"Transformed to the Image of God" Sermon: II Corinthians 3:12-18

“Transformed to the Image of God”
[II Corinthians 3:12-18]
April 3, 2011 Second Reformed Church

I want the make sure we all understand where we are and what we have seen, so I would like us to say a few things together. Please repeat after me:

“God created us in the Image of God.”

“That means we have dominion over the Creation.”

“That means we are to care for the Creation.”

“Sin has corrupted the Image of God in us.”

“God will restore the Image of God in us.”

Thank you. That is what we have seen over the past few weeks, and today we look at the second of three words that Paul uses to describe how God will restore the Image of God in us. Last week we saw that God will conform us to the Image of God. That is, God will make us like unto the Image of God Who is Jesus. God is making us like Jesus in the way that Jesus has dominion over the Creation. That includes our receiving a new, physical body at Jesus’ Return and our reigning with Him over the Creation now and in the Kingdom.

Today, we are looking at the idea – and the word – that God is transforming us into the Image of God. What does it mean to “transform” something? If we “transform” something, we change it from one thing into another thing. The word “transform” is also associated with the word “transfigure” – we look at that more shortly.

At this point in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, Paul is explaining to the Corinthians that the confidence he has before God is not based on his keeping of the Law, but based on Christ. Paul explains that the Law was a “ministry to death” – the Law told humanity what God demanded, what sin is, and what the punishment for disobedience is – the Law shows us that no one is right with God – but it does not tell us how anyone can become right with God. It has been calculated that there are 613 laws in the Old Testament, but no way to become right with God in the end.

That does not mean that the Law is bad or makes us do what is wrong. Paul explains that the Law does reveal God and His Glory, but it does so as through a veil. But through Jesus, in God becoming Man, in Jesus Christ being the Image of God, the veil was lifted and the Glory of God was revealed.

Paul explains in this morning’s text that we have hope that the glory that we see in reading the Law has become a permanent glory that we will enter into through Jesus. Paul tells the Romans that when Jesus returns, all those who believe in Him – and the whole Creation – will enter into “the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21b, ESV). We will have the Image of God restored in us – we will be perfected and made like Jesus.

Because we know that God has come to earth in the Person of Jesus, lived, died for our sins, risen from the dead, and ascended back to His Throne, we have hope – a sure confidence that it will surely happen – that we have been received by Jesus into His Kingdom and He will restore us and perfect us and glorify us.

For example, God gave the Law, and God’s Glory can been seen and known through the Law – like a lightbulb in a lamp. But if mud is poured over the lamp, or a curtain is drawn around the lamp, it will be difficult to see the light – the glory of the lamp – right? In the same way, our sin – humanity’s sin – has put a veil between us and the Glory of God in His Law. There is a veil in front of us keeping people from fully seeing the Glory of God Who dwells in us – and from seeing the Image of God (which is now broken and marred) in us.

And, since we, ourselves, are sinners, we cannot bear to look on the fulness of God’s Glory, even as it is revealed through the Law. Paul calls his readers to remember the veil Moses wore:

When Moses was on Mount Sinai, God gave him the Law, and God told him that Moses had found favor in God sight. “Moses said, ’Please show me your glory.’ And [God] said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name. “The Lord.” And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live.’ And the Lord said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen’” (Exodus 33:18-23, ESV).

Moses asked to see God’s Glory face-to-face, and God gently told him that if he were to see God’s Face, he would die, but God would do this – God would put him behind rock and allow him to see what he could see of God’s Back – Moses would be allowed to see the Glory of God, but in an extremely indirect way. He was allowed to see all that a sinful human being could possibly see.

What was the effect of this?

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward, all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him at Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

“Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out, and when he came out and told the people of Israel what he commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him” (Exodus 34:29-35, ESV).

Because Moses had indirectly seen the back of God’s Glory, his face – his skin – shone so brightly that the people asked him to wear a veil – the light of the Glory of God coming off of his face was so bright, they couldn’t stand to look at it.

Have you ever looked directly at the sun? You can’t do it for very long, can you? And when you look away, you have spots and lights in your vision. We have sunglasses to block some of the brightness – the glory – of the sun from our eyes.

Moses went before the Presence of God and received indirect Glory from God, but it was enough that the people covered their eyes and asked Moses to put on a veil. Moses would come out from meeting with God, and the people would cover their eyes, “Moses The veil We can’t take the glory.” The Glory of the Back of God that reflected off of the face of Moses was too much, because the Light reveals the Truth – sinful human beings collapse under their guilt when the Light is shone upon them.

