It was after midnight and I was lying awake, not thinking of anything in particular, when this popped into my mind:
When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is (I John 3:2)
I began to think about this because at first glance, it doesn't make sense. I have seen many things and I have seen many people, some of them countless times, but I have not become like them. Then I thought of another verse and I sensed that there was a connection:
This latter verse is the process and the other is the culmination, but what is the key?
The key is given in the verse -- "This comes from the Spirit of
the Lord." In I Corinthians 13:12, Paul says we see through a glass darkly, as if looking into a mirror that gives only a dim, blurred reflection.
How do we keep our faces unveiled as we behold the glory of the Lord in the Word of God as in a mirror and how are we changed into His image and how does the glory increase in splendour? "This comes from the Spirit of the Lord." Do I have no part to play? Of course! If my face becomes veiled, it means that there is something between my soul and my Saviour. I must constantly seek the cleansing and enabling power of the Blood. As I continue to look into the mirror, the Written Word reveals the Living Word. As I drink in His beauty, my longing grows to decrease so that He might increase until it is all of Christ and none of me; and I know "This comes from the Spirit of the Lord."
The more I look and read, the more I see of my once-crucified, now-risen Lord. I see that He is gentle, loving, kind, so merciful, so sweet and winsome. I see that He is awesome in purity, dreadful in holiness, absolute in sovereignty. The more I read, the more I look, the glory increases because more of Him is revealed.
A greater degree of glory is shown because "This comes from the Spirit of the Lord." There is something else that "comes from the Spirit of the Lord." He not only makes the Holy Scriptures a mirror to reflect the glory of the Lord to me, He wants to make me a mirror to reflect the glory of the Lord to others. When God looks at me, because and only because of my Blood-bought position, He sees Jesus. But in my day-to-day life, what do the people around me see? The people who are pleasant, those who are rude and unkind, those in that most dangerous place -- my own home; what do they see?
When we look into a mirror, we see ourselves. We don't see the mirror ... unless ... it is dirty or distorted. All of the people in my world are entitled to see Jesus in me and "it comes from the Spirit of the Lord" that they will ... unless ... I am dirty or distorted. By the cleansing of the precious Blood and the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, I see Jesus on every page as I look into the mirror of God's holy Word and He continues to reveal more. As my view of His glory widens, amazingly, my capacity to reflect His glory increases and "This comes from the Spirit of the Lord." If we see reflected in a mirror a lovely floral arrangement or a beautiful ornament, we don't praise the mirror; we turn immediately to look at the real thing and praise its beauty. It is not the reflector but the One reflected Who is exalted and praised.
One day it will be face-to-face, no longer looking into the Mirror to see Him but at last we will see Him just as He is. Our glorious joy for all eternity will be having the overwhelming endowment to truly radiate the dazzling radiance and holy character of our Saviour, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
How I long to faithfully use the holy Mirror and be a clean, undistorted mirror in preparation for that indescribable day.
My heart assures me that these things are so because "This comes from the Spirit of the Lord."
