As we turn to 2 Corinthians 4, we find three things in connection with “this ministry.” They are in the seventh verse. He says, “we have this treasure,” it is “in earthen vessels,” and there is what is called “the excellency of the power,” or more accurately, “the surpassingness of the power.” These are three wonderful things to get before our thoughts.
“This treasure,” what is it? It is not so much the estimate that my heart forms of Christ, as the value that God has found in Him. Surely the Lord Jesus Christ is to be a treasure to His people, but here the treasure, which is of course Christ, is presented more as it is looked at from God’s side. Christ is His treasure. How did that treasure come into the vessel? We read, “Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who hath shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) JND). It is not that I have possessed myself of the treasure; it is the sovereign grace of God, both in its purposes and in its actions. In the beginning, “God said, Let there be light. And there was light” (Gen. 1:33And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3) JND). Just so spiritually in our hearts: God, in His sovereign way of dealing, who commanded that out of darkness light should shine, is the God who has shone in our hearts. It is God Himself shining in a man’s heart, in all His blessed illuminating power, for, “the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) JND).
A Light From Heaven
We see this in Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, a persecutor with nothing but hatred toward Christ. He suddenly saw “a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun,” and the Savior in glory was revealed in his soul. He is thus the living example of the way this blessed treasure is deposited in a man’s soul. The whole glory of God is thus expressed.
We cannot understand anything about the glory of God unless we see it in the face of Jesus Christ, and it is in the presence of that glory that conscience is dealt with. If we really see the whole glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ, we cannot help being challenged in the depths of our conscience. Then we are convicted, and the earliest expression of our heart in the presence of that glory must be, “I abhor myself.” And yet, this leads to confidence, for the glory seen in the face of Jesus Christ is God’s glory in redemption.
Earthen Vessels
Next, we read that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” In natural things, when man has anything valuable, he generally encases it in something that is (at least in appearance) also valuable. The casket is as beautiful as the jewel, but not so with God. He takes His treasure, the most valuable and precious to Him, and puts it in the most contemptible vessel that you could conceive — a poor, fragile vessel of clay.
But then He has a purpose in this; it gives Him the opportunity of doing two things. First His delight is to make everything of the treasure, and second, He is pleased to bring out the surpassingness of the power. There is not only the surpassing glory of the treasure, but the surpassing power with which He works in the vessel — the vessel broken to pieces. Indeed, it is not worth anything until it is broken to pieces, but behind this poor vessel there is surpassing power. The whole power of God goes along with the weak vessel, into which He puts this treasure. But we have not only to accept the breakings that God brings upon us; in addition to that, we must keep the sentence of the cross, the death of Christ, which has given us liberty from the condemnation to which we were exposed — must keep that death upon ourselves. God breaks the vessel, but we must keep the sentence of death upon it as well, in order “that the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:77But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)).
Thus we have first, the vessel of clay, just what you and I are; secondly, a treasure placed in it of surpassing glory; and thirdly, a surpassing power that is behind it. That power is ever working in company with nothingness and weakness, as well as a thorough denial of the flesh and the world. We cannot have power otherwise; there is no shining forth of Christ, unless the vessel is entirely as clay in the hands of the Potter.
Gideon’s Army
The picture alluded to here is no doubt Gideon’s army. They put the light into the pitcher, but the light never shone out until the pitcher was broken. No doubt the Spirit of God alludes to that fact here. You have the shining in of the glory, and you have the surpassing power working that it may shine out. These two things go together.
How little affection there is in our hearts to enter into the purpose of God, that in a world which rejected His Son, there should be those who should be the manifestation of that One whom the world rejected, but whom God glorified. Do our hearts desire that? Can we say to Him, I have only one desire, that I should be upon this earth a vessel in whom the display of the glory of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, should be found in every circumstance here? God delights to help us, and we shall have the comfort of being in communion with His thought. It is most wonderful grace on His part to bring us into such a place that we can have like mind with Him, and to enable us by such surpassing power.
Surpassing Power
Suppose I see one turning away from everything in this world, who looks for nothing in it, nor would take anything from the world. I say, What surpassing power is displayed in that man! If I see a poor, feeble creature lying on a bed of sickness, racked with pain, who, instead of complaining, displays rest and quietness with the blessed manifestation of Christ in meekness and endurance, I say, What a surpassing power there is there! There is not a circumstance in life — whether sickness or health, pain or its absence, prosperity or loss, trial or ease — to many people there is not a single thing for the one who is satisfied to be clay in the hands of surpassing power. And more than that, it is in these very circumstances that Christ is endeared to us, for He alone is our sufficiency for all. Also, it is where we are, not where we would be, that God desires to have His Son seen in us.
This is the testimony that is really lacking at this moment. We may speak of doctrines and be clear about them, but perhaps there is little of the doctrines practiced, and little of the corresponding grace seen in the propounders of them. Oh, for the manifestation of the truth in love — that exhibition of Christ which would stop the mouth of the rejecter, and commend itself to the consciences of men! And hence, says the Holy Spirit, “by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (vs. 2). Men would be forced to say, Though I dislike those people because they are so narrow, yet at the same time my conscience is bound to give this testimony, that they seek to please God. This is the real manifestation of the surpassing power. May our hearts prize more than ever this blessed ministry, characterized as it is by such glories as we have had before us!
W. T. Turpin (adapted)