in the Spirit. We are in UNION TO HIM. His qualities are SHARED by us. We are not gods, though -- do not overlook this point. Our eyes cannot find the things in our selves we need to see. In fact, none of our five senses can discover these traits. Our five senses only appreciate physical traits. These traits we must see in this mirror of Jesus are SPIRITUAL TRAITS. And Jesus is the ONLY MIRROR that can show you such things. And Paul says He is like a MIRROR for a very good reason. Before you look in a mirror, you all understand you appeared to others in a certain way. You did not change when you looked in the mirror. It only SHOWED YOU what others already saw or would otherwise see lest you did not change after seeing it yourself by looking in the mirror. We look in a MIRROR in order to accomplish some CHANGES in our lives. And we already HAD THE TRAITS we will see in this spiritual mirror before we looked into this mirror. But the problem is that WE DID NOT KNOW THESE THINGS beforehand. GOD SAW THESE THINGS, but we did not. GOD ALREADY KNOWS what is spiritually true of you. In fact, the devil knows as well, and is frightened to think YOU WILL KNOW! When you look into this MIRROR of Christ, YOU START TO SEE THINGS that were already true of you since you were first saved! Another saw it, namely God. You did not, though. How does it CHANGE you into His image if they're already true of you and you see them in a mirror? Answer: YOU CHANGE IN THE MANNER YOU LIVE AND ACT. For example, we believe in miracles and healings today. However, imagine a Christian baptized into Christ's death who does not know they can lay hands on the sick and see them recover. They HAVE that ability, since they are in union with Christ, but they do not KNOW about it. When THEY FIRST SEE that this indeed is something they can perform, THEY CHANGE INTO CHRIST'S IMAGE. In other words, THEY START ACTING LIKE THEY CAN SEE HEALING IN PEOPLE. Previously, when someone was sick, they pitied the person and encouraged them as best they could. However, after seeing a revelation that as JESUS healed, so can they, THEY DO NOT JUST PITY AND ENCOURAGE. THEY HAVE CHANGED. THEY NOW PROCEED TO LAY HANDS ON THE SICK AND COMMAND THE SICKNESS TO GO. And there are many, many more facts about our lives as Christians besides ability for healing. The person who came into this understanding of healing probably thought there was nothing more to see aside from what the person already realized before. However, the person realized the potential for healing is inside them since they caught a revelation of it. A Revelation is something shown to you, revealed, that was VEILED from you previously. It was always there, but VEILED. God UNVEILED IT to you. And we must realize there are things we do not yet see that God wishes to REVEAL and UNVEIL to us, in Christ. So mark it down -- you do not see all there is for you to see at this time. THERE IS ALWAYS MORE TO SEE. This is not a physical mirror made from mercury. This is a spiritual mirror. TRUTHS. God's WORD relates these truths to you that you otherwise would never know without studying the Bible. Study JESUS CHRIST as related to us in the Bible. Study JESUS as you PRAY TO HIM. Let God REVEAL HIM TO YOU. Because when you see something in Him, realize IT IS ALSO THEREFORE PART OF YOU! ALL DUE TO YOUR UNION TO HIM. 2 Cor 4:6 says  that the KNOWLEDGE OF the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ SHINES INTO OUR HEARTS, like light shining in darkness in Genesis 1:2-3. Paul said that our hearts are UNVEILED when we turn them to Jesus. In other words, the manner in which you look into Him as a MIRROR is to BELIEVE he is the way, truth and life for you. Believe His words He said. Believe the New Testament is truly the words from God concerning salvation. And GOD WILL START UNVEILING TRUTHS TO YOU. You can KNOW these truths,. But if you do not love and believe them, you are not looking in the mirror, and nothing is shining into your heart. This MIRROR shows you TRUTHS. It is KNOWLEDGE of the GLORY OF GOD. This glory is in Jesus Christ. And the KNOWLEDGE of this glory is the truth of WHAT YOU ARE since you are IN JESUS CHRIST. What is being IN CHRIST? It is having been baptised into Him and having COME INTO UNION WITH HIM through your faith and obedience to His word. As knowledge comes into your mind of what your face and hair look like when you gaze into a mirror, KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S GLORY comes into your heart when you BELIEVE. It is GOD''S GLORY for you to be able to command sickness to depart from a person. You need MORE of the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S GLORY to come into your heart. Always more! God placed that KNOWLEDGE for you to receive IN JESUS CHRIST. So when you SEE something in Him, YOU ARE TO UNDERSTAND IT IS TRUE OF YOU. Jesus is our ATONEMENT. Since all of this is due to our ATONEMENT, being considered to have died with Jesus when He died as our sacrifice, we need to see some more elements of ATONEMENT in order to experience MORE revelation from God. .