We began last session by saying that the unifying philosophy of life is that we are to glorify God by loving Him in the face of Jesus. We said that the kind of love that glorifies God cannot be a disinterested, dutiful, dull service or giving to God with no joy – for that does not glorify Him. It cannot be a patronizing kind of love where we act like we are self-sufficient, and God is the beneficiary. No, we saw that the only way to glorify an already all-glorious God would be to treasure Him. When we know He is ours by His grace, and we delight in wondrous possessiveness – Christ is mine. This treasuring of God is to be a wholehearted, adoring response to all that God is.

Well, that leads us to the key questions. How does that happen? Not everyone in the world is treasuring the glory of God, so how does it occur? Certainly only believers are able to love God, but we know that not all believers are growing in a treasuring love for God. So how does this occur?

When we read through Scripture, and especially the book of Revelation, we see a recurring theme. When people saw God, they worshipped. Our English word worship is simply worth-ship. They came to see the value of God, and expressed that. They understood the price of God, and treasured that with adoring responses.

Here’s the idea. Christ is altogether lovely. To know Him is to love Him. To know Him, we must see Him.

If we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus, we will treasure Him. We will not have to convince ourselves to treasure God in Christ when we see Him for what He is, any more than we have to convince ourselves to treasure or value the other things in our lives. When we see either their intrinsic beauty or usefulness or superiority or uniqueness, we automatically attach value to them and treasure them. The reason Christians do not treasure God is not because His value has somehow decreased, it is because they have not seen it.

God has chosen to reflect His glory brightest in the face of His Son. Hebrews 1:3 tells us “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Jesus is the Word – He is God’s communication of Himself. If God is the star, Christ is the light of the star that we behold. As we stare into the face of Jesus, we see encapsulated all the glory of God. This is why He could say to Philip: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” God’s every attribute, His supremacy, His uniqueness, His beauty – His value is reflected in the face of Jesus Christ. This is the design of God the Father, that His glory will shine in the face of His Son, and as people treasure the Son, it glorifies the Father.

And since the Triune God always works as a unit, we find the main ministry of the Holy Spirit is the revealing of Jesus Christ. His main ministry is not conviction of sin, or the giving of gifts. The Spirit’s main ministry is always to reveal Jesus Christ. “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” (John 15:26)

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14)

This is the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit – the revealing of Jesus Christ, so that men may glorify the Father. J.I. Packer said, “The essence of the Holy Spirit’s ministry, at this time or any time in the Christian era, is to mediate the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He first does this at salvation when He reveals the beauty of Christ to the sinner so that they will receive Him as Lord and Saviour. But this revealing aspect of the Spirit continues all through our Christian lives. It is my firm belief that the deadness of heart, the dullness of Spirit, the lukewarmness of zeal found in the average Christian comes as a result of their refusal to cooperate with the Holy Spirit of God in revealing Christ. The Holy Spirit is sovereign, but God in His sovereignty has willed that proud hearts will not receive grace. That is why the key to seeing Christ as the Spirit reveals Him is a heart of humble faith. If we respond to the Spirit’s initiative with humble faith (which He too enables), we will increasingly see the glory of Christ, and so come to treasure Him.

The Holy Spirit has three main areas in which He reveals Christ.

• He reveals Christ in the Word. When mixed with prayerful meditation, the Holy Spirit reveals Christ by illumination.
• He reveals Christ in His Works. God works in us – that’s sanctification, He works through us – that’s service. As we submit to Him, we become like Christ – in heart and in deed. In other words, the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us by imitation.
• He reveals Christ in Sacrifice. God’s heart is a heart of sacrifice. Such that the pinnacle of the knowledge of Christ will always terminate in sacrifice. In sacrifice, we do not pay God back, we attempt to display His worth by giving up all that is worth less than Him, as He may require it. Here the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us by identification.

So – Scripture, Sanctification and Service and Sacrifice or Suffering. These are the three main modes that the Spirit wishes to reveal Jesus Christ to us. Our part is going to be humble faith.

Let me say something about humility before we go on. Anyone who tries to be humble for the sake of being humble will miss it by a mile. Humility is a means to an end – not the end in itself. If you aim at humility, you will miss it every time. If you aim at loving God, you will soon find out that humility is the only acceptable posture