Ever-Increasing Glory

This morning I am contemplating a few verses from Paul's second letter to the Church in Corinth.  He is talking a bit about the New Covenant and his comments are helpful and encouraging.  Here are the verses - 2 Corinthians 3:4-11,17-18 NIV:

[4] "Such confidence we have through Christ before God. [5] Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. [6] He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant---not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

[7] "Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, [8] will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? [9] If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! [10] For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. [11] And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!"

[17] "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

His first main point is that the New Covenant is a covenant of the Spirit, not the letter.  He is referring to the New Covenant, established by Jesus' blood, and announced by Him at the last supper (Luke 22:20).  This new covenant was prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer 31:31) 600+ years before it occurred, and it was clear from his writing that it would be a different covenant, one that was internalized, versus one that was written down with letters.

Rather than focusing on the differences here, Paul just does an overall comparison pointing to the significantly greater glory of the new covenant.  If the old is being replaced with something better, Paul's point is that it is probably going to be much better than we can probably imagine.  He is engaging the people by asking them to reflect on what was known to them, and then imagine something far better!  This final covenant will need no replacing, for it is eternal, full of freedom and life and ever-increasing in glory!  The people could reflect back on the events of the other covenants God had made in Israel's past and all the glorious ways He intervened on their behalf, and they could get a sense of what Paul was saying.  The church at Corinth included some Jews (1Cor 7:18-19), but it was largely composed of Gentile converts (1Cor 6:9-11, 1Cor 8:7, 1Cor 12:2) ( https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/related-articles/church-at-corinth), so Paul was relying on their understanding of the history of the Jews, much as we understand it.

Paul is building a reference grid for expectation and understanding this new covenant.  He unfortunately realizes that is almost impossible to do, as "what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory."  In other words, every we think is glorious now isn't even on the scale of glorious in the eternal experience of this new covenant, which is of the Holy Spirit, and brings us life and freedom.  This reminds me of famous verse from Isaiah 55:9 NIV: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."  There really is no comparison between what was seen before and what is to come, and that is amazing!

The part that gets me excited when reading this, is that we are fully in the new covenant now, and while we are not able to experience the fullness of it this side of eternity, we can certainly experience it in part.  The author of the letter to  Hebrews  writes in verse 10:1a NIV: "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming---not the realities themselves."  In the same way, we can experience some of what is available to us now in this New Covenant, but not the complete fullness.  We have been given the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, and He brings us life (2 Cor 3:6), freedom (2 Cor 3:17), wisdom (1 Cor 2:13), understanding (Col 1:9), power (Eph 3:16) and Love (2 Tim 1:7).  He provides us gifts to use (1 Cor 12:1-11) and fruit to experience (Gal 5:22-23) here on earth.  Our lives are meant to be a shining example in this dark age (Philippians 2:15).

Historically, in the Church, we have seen many great revivals and here is a list from the book "The 10 Greatest Revivals Ever", Towns and Porter, 2000.

1. The 1904 Revival, Beginning in Wales
Evan Roberts, Korea, Moravian, Azusa Street
2. The First Great Awakening, 1727-1750
Zinzendorf, Wesley, Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards
3. The Second Great Awakening 1780-1810
Cane Ridge
4. The General Awakening 1830-1840
Charles Finney, Hawaii, Jamaica
5. The Layman’s Revival 1857-1861
Phoebe Palmer, Lanphier, D. L. Moody
6. The World War II Revival 1935-1950
Billy Graham, Duncan Campbell, New Zealand
7. The Baby Boomer Revival 1965-1970
The Jesus People, The Prairie Revival, Asbury
8. The Reformation, 1517
Martin Luther, John Calvin, Zwingli, Knox
9. The Pre-Reformation Revival 1300-1500
Lollards, Wycliffe, Hus, Savonarola
10. Pentecost 30 A.D.
Peter, Ephesus, Paul

We have seen great and awesome miracles and signs from God, and we continue to see these things in our days see ( https://globalawakening.com/testimonies) or ( http://bethelredding.com/ministries/healing-rooms/testimonies) or the historical descriptions of the ministries of Smith wigglesworth or John G. Lake, to name only a few miraculous ministries.

His kingdom and His glory is ever-increasing, so one would expect that we will see even greater things that what have already come to pass!

This is something to be excited about, something to look forward to, and something to expect!  Come Lord Jesus!  Come Holy Spirit!

Amen and Amen!