4) He is also set before us as the Object to which we are to be conformed. This is implied in what we have just considered, but we have it distinctly set forth in another scripture. We are thus told that God has predestinated us "to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). The Apostle likewise alludes to the fact when he says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2. But it is the Apostle Paul who brings out this truth in its most definite form. Writing to the Corinthians, and contrasting the ministry of righteousness with the ministry of condemnation, and being led to state the full and blessed place into which believers are now brought, he says, "We all, with open [unveiled] 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 Cor. 3:18. He refers to Exodus 34, where we read that Moses was compelled to put a veil upon his face to conceal the glory that lingered there (after he had come down from the mount, where he had been with the Lord forty days and forty nights), because Aaron and all the children of Israel "were afraid to come nigh him." "And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he took the veil off, until he came out." (vv. 28-34.) Only Moses went in, under that dispensation, before the Lord with unveiled face; but now we all—all believers—with open (unveiled) face behold the glory of the Lord, etc.
The truth then is, that all who are in the Christian place and position are set down in the light, as God is in the light; and there they behold with unveiled face the glory of the Lord. Christ in glory is the Object on which they gaze. This was shown, albeit in an extraordinary way, in the death of Stephen.
"He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." Acts 7:55. This scene is significant from the fact that now the heavens are opened for every believer, and that he therefore sees by faith, without a veil, with nothing between, a glorified Christ at the right hand of God. For upon the death of Christ the veil was rent, expressive of the fact that the atonement He made by His death was accepted by God as a full and complete answer to all the claims of His holiness, so that He could now come forth in all His grace and love to meet the sinner and bring him in, through faith in Christ, unto Himself, to dwell in His own immediate presence, in the holiest of all. Such is the place of every saint of God.
A caution, however, may be needed. It is undoubtedly true that this place belongs to every believer; but it is another and, indeed, a most momentous question, whether we are occupying it. We are brought into it according to the efficacy of the work of Christ, and through His death and resurrection; and it is thus our blessed privilege to be ever occupied with Christ as our Object. God would have us thus occupied; for He would have us share His own delight in gazing upon the face of Him who has retrieved His glory by becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Are we then occupying the place into which we have been brought by the grace of our God, and having fellowship with Himself as to the Object of His own heart? Perhaps there is no greater danger at the present time than knowing the full truth of our position without seeking to answer it practically. But if we boast in our standing, and neglect our state, we fall into the very evils which characterized the Jews in the time of our Lord. It should, therefore, be a very solemn matter of inquiry with us whether we maintain the attitude of Stephen—whether our faces, like his, are ever turned upward to the glory of the Lord.
But the marvelous thing is, that the Christ we thus behold as our object, is the model to which we are to be conformed. God, according to the purposes of His infinite grace, and delighting to mark His appreciation of the work of Christ, will have us to be like Him whom He has glorified. Even now we can say, ''As He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17); that is, our acceptance, even now 'while in this scene, is as perfect as His at the right hand of God. But the time will come when we shall be fashioned after His own likeness, when even these poor bodies of ours shall also be conformed to the likeness of His glorious body. 'What grace! That we-such as we were, and such as we are—should be able to raise our eyes to Christ in glory, and be permitted to say, "We shall be like Him"!
How, then, we may inquire, is this change wrought out in us? This same scripture gives the answer—"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 Cor. 3:18. While on the one hand Christ in glory is the model to which we are to be conformed, beholding Him, there is, on the other, the instrumentality in the power of the Spirit by which it is effected. How simple! We behold and are changed -changed into the same image from glory to glory-for it is a gradual process-as by the Spirit of the Lord. We receive the impress of the One on whom we look; the rays of the glory of His face falling on us, penetrate into, and transform us morally into, the likeness of our Lord.
Herein then lies our responsibility. The Object is before us; before Him we stand with unveiled face, and it is divine power alone that can mold us into His likeness; but the activity of that power -through the Spirit—God has been pleased to connect with our beholding. Who the n would not ever stand with upturned face, catching every ray of the glory that falls from such an object, in the earnest desire to obtain growing conformity to Him on whom we gaze? This is the secret of all growth in grace -uninterrupted contemplation of Christ on the Father's throne. But it should be remembered that it is only increasing likeness we attain even by such a process. Full conformity waits, as the Apostle John teaches, for the moment when we shall see Him as He is. There is no perfection therefore here, since God's standard of holiness is Christ in glory; and He will never rest until we are perfect according to it. May we keep our eyes ever upon the Object, that we may daily grow in resemblance to Him to whom we are to be conformed!
"To see Thy glory, and to be In everything conformed to Thee."
5) Since He is God's Object, He is also ours; for our fellowship is with the Father as well as with the Son (1 John 1:3). When He was down here on the earth, twice a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son." He was all God's delight, and God rested in Him with perfect complacency. Ere He left this scene He said, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again." John 10:17. By the work which He accomplished on the cross, glorifying God therein, even about the question of sin, and laying the foundation on which God could righteously save the believer, and reconcile all things to Himself (Col. 1:20), He established a new claim upon God. Hence He said, in anticipation of the cross, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him." John 13:31, 32. And God has done it, and Christ, the glorified Man, now sits at His right hand; for God rejoiced thus to respond to the claim which had thus been established upon Him, and (if we may reverently use the word) to mark thus His estimate of the value of His work. There He sits, the Object of God's heart as well as the center of the glory; and God feasts upon the One who has vindicated His honor, glorified Him in every attribute of His character; and He invites us to participate with Him in His own joy. This is what we are called to-to share with God in His thoughts and affections concerning His beloved Son. He is enough for the heart of God, and surely also enough for ours; and if He fills the eye of God, He may well absorb our gaze.
It is well for us to consider this aspect of the truth. It is not only that Christ is a Savior suited to all our needs, but He is one who is suited to the heart of God-the Man after God's own heart. And God would have us prize Him according to His own thoughts of His value and preciousness, to enter into and rejoice with Him in His appreciation of the worth of Him who gave up all for His glory. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2:9-11.
And as He is our Object now, so He will be throughout eternity. We shall be ever with the Lord. Himself will be with us—the Lamb that was once slain-then, as now, the Man—for He will nevermore lay aside the humanity He has assumed; and then He will fill our gaze and our hearts, perfectly an d completely. What an infinite study to trace out and contemplate His varied and manifold excellencies! We shall see His face, and shall never weary of drinking in His beauty! We shall hear His voice; and oh, how we shall hang upon every word that falls from His lips! And all that we see and hear will but fill our souls with ineffable delight, and our ceaseless joy will be to prostrate ourselves at His feet in adoration and praise. Lord, in anticipation of this time, turn our eyes from all that might obscure Thee from our view, and Thyself attract and occupy us altogether!
"Thou art the everlasting Word,
The Father's only Son; God manifest,
God seen and heard,
The heaven's beloved One; Worthy,
O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow.
"In Thee most perfectly expressed
The Father's self doth shine;
Fullness of Godhead, too, the Blest-
Eternally divine.
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow."