“For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing that we have such hope, we use great plains of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and whereto Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 3:11–18
And what gift was brought in, if not that righteousness be by the grace of God, and not by the dry diligence unto scripture? The Righteousness of God, whom is an invisible spirit is not by the reading and adherence unto the law of God without the heart, but by the earnestness of wholehearted rejoicing in the promises of God according to his Word; that it be evident in those of his house, even the Israel of God, that the fruit of the Spirit of God: being peace, love, joy, faith, meekness, goodness, gentleness, temperance, and longsuffering be clearly present in us.
We, walking in the power of God are as creatures with a ‘new song’ from which we do not regress from; God being gracious, loving and kind, having set his Light; the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus, his Sun within us; setting us at liberty from the shackles of toil and travail rendered unto those whose hearts are tuned to the ways of the prince of this world, from whom they receive desolate souls, desolate families, and desolate cities. But unto those whom walk in the ways of the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus, the Light of the knowledge of God, even the image of God himself, peace of heart and soundness of mind because of the healing of the graciousness of God, whom we now proclaim; bringing forth in Spirit through a life that is alive unto the things of God, producing the charity of God, which overcometh the dead spirit of the ungodly generation of this world. That charity that vaunteth not itself, being a fountain of living water that does not tire, for the abundance of the gift of God overflows our heart and mind with the eternal strength holy thanksgiving unto the LORD; understanding that he has been so gracious unto us; being the captain of our eternal salvation through the conquering of sin and death on the cross; having returned to life on the third day and walking the earth for forty days after; sealing the guarantee of his promise that we shall walk in his power, that therefore we rejoice, having great confidence in the faith, even as the confidence of a mustard seed that it will surely blossom into its fulness, it, a picture of the grace of God, Christ Jesus in us, and that work not of ourselves as some would work to attain vain glory for glories sake and the vanity of legacy that they may be approved of amongst themselves, but altogether, from start to finish, the work of God, else grace would not be grace if it be by our own work, and righteousness be not righteousness, if it be attained through the dry adherence unto the following of scripture without wholehearted love of God in us.
Thus, if we are to be known of God, we must seek his face through the reading and doing of his Word, and that, being his Truth and Righteousness as the Sun of Righteousness, that being that we be as Jesus, lowly and meek, preferring one another before ourselves, without seeking vain glory, or the covetousness of fine shelter and meat and drink, and the desires of the heart that is not rooted in the love of God as he has set that love before us, Christ Jesus our Lord. It being that truth that our countenance reflect, without dross, the life of God in us; our diligent reading of his Word, purifying ourselves continually from the mark of the desolate vanity of this world, which do ever so quickly and quietly wrench away the holy peace of his graciousness in us, reducing the fervent zeal of the confidence of our faith in him; dimming the joy wherewith we have rejoiced in the Spirit of the God the Father; who is set forth as the Lord, his Sun, Jesus Christ, strong in Spirit, ready to run a race (Psalm 19).
Remember Cain who disdained to offer thanksgiving with his whole heart that that was already belonging to God, and Esau who forsook as nothing the blessing and inheritance that was offered to him for a morsel of food, and Achor, who after the destruction of Jericho, found a wedge of gold to keep for himself, knowing how holy and righteous all things had to be, given that the Lord was straightforth in the camp and so closely directing and protecting Israel, Achor, thought it was time for gain and advantage. Remember all the fallen Hebrews who died in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, whom seeing the great and awesome works of God in Egypt and in that wilderness, murmured against both God and Moses, his annointed. Consider the twelve spies who Moses sent into the promised land, whom seeing the giants and the great walled cities, coward and diminished from faith (except Joshua and Caleb) in the deliverance of God, that he would see them through it, thinking that they had it better as slaves in Egypt, and having no heart unto God, beguiled the congregation with a bad report to reduce their faith, causing them to stumble at the rock of faith; yea, faith in the true Rock, the Righteous Lord: as young David proclaimed before the armies of the living God, whom slew Goliath the Philistine giant.
