In 2 Corinthians 4:77But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2 Corinthians 4:7), we have three wonderful things before us. We have “this treasure,” in “earthen vessels,” and what is called “the excellency of the power,” or perhaps more accurately, “the surpassingness of the power” (JND trans.).
The Treasure
What is “this treasure?” I do not think the treasure is so much the estimate that my heart forms of Christ, as the value that God has found in Him. Surely the Lord Jesus Christ is to be a treasure to His people, for we read, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:3434For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:34)). Here, however, the treasure (which is, of course, Christ), is presented more as it is looked at from God’s side. Christ is His treasure.
How did that treasure come into the vessel? “It is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine, who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:66For 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. (2 Corinthians 4:6) JND). It is a wonderful thing to think of that sovereign grace in its actions as well as its purposes. How did light come into this dark world? “God said, Let there be light. And there was light.” (Gen. 1:3-43And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3‑4) JND). Just so spiritually in our hearts: God has shone in our hearts. It is God Himself shining, so that we may see the glory of God in the face of His beloved Son.
Saul of Tarsus, on the road to Damascus, saw “a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun,” and the Savior in glory was revealed in his soul. He is thus the living example of the way this blessed treasure is deposited in a man’s soul. The whole glory of God is thus expressed. We cannot understand one single thing about the glory of God, except as it is seen in the face of Jesus Christ, and it is in the presence of that glory that my conscience is dealt with. If we really see the whole glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ, we cannot help being challenged in the depths of our conscience, and that is the blessedness of it. The moment we have to do with God and Christ, we are convicted, and the earliest expression of our heart in the presence of that glory must be, “I abhor myself.”
The Earthen Vessel
Next, we observe where this treasure is placed: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” When man has anything valuable, he generally encases it in something that is also valuable. Not so with God. He takes His treasure, the costliest thing, the most valuable and precious to Him, and puts it in the most contemptible vessel that you could conceive—a poor, fragile vessel of clay. This is what he calls an earthen vessel; a poor, perishing, fragile vessel of clay.
But he has a purpose in this; it gives Him the opportunity of doing two things. First, His delight is to make everything of the treasure, and secondly, He is brings out the surpassingness of the power. There is not only the surpassing glory of the treasure, but the surpassing power with which He works in the vessel. Indeed, the vessel is not worth anything, but behind this poor vessel there is surpassing power. The whole power of God goes along with the poor vessel, into which He puts this treasure.
The Light Shining out
The picture alluded to here is no doubt Gideon’s army. They put the light into the pitcher, but the light never shone out until the pitcher was broken. They had to break the pitchers, and then the light shone. And no doubt the Spirit of God alludes to that fact here. You have the shining in of the glory, and you have the surpassing power working that it may shine out. These two things go together, namely, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shining into our poor earthen vessels, or pitchers, and the surpassing power of God that works through these vessels for the display of the brilliancy of Christ.
Do our hearts desire that? Is that our purpose and object? God will help us if we have such purpose of heart. Can we say to Him, I have only one desire, that I should be upon this earth a vessel in whom the display of the glory of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, should be found in every circumstance here? It is most wonderful grace on His part to bring us into such a place that we can have a like mind with Him, and to enable us by such surpassing power.
Surpassing Power
I may see one turning his back upon everything in this world, who has no interests here. What surpassing power is displayed in that man! I may see a poor creature lying on a bed of sickness, the poor body pressed down with disease, but instead of complaint, I see the blessed manifestation of Christ in meekness and endurance. What a surpassing power there is there!
That is what this ministry is able to do, and that is God’s thought about us in relation to it. And more than that, it is in these very circumstances that Christ is endeared to us, for He alone is our sufficiency for all.
This is the testimony that is really lacking at this moment. We may speak of doctrines, and we should be clear about them, but people are amazed to see so little of the practice of these doctrines, because they fail to see anything correspondingly in us. For that reason we read, “By manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:22But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2)). If believers did so, men would be forced to say, Though I dislike those people, yet at the same time my conscience must give this testimony, that they seek to please God. How good it would be, if we continually said, that “Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Phil. 1:2020According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. (Philippians 1:20)).
W. T. Turpin (adapted)