TRANSFIGURATION
February 19/20, 2012
Seminary Student Nate Buchner
2 Cor. 4:3-6
I’m not a huge fan of the darkness. As a kid, I even had a fear of it. I didn’t like that feeling where I couldn’t see. I didn’t like the fact that I didn’t know what was around the corner, that there may be something really bad next to me. I even remember when I was down in the basement at night, I would run up the stairs after turning off the lights so I didn’t have to be in the darkness for very long. In life though, there is a darkness that is actually worth being scared about. Actually, it’s downright terrifying. You see, without Christ, we are lost in the absolute darkness of sin. But God does not leave us alone. Thus, we bask in glory of his light. The god of this age tries to blind our hearts. But God makes his light shine in our hearts.
Corinth, the city to whom Paul wrote, had a problem. They lived in a culture which was saturated with logic. Because of this, they sometimes evaluated the Christian preachers, like Paul, based on their oratory skills. Earlier, Paul had written them a letter in which he addressed this issue. However, at the time of our letter, 2 Corinthians, many of the people still had not learned. Instead of following the teaching of Paul, who in reality taught in Jesus’ name, some were tempted to follow men called the “Super Apostles.”
These “Super Apostles” didn’t put the truth forth plainly, but used deception and trickery to make their points. They then began to judge Paul because he didn’t use tremendous logic to get his points across. For, in the verse before our lesson, Paul says, “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” This type of attitude did not mesh with the teaching of those “Super Apostles.” They chose to add to the gospel, while Paul spoke the truth plainly.
At this point the Corinthians may have been wondering, “Paul, this setting forth the truth plainly doesn’t always seem to work! There are still a lot of people who don’t ‘get it.’” You yourselves may even be asking this question. Well, Paul then answers this question for them and for you in the next few verses. In verse 3 he says, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” This is quite a powerful statement made by Paul. He is reassuring the Corinthians that it is not because of his or the other Christian leaders’ preaching that the gospel is veiled.
He then further answers the question why it seems that the gospel doesn’t seem to work in verse 4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” What Paul tells us here is that the gospel is always powerful, and it does work. The problem does not lie within the gospel, but instead is found within the god of this age.
So then, who is the god of this age? Satan is this god. In another part of Scripture, Jesus had referred to the devil as the prince of the world. Here, however, Paul chooses god. Both the name “prince” and “god” are associated with someone powerful. But, the name “god” is even more powerful. Also, when you think of a god, it is something or someone which people follow. These are the reasons why Paul calls Satan “The god of this age.”
Secondly, Satan understands that he can’t change the fact that Jesus died to win salvation. Thus, he has to revert to “Plan B.” This is when Satan blinds men so that they can’t see the light of the gospel. And, sadly, Paul tells us that when people are blinded, they are perishing. Now, this blinding tricks people into thinking that the gospel is not sufficient enough to save us. This blinding can also deceive some into thinking the gospel is downright worthless.
For a moment, just take a look at the Gospel of our God. Think about it; what sane person wouldn’t think something more is needed? Think about how illogical the object of our faith seems to be. We believe in a God who became man. A man who lived 2000 years ago in a Roman providence in the Middle East, who came to this earth to teach us and to save us. What he said was that we can do nothing for our salvation, a teaching which goes completely against our culture where we must work in order to earn. On top of this all, since this man died, I can put my trust in him in order to get away from a bad place after life. And instead of going to this bad place, I will go to a different place where nothing bad happens? Finally, when you think about it, we have to admit that we can’t understand the logic in God’s plan. But when people try and find that logic, they begin to doubt and think that something else is needed, or they won’t even trust in God’s message at all.
Although Satan blinds unbelievers, he also attempts to blind the hearts of believers once again. He knows what both we and Paul preach, which is Christ crucified. For this reason, he tries to get our focus off of Christ and onto something else. The god of this world tempts us to try and harmonize God’s plan with our human reason. And since he can’t blind the Christ, he is forced to try and re-blind us. He asks us that nagging question, “Do you really want to believe in Christ for salvation? Shouldn’t you be doing something for your salvation?” Instead of basking in the glory of God’s light, the god of this age wants to make sure he has blinded our hearts.
However, although Satan wishes to blind us, God is working also. Thus we bask in the light that God causes to shine in our hearts. And this would not happen if God would not lead some men to say, 'For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” Can you imagine what Satan would do if we would begin to preach ourselves instead of Christ? Whenever preaching begins to focus on something else, the devil can jump in to attack. If the power didn’t come through the word of Christ and rather depended on those who speak to you, we’d all be in big time trouble. Satan can’t stand up to Christ, but he can sure go toe-to-toe with us. We are simply jars of clay, but yet, God has given us his precious message of his glorious light.
But God doesn’t stop there; he doesn’t just tell us what not to preach. But he himself, makes his light shine in our hearts. Paul makes this conclusion when he says, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Think back to Genesis chapter one and what God says about the beginning of time. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep.” Picture that. Absolute darkness. Absolute nothingness. And then, God spoke, “Let there be light. God’s voice roared out…and there was light. He, in his power, took the darkness, and he filled it with his light.
Again, imagine that utter darkness. That’s what kind of state we were in before God filled our hearts with light. And when God did this, he created light in our hearts. A light which allows us to see the glory of God. We know that although we are sinful, God chose his Son to save us. We deserved nothing, but God gave us everything. He gave, “us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” So, yes, now we have light. A light which is our Christ, the image of God. Our Christ, who showed a glimpse of his glorious light on the mountain of his Transfiguration, who laid waste to the power of Satan when he died for your and my sins on Calvary, and who showed his complete strength by dominating death and rising from the grave. And now, since God has opened our eyes with his light, we see that we are just jars of clay, that nothing special lies within us. Rather, we acknowledge the fact that our power lies in the crucified and risen Lord.
In the past, we were blinded with darkness. But, God worked in our hearts and gave us the knowledge of Christ, so that now we have his light and can see. However, this does not mean that we are on our own by any means. God continues to work within our hearts. Just as the god of this age constantly is trying to blind our hearts, so our God continually brings light into our hearts. Satan still tempts us to doubt God’s plan of salvation. But yet, every time that we hear the gospel of Christ, or partake in his sacraments, we can be sure that God is within us, strengthening the light of the knowledge of his glory. You see, in baptism Christ marked us as his own. Every day we can wake up and be reminded of Christ’s light just by thinking of our baptism. In his Holy Supper, we get to taste and see the light of Christ’s salvation. We get to partake in the body and blood of our Lord, a showing of the forgiveness of our sins. And finally, in his word, we can hear of how Christ won for us our light by dying on the cross for our sins. So then, when Satan comes around to tempt you, realize that you are not alone. He will try and veil the gospel and blind you, but God will be there also. And God will continue to let his light shine in your lives.
Without Christ in our lives, we would still be lost in our blindness, and the god of this age would love for nothing better for this to be the case. However, it is not. God has made his light shine in our hearts. He has given us the light of his Son, who has saved us from the darkness of our sins. But, this does not mean that the devil will stop from trying to re-blind us. At times like this, we see the strength of our God. We see our God who protects us to this very day and continues to give us his light, who is none other than our Christ. Our Christ, who vanquished the foe by his death, so that we may have the light of life. Therefore, we bask in the glory of his light.
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