THE Apostle is contrasting the law with Christ in 2 Cor. chapter 3. He says the law comes from glory, and was written upon tables of stone, and now Christ is come from glory too, and must be written upon the fleshy tables of the heart. The law was written in glory, and of course Christ must be. The law was written in glory upon tables of stone, and Christ the greater thing which is the ministration of righteousness, not written in stone, but upon the fleshy tables of the heart in glory. I say it affectionately, dear friends, you cannot get the impression of Christ but in the sphere where Christ is, and that is the real cause of the little knowledge of what Christ is practically. You have not been conversant with Christ in the sphere where He is. Here the tables were written in glory, and if the ministry of condemnation which is annulled was in glory, how much more shall the ministration of righteousness excel in glory. It must be in glory that Christ must be written upon the fleshy tables of your heart.
I do not want to distress any one, but I want to account for it. You say, “why have I so little of Christ about me?” The simple answer to the question is this― “You are not receiving the impression of Christ in the only place where you can receive the impression.” I must go where the person is to get an impression from the person. We cannot know Christ except where He is. It is as simple as possible, but the argument the Apostle uses is this: ―The law, which is the demand for righteousness, was from glory, then how much more the ministration of righteousness from glory. You have Christ in the glory―you have a man in the glory of God now.
When “the glory” retired from Israel, as we see in Ezekiel-driven away from the earth, for men actually drove it away, in the brightest spot in the retiring “glory” was the figure of a man. Thus when God sent one—His Son—came as a child into the world, “the glory of God” returned. It never returned to earth till then (Luke 2). Then it returned, as we are there told, “And, Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they wen sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. Foe unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Now you get a man who meets all the mind of God, first in private life then in public―I am only cursorily going over the history just to show you where you are― Here was a perfect man who has met the demands of the law in perfect righteousness. He has shown Himself perfect, both in private, and in public life. Nevertheless, rejected of men; John the Baptist put to death, He goes on to the Mount of transfiguration, and we see a man perfectly righteous in the glory.
From this point the Lord descends; and prepares for the judgment upon man, because of unrighteousness, and then under the judgment of God, He glorified him. When Jesus went out, He said, in John 13, “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.”
He is raised from the dead, and now there is a man, in the glory. He met all the righteous demands of God, not only in Himself personally, but on account of me; and therefore I have now a Saviour in the glory. I have got a Saviour, not a law now, but a Saviour in the glory. That is exactly the difference. This was what so astonished Saul of Tarsus. He had gloried in the law, but now he sees a Saviour in the glory.
I say, then, to every Christian, if “the glory” is not the easiest place for your soul, even when you fail, if the glory of God, the brightness of His own personal glory, is not the easiest place for your soul, you have not yet found, and you have not a Saviour in the glory. Where would a child feel happiest and safest? By the side of his father and his mother. And where should I feel happiest, and most secure. By the side of my Saviour and my Lord.