A reflection on the new birth and the glory of Christ filling His house, His saints.
“But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.” – Romans 8:29
“Then He brought me…and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, and I fell on my face.” – Ezekiel 44:4
“I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago–whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows–such a man was caught up to the third heaven…was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.” – 2 Corinthians 12:2-4
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” – Philippians 3:10
The greatest evidence of the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is our new birth. The greatest evidence of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is our walking with Him in power by the Holy Spirit. Is there any explanation other than “God has done this?” Ten years ago, I sat down with a man under my charge at around 9:30 PM. Our first encounter a few months earlier started off with him asking “what my deal was.” In the military, it’s easy to stand out as a Christian, not partaking in the “pattern of this world.” I knew what he meant, and when I told him that I was a Christian, he said, “Oh, this is going to be interesting!” Honestly, I was reluctant to sit with him because of the late hour, the extremely long training day, and the prospect of waking up in only 4-5 hours to do it again. I sat with him for the first hour listening intently to his confident and arrogant explanation of life from his sadly misguided perspective.
After this, he said, “So what is your answer?!” I sat there for about 10 seconds and my eyes began to fill with tears of God’s love for him. I said, “I have no argument for you. I can only tell you what the Lord Jesus did in my heart 10 years ago.” As I briefly walked him through my pre-Christian life, the miracle of my new birth, and the transformational work of the Holy Spirit since, his eyes filled with tears and he exclaimed, “You have to meet my uncle!” (His uncle is a Christian.) Now, I did meet his uncle, but the point of the story is that Truth always triumphs, and the new birth is a miracle because the virgin birth was a miracle. The impossible became possible because God incarnate entered time. The impossible became possible when God sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts! The man said to me, “I know everything you’re saying is true!” God had dismantled his well-constructed system and argument with Christ’s testimony in my heart!
“I was also with you in weakness and fear, and in great trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” – 1 Corinthians 2:3-4
The Apostle Paul, while appearing before both the Jews (Acts 22) and the Gentile rulers (Acts 26), shared with them the miraculous work of God in his new birth and post-new birth life.
“None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” – 1 Corinthians 2:8
At the conclusion of his testimony to the Jews, they shouted, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!” When he concluded his testimony with the Gentile rulers, Festus exclaimed, “Paul, you are out of your mind.” Agrippa (of Jewish background to which Paul appealed) said, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” And the heart of our Heavenly Father shines through in Paul’s response, “I would wish to God that even in a short or long time not only you, but also all who hear me this day would become such as I myself am, except for these chains.”
This man, who had so clearly seen the Man in glory Whom he preached, who he had so desired for his life to be consumed by, who proclaimed Him everywhere the Lord sent him, was in prison near the end of his earthly life and wrote, “that I may know Him.” After 30 years of walking with our Lord, 30 years of multiple unspeakable revelations and visions in the Spirit, and 30 years of fellowship with our Lord he says, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
How captivating and all-consuming is that Heavenly Man! How glorious! What exactly did Paul see in these heavenly visions and revelations? Well, we can conclude from His letters that He saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to full maturity in His Body. Is that not evident? He saw the distinction between two opposing humanities. “The first man, Adam…the second man…the Last Adam.” The Last Adam, “the firstborn among many brethren,” is “bringing many sons to glory.”
God’s man of the hour in a time of spiritual collapse was His prophet, Ezekiel. “God spoke in many ways…” After all the horrendous events that Ezekiel endured personally as an archetype of the kind of horror of God’s righteous judgment that Israel would endure, God showed Him His house. What a message of hope after such turmoil! What a picture of “the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow!” “The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord…” What was his reaction when he saw that glory-filled house? “…and I fell on my face.”
Brothers and sisters, when the Lord Jesus entered our hearts at our miraculous new birth, the glory of God came in! What a message of hope! It is the progressive unveiling of “Christ, Who is our life” in our hearts in our daily lives, as we walk with Him, talk with Him, live with Him, lovingly and willingly submit to Him in everything, “not my will but Your will…” where we are changed into His moral image and likeness. He is the imprint and exact representation of God’s nature. And that same eternal imprint is in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit! And together, TOGETHER, as God’s chosen people, His royal priesthood, His Body we are individually transformed in His image and corporately “conformed to the image of His Son.” Remember? “The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” Who is that house? Who is Head over that house? God sees His House and the Head over the house as one. “The two have become one,” “a mature man” (Ephesians 4, “man” is singular in the Greek = Head and Body). “That they may all be one as We are One.” It is none other than “the firstborn among many brethren” and His miraculous expression in “jars of clay.” What an incredible calling!
By God’s immeasurable grace, may we see that the circumstances of life where we find ourselves are the very places where He Himself desires to be preeminent. “We who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh…though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”
“My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” – Galatians 4:19 (See also our Lord’s intercession for us in Hebrews 7:25 and the Holy Spirit’s unutterable groaning in Romans 8. Do they not reflect the same heart the Apostle expressed to the Galatians?)
“Looking for and hastening the Day…”
Your brother,
Eric