Second Corinthians 3:17-18 says, “And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” In these two verses, there are five important matters. The first is the Lord, the second is the Spirit, the third is freedom, the fourth is glory, and the fifth is image.
Verse 17, which says, “And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” joins three of these matters together—the Lord, the Spirit, and freedom. Verse 18 then says, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding...the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” This shows us that when we behold the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into His image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. This verse joins all five matters together. At the beginning of verse 17, there is the Lord Himself; at the end of verse 18, there is the image of the Lord; and in between these two matters are three others—the Spirit, freedom, and glory. To go from the first item to the last—from the Lord to the image of the Lord—we need to pass through the Spirit, freedom, and glory.
Maturity in the Christian life is to go from having the Lord to having the Lord’s image. In other words, to go from having only the Lord to having the Lord’s image as well is the way for a Christian to mature in life. The Lord is the Spirit, and when we were saved, He entered into our spirit. Our spirit is the center of our being. Around this center are the different parts of our soul. Originally, we did not have the Spirit of the Lord, the Lord Himself, in our being—neither in our spirit nor in our soul. We also did not have the elements of the Lord. Therefore, we did not have the form of the Lord or the image of the Lord. When we got saved, God regenerated us, and the Spirit of the Lord entered into our spirit. From then on, this Lord Spirit has been in our spirit and has been trying to spread from our spirit to our soul. In order for Him to do this, He has to pass through a gateway. This gateway is our heart. The heart is a gateway between our spirit and our soul, joining the spirit to the soul. If the heart does not open the gate and allow the spirit to be released, the Spirit has no way to get into the soul. Therefore, 2 Corinthians 3:16 speaks of the importance of the heart. It says, “Whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” The veil is taken away because the heart turns to the Lord. This means that in order for us to be face to face with the Lord, our heart must turn to the Lord.
Although we have been saved, instead of being toward the Lord, our heart is often toward many things other than the Lord. Because our heart turns away from the Lord, there is a veil between the Lord and us. We cannot see Him, and we are not able to fellowship with Him face to face. This is the situation until the day that our heart turns to Him, and the veil is taken away. Then we see Him and are face to face with Him. This shows us that the heart is the key. The fact that the heart is between the spirit and the soul means that the heart is between man and the Lord. If a man’s heart is toward the Lord, he is face to face with the Lord, and he can fellowship with the Lord directly. However, if his heart is toward things other than the Lord and is turned away from the Lord, there will be a veil, a barrier, between the Lord and him. If a person closes his heart to the Lord, he locks the Lord in his spirit. If the heart is turned away from the Lord, the Lord is detained and held in the spirit.