“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.” [2 Cor. 3:18] What is this “glass” in which we may “behold the glory of the Lord”? He Himself tells us that it is “the face of Jesus Christ.” All the glory of God is reflected in the face of Jesus, and there we may see His perfect image.

We have been learning that Jesus is “the Light of the world,” and we may see His glory everywhere, for the whole earth is full of it. It shines forth in the light of the sun, and is reflected to us in all the bright and beautiful things that we see around us everywhere.

Now let us see what this light will do for us, if we really behold in it “the glory of the Lord.” Did you ever have your likeness taken? If so, you will remember how careful the photographer was to set you in a good light, in a place where the light would shine full upon you. This was so that you might reflect the light on to the plate that he had prepared, that the light so reflected might paint your image there.

All things that the light shines on reflect its rays into your eyes when you look at them, and this reflected light paints on the curtain at the back of the eye the picture of the thing itself. . . .

You know that when you look right into anyone’s eye, you see, in the pupil, a tiny picture of yourself. This is painted in the eye by the light reflected from you. Think then what will take place if you turn your eyes to the face of Jesus Christ, which will reflect into them all the glory of God. The light shining from His face will paint His image, not in your eyes only, but in “the tables of the heart,” if they are made ready by His Holy Spirit to receive it. And so you may become a living picture of the Lord Jesus Christ; 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.” [2 Cor. 4:6]

He not only shines upon you in the face of Jesus Christ so that you may see Him there, and learn to know and love Him; but that you, by “beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,” may be “changed into the same image.” Then you will be able to give the light of the knowledge of His glory and beauty to those who have not yet learned to look into the face of Christ for themselves. And as the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shines forth from you, there will be power in that light to change others also into the same glorious image.

Do not forget that you may see God in all the things that He has made,—that the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is shining upon you in all His works. And if in all these things you “behold your God,” when the image of the thing is blotted from your eye, the image of God whom you have seen there will remain in your heart, and He will shine forth in your eyes, and be heard in the kind of gentle tones of your voice, and felt in the loving touch of your hands, so that in you, one of the things that He has made, others will “behold their God.”

The Present Truth – August 11, 1898
E. J. Waggoner

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