“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.”
(2 Corinthians 4:3)
The gospel may be clearly preached and faithfully explained, yet remain spiritually hidden from those who hear it. The defect is not in the gospel itself, however, because its glory is real, its Christ sufficient, and its truth divine. The blindness lies in the sinner. The natural mind may hear God’s Word preached, understand its propositions, and even acknowledge certain truths about God while still missing the spiritual excellency displayed in them.
This is because saving faith involves more than intellectual agreement. The soul must be brought to behold something of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness must shine into the heart. And the Holy Spirit must enable the sinner to perceive the beauty of the truth revealed in the gospel.
Such spiritual sight gives the soul a different apprehension of Christ because when the eyes of our understanding are opened to the loveliness of Christ, we are drawn to His glory and worthiness by His Spirit. We begin to see why the Father accepts the obedience, the blood, and the intercession of Christ as infinitely precious. Christ is no longer simply acknowledged as sufficient; His sufficiency is embraced by faith.[1]
From this same sight springs true love for God. The renewed heart does not love Him just because it expects benefits from Him. It loves Him because He is supremely lovely in Himself. Such love delights in God’s holiness, beauty, grace, and perfection. Christian joy is therefore the natural expression of one who rejoices in God Himself.
This spiritual understanding creates a genuine hunger and thirst for Christ, for holiness, for communion with God, and for the blessings of grace, arising from a renewed nature that has tasted something of divine beauty.
These truths should cause us to continually seek not more information, but greater light—that the gospel may not remain hidden, but that Christ may be seen with the eyes of spiritual understanding and that the soul may be drawn toward Him.
Contemplations:
- Shine Where Knowledge Cannot Reach. I know that a simple understanding of the language of the gospel is not the same as seeing its glory. So shine its light into my heart. Let the truths I already know become spiritually radiant before me. Give me eyes to behold Your glory in the face of Jesus Christ, so that knowledge descends from my mind into the deepest affections of my soul.
- Help Me See Christ as Precious. Open my eyes to the excellency of Christ. Help me better see why His obedience is precious, why His blood is sufficient, why His intercession is worthy, and why the Father is perfectly pleased with Him. Let the Savior I confess with my mouth become the Savior whom my heart esteems above every competing good.
- Bow My Will by the Beauty of Holiness. Reveal the beauty of Your holiness so that my resistance gives way to willing affection. Draw my will toward what is spiritually excellent. Make my obedience increasingly affectionate and sincere because You Yourself have become beautiful in my sight.
- Give Me the Hunger of a Renewed Soul. Create in me a thirst for communion with You and a hunger for righteousness. Help me seek Christ because He is desirable and pursue holiness because it bears Your likeness. Make my soul pant after You as the deer pants for the fresh spring water because it has tasted that You are good.
Prayer (Supplication):
God of light, shine into my heart.
Do not allow the gospel to remain as words that I understand, doctrines and truths that I intellectually affirm. Grant me that spiritual sight by which the glory of what You have revealed becomes living and beautiful to my soul.
Open my eyes to Jesus Christ. Let His person, righteousness, blood, obedience, and intercession be precious to my soul. Make me see His fitness as Mediator with such clarity that my faith fully rests on Him and my heart gladly receives Him.
Conquer the opposition of my will. Let the beauty of holiness soften what fear alone cannot change. Draw me to Yourself with desires that arise from a renewed heart.
Grow my love for You, and not because of the benefits I receive from You but because You are worthy to be loved.
And let the gospel shine increasingly brighter within me until my understanding, will, and affections all bow before the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Further Scripture References:
1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15; 1 Thess. 1:5; Matt. 4:23
[1] Jonathan Edwards, True Grace, Distinguished from the Experience of Devils, Early American Imprints, 1639-1800; No. 6996 (New-York: James Parker, at the new-printing-office in Beaver-Street, 1753), 35-37.