Paul tells us that sinful human beings have hardened their hearts and affixed a veil over their eyes to keep from seeing the Glory of God, so a mere human being who hears or reads the Law of God cannot understand it – he cannot see it – she has been given the Law of God in which His Glory can be seen, and we all said, “God. It’s bright. Cover it up. We’re hardening our hearts. We don’t want to look at it. It hurts. It’s burning away because of our sin. We would rather stay in the dark.”

The Law and the Glory of God to sinners is like garlic to a vampire – “Keep it away ” And Paul tells us that the biological decedents of Israel, and all mere human beings, hardened their minds against God, so “when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted.”

Martin Luther struggled with this: in writing about the Jews, he confessed that he couldn’t understand why the Jews didn’t come to faith in Jesus – their Messiah – their Savior – when he showed them how clearly Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the Promised Savior.

The problem was not Martin Luther’s ability to convey the Truth of the Scripture, the problem was that humans have hardened their hearts and minds, so that when they read and hear the Scripture, it is veiled and covered, so they cannot see it or hear it clearly.

That is not an excuse for us not to prepare and study and know all that we can know and present the Gospel as clearly and as well as we can. We are to do everything to make the Gospel clear and known throughout the Creation, but I cannot convert anyone and you cannot convert anyone. We are responsible to tell others to the best of our ability; we are not responsible to convert people to Christianity, because we can’t. We cannot soften the heart or mind or remove the veil that the natural man has affixed over his eyes. We are to call every man and women to repentance and faith in Jesus as the Only Savior.

“Because only though Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.”

Glorious Good News As God is willing, God, Himself, removes their veil and softens our stony hearts and minds and causes us to received Jesus and His Gospel. God is the Only One Who can bring someone to faith. God is the Only One Who can transform a person from a rebel who hates God to a son or daughter who loves God.

When God transforms a person from a rebel to a son or daughter, suddenly, God’s Law is glorious One is no longer a slave to sin condemned by the Law, but a slave to God in freedom. We are not free from obedience, but free from condemnation. So, now we look to the Law of God and see God’s Glory in it. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” As Paul writes, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba Father ’” (Romans 8:15, ESV).

We now long to see the Glory of God, as Moses did. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

All those who have believed in Jesus have had the veil removed from their faces – you and I now see with unveiled face. We can look to the Scripture and see the Glory of God and the Truth of Salvation in Jesus Alone in God’s Word. We can understand the Scripture because we now know Jesus; the Scripture does not make sense until we see Jesus in it.

And it is only through Jesus that we can see the Glory of God. Human beings cannot look at God the Father, Who is Spirit, and live. We cannot look at God and see Him because He is Spirit; He does not have a physical body that we can see. Except – in Jesus. In Jesus, we see the Glory of God and the Image of God perfectly revealed before us. We now see Him through His Word, and in the Kingdom, we will look upon the Glory of God through Jesus.

The Glory of God was revealed through Jesus on earth, as we read, “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only” (Matthew 17:1-8, ESV).

All those who believe in Jesus Alone for Salvation will be able to see Jesus Transfigured – you and I will look upon the Glory of God through Jesus. John writes in his description of the New Jerusalem, “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its light is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there” (Revelation 21:22-25, ESV).

Jesus will banish all darkness and sin from the Kingdom by the very radiance of the Glory of God in Him. And we will be able to look upon the Glory of God and see His Image Who is Jesus – and live.

But we’re not there yet: we “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” We are being transformed into the Image of Jesus by degrees. God, the Holy Spirit, Who lives in us, is changing the broken Image of God in us into a restored Image. Just as the Light of the Glory of God shone forth from Jesus, because He is the Image of God, the Holy Spirit is purifying us – making us holy – sanctifying us – burning away the dross – removing all our imperfections – degree by degree, until that final day when Jesus brings us into His Glory.

Picture, if you will, a holy fire, burning out from within us – the Refiner’s Fire – which is transforming us into pure gold, to the Glory of God.

One of the ways that God works to transform us into the Image of His Son is through our receiving the sacraments. We will soon meet with Jesus in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. As we receive the bread and the cup, Jesus is spiritually present and gives us grace to be and do all that He has called us to be and do. We are strengthened, matured, and transformed – form one degree to another –as we receive the elements in faith. The bread and the cup are not Jesus and they do not become Jesus; they remain bread and cup, but Jesus meets with us and gives us His Grace, which the Holy Spirit applies to us and works through us that we might be transformed.

So, let us have hope: all those who have believed in Jesus Alone for Salvation are being transformed – from one degree to another, until completion on the last day – to the Glory of God. And we shall behold Jesus in all His Glory, and be with Him, perfected and restored to His Image in the world without end.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for this extraordinary promise – that we who believe are being transformed into Your Image. Help us to work hard by the Power of the Holy Spirit to follow after You and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Creation. Keep us in that Hope that our faces are unveiled, and we shall soon see You, Our God, face-to face. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.