But righteousness, being the gracious Holy Spirit of God should be understood according to the Word and the Spirit of the Word, that we may have complete understanding of the Christ-mind; that through careful reading and open hearts unto God, without being stiff-necked, nor hard-hearted, we may attain unto lowliness of mind, holy meekness; rightly discerning with a blessed understanding, and not leading ourselves astray with vanity; with the careless reading of the Word as a ‘thing to read here and there;’ a precept here, a precept there, finding darkness of mind and a dry spirit with empty-heartedness; entangled in a shallow dissimulation of love and understanding of God. Such faith not being enough to warm our hearts, nor grow the formation of Christ in us.
Such was and has been and will be the condition for all who prepare not their hearts while it can be called the Lord’s day; it being today, the day of the Lord, who has given us peace and time to prepare our hearts unto him. For who knows when our last day shall be, and what work shall we do in death that we ought to have done while living? Therefore, as the Lord says, harden not your hearts, prepare ye your hearts today with all holy meekness unto God, according to the Christ-mind, that you may prove all things to God and your soul, and you may glory in the peace, the love and joy, the faith and goodness, gentleness of God, with all strength of longsuffering to attain unto perfect liberty; remaining loving and kind; set apart, and setting yourself apart, not from those who have Spirit, nor from being a holy and enduring light unto all, but from the ungodlyness that has forsaken the Light of God, choosing instead to wear darkness and hard-heartedness, and all those ornaments that do not profit the soul, nor enjoin us unto the light and easy way of the Holy Spirit of God.
“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like the fuller’s soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”
Malachi 3:1–3
Marvelously, in the start of his ‘sermon on the mount,’ in the beginning of his preaching unto Israel, even in Nazareth (Luke 4:16), the messenger of the covenant suddenly appeared, and they were not ready in their hearts and minds to receive him, insomuch that they tried to throw him headlong down the greatest cliff upon which the city was built, (as it was with Moses and the prophets); they could not receive the Holy Spirit, nor could they recognize or abide with the goodness graciousness of the Spirit of God in their midst, if so they be healed and converted and sing, “the LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation, (Psalm 118:14).”
So it was and shall be, God has not approach us in military pomp, but altogether made himself readily available to each of us through his Christ, whom is the Word and Spirit of God, that we may quietly learn to approach him who calls us unto living peaceably with one another, shoring up daily our confidence in the faith that he has given us through the reading of his powerful words; finding we have entered into liberty from thinking that the blessings of God are ‘not enough” to satisfy and bring our soul unto peace; that we brim and overflow without ceasing with love and joy; being gentle fountains of the Spirit of God, and not as Adam and Eve, who showed unto themselves, and all after them through the forsaking of God in disobeying God (that they might gain advantage upon God), that they were not the children of light, but souls with dead spirits, who follow the fallen angel, Satan.
Our countenances, even our very faces, will express our heart and mind, expressly if we try to hide the thoughts and intents within us, and our choices each day will altogether gather up across our life and render what we are about. Shall we disdain as nothing what God says on how he waits at the door of our heart and mind; the Creator of Heaven and Earth, who knows the end from the beginning and has seen what is the end of humanity; having established before us that the way forward is with peacefulness, with a love of God, sealed through the thanksgiving of ‘good works?’ What work shall we do and how shall we live each day seeing the solemness of God as he bears with us and beholds our living each day? How shall we speak to God as we ought, if we have not his Words fresh in our minds, and how shall we have peace if we fidget at the reading of his Word that we might find his Spirit and that we may refresh ourselves daily in the reading of God, in the doing of his commandments, enduring the right kind of hardness as soldiers of God according not the militancy of this world, but the grace of God, that he may call us the salt of the earth, and the children of light, and that we abound in the receiving of all the blessings that are ours; even our holy inheritance, that we may bring forth glory unto God in this life and life everlasting with him.
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