Christ is sanctifying, cleansing, nourishing, and cherishing us in order to present to Himself a glorious church. Contrary to the religious concept, this presentation will not take place suddenly, without any preparation, when the Lord Jesus appears in His coming back. Rather, Christ’s presentation of the glorious church involves a process which began at the time of the Apostles and which has been going on throughout the centuries. Today we also are participating in the process through which Christ is presenting the glorious church to Himself. This presentation is the goal of His sanctifying, cleansing, nourishing, and cherishing.
Since the day we first called upon the Lord Jesus and received Him into us, He has been seeking opportunities to work Himself into our being. The more His element is worked into us, the more we are saturated with Himself and the more we are sanctified, cleansed, nourished, and cherished. The ultimate consummation of this process will be the presentation of the church to Himself in glory.
Christ’s working Himself into us is not a matter of behavior or self-improvement. It is a matter of our being inwardly saturated with the Shekinah glory of God. Suppose a steel rod, hard, cold, and black, is thrust into fire and held there. Eventually, the fire will saturate the steel and cause it to glow. In this way the steel loses its natural color and becomes white hot. In a sense, the color of the steel is swallowed up by the fire. Now the steel is shining, glowing. However, it would be useless, even ridiculous, for someone to teach steel to shine. What can cause the steel to shine is not teaching, but burning. It must be burned until fire has saturated its very substance. This will cause the steel rod to become a bearer of light. If this steel is to keep on glowing, however, it must remain in the fire. If it is kept out of the fire for any length of time, its natural color and darkness will return. In a similar way, what we need today is not doctrine in letters; we need to be burned by Christ and saturated with Him as the indwelling glory of God.
I can testify that most of the teachings I received in Christianity did not afford me very much help. They actually hindered me and frustrated me from going on with the Lord. Today to me the Bible is not mainly a book of teachings, but a book that reveals the Person of the living Christ. As I read the Word, I open to the Lord, and immediately I experience His burning within me. Since I have His burning, what need do I have for mere teachings?
In John 5:39 and 40 the Lord Jesus said to the religionists, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that testify concerning Me; and you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” These verses indicate that religion may even help people to honor and respect the Bible, but that very respect for the holy Word may be used to keep them away from the presence of the living Christ. If we read the Word properly, it should always bring us to the Lord. Whenever we come to the Bible, we must also come to Him so that we may have life.
We have seen that God’s desire is to obtain a glorious church. Only Christ who is the expression of God’s glory can make the church glorious, for only He Himself is the fire of glory that burns His glory into us. Moses had an experience along this line. After Moses had spent forty days in the Lord’s presence on the mountain, the skin of his face shone with God’s glory (Exo. 34:29-35). The glory of God had been burned into him. This was not the result of religious teaching; it came from directly beholding the glory of God.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul tells us that we all, with an unveiled face, need to behold and reflect as mirrors the glory of the Lord (Gk.). Pay attention to the term “unveiled face.” This term indicates a face that used to be veiled and from which the veil has been removed. I am deeply concerned that many of us are still veiled by religious concepts and teachings. Oh, how we need a face unveiled to behold the Lord! Hence, we all should pray, “Lord, remove the veils from me.”
How pitiful it is to be veiled. Nevertheless, many believers are covered by layers of veils they do not even realize are there. For this reason, Paul was burdened that the saints would be unveiled. Then with unveiled faces we can behold and reflect the glory of the Lord. In this way we are genuinely transformed from one degree of glory to another. Such a transformation takes place through the Lord Spirit. Therefore, we do not behold doctrines and teachings; we behold the glory of the Lord. Moreover, we are not taught or corrected, but we are transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory.
In the Lord’s ministry we are fighting to remove the veils from the saints. How subtle is the influence of religion! Its subtlety is seen in the fact that it causes the Lord’s people to become veiled. Although many are sincerely seeking the Lord, they have been completely veiled by religion with its teachings and concepts. Therefore, I say once again that we are here not for doctrine in letters, but for the genuine recovery of the experience of Christ. We all need an unveiled face to behold the Lord.
Various things can be veils to us today, just as they were veils to the Jews. The Jews were veiled by the Scriptures, by the law, by the ordinances, and by Judaism as a religious system. Today Christians are veiled especially by teachings and ordinances. I am burdened that all the veils would be removed so that the saints may have an unveiled face to behold the glory of the Lord.