2 Corinthians 4:5–6

Having shown how he preached, and what gospel he preached, the Apostle can truly say, "What we proclaim is not ourselves." When the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ shone into his heart, he learned that he was nothing. He found that, despite all the privileges he had boasted of under the law, he was lost. He found too that, despite all his hatred of Christ and of His people, grace had saved him. After that he could not speak of himself. He could speak only of Jesus Christ as Lord, with himself as the servant. The once proud Pharisee becomes, for Jesus' sake, the servant of the very people he had once persecuted.

But the One preached is "Jesus Christ as Lord." That is His official title in resurrection, and every knee must bow to Him. The apostles who did the preaching were only "your servants for Jesus' sake." The precious name Jesus, used on its own, reminds us of His lowly path of suffering on earth. In that character they are glad to be linked with Him in their willing service.

Others might preach themselves; the apostle preached Jesus Christ as Lord. He was content to be the servant of Christ, and for that very reason the servant of God's people, for the sake of Jesus. This alone is true service. Anything else is a trap, both for the one who serves and for those he serves. In that case both alike serve themselves, and so dishonour Him.

This service might well bring suffering of every kind. It could leave him misunderstood, and at times neglected or even opposed by God's own people. Yet for Jesus' sake he endured it all. Personal interest, gain in this life, self-exaltation and the applause of men are all forgotten in the joy of serving for Christ's sake.

All false ministry aims at tying souls to itself. So it lifts the minister up, shuts God out, and leaves the soul with no divine foundation to rest on. True ministry, as seen in Paul and Moses, has this blessed aim: to tie the soul to God. So the minister gets his true place as simply an instrument, God is exalted, and the soul rests on a sure foundation that nothing can move.

Standing in this blessed light and drinking it in, men whose whole character is to preach it could not possibly proclaim themselves. In the knowledge of the new man, "Christ is all, and in all." Christ is Lord, and the ministers of the gospel are only the servants of men for Jesus' sake. It is a glad and willing submission, in love, to the need that is everywhere.

Verse 6 is very striking. It refers first to God's act in creation, then to His act in Paul's own conversion, and last of all to the ministry God called him to. Long ago God said, "Let there be light," and light shone out of the darkness. That was in the material creation. But now a work of new creation is going on, and something similar happens. Divine light — the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus — shines into dark hearts. It shone into Paul's heart in an outstanding way on the road to Damascus, and the effects were wonderful.

Once these hearts were a moral chaos. Once they were dark and dead. No light and no love moved there. Hatred towards God walked through the darkness. Sin and evil passions — the activity of moral corruption — swarmed inside… But God shone in. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. There was a new creation, and it was entirely of God. The Creator brought into these hearts, by His sovereign grace, what was not born there. By His own light He showed what sin was, what self was, and proved by His love the excellence of His light.

It was not a demand for man's duty. It was the communication of the knowledge of God's glory. That glory shone in Christ's face as the result of the infinite work of redemption. Through that work God could justify man in free grace instead of judging him for his sins… But that glory of God, so bound up with salvation, is seen not in the heavens, whatever they may declare, but in the face of Jesus Christ.

The place where I see the glory is not Moses' face. Moses said, "I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." God answered that every man must bear his own sin. "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book." That is not the case now. The glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ — of One who does not say "perhaps," but who makes the atonement before He goes up. The glory seen in the face of Jesus Christ is proof that the atonement has been accepted. I am at home in the presence of the glory, happy there. What condemned me before is now peace. As I look at it, I am changed into the same image. Every ray of it is joy and peace to my soul, evidence that there is no question of sin now.

A man cannot stare calmly at the midday sun. Still less can he look at God in His essence and uncreated glory. Yet the believer today can take in all that God is as revealed in Jesus. Not one ray is missing. Yet they all shine with a softness of their own, which brings them within the reach of creatures like us. Redemption, of course, was necessary so that we might stand unashamed before such a revelation. But then, He who was the Revealer was also the Redeemer.

Now light has shone in "for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." This was God's purpose in sending the light in. He meant it to shine out again. You see, many cannot preach. And this is not the preaching of the gospel. It is "the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." God has shone in, and He shines out. But He can only be known as revealed in Christ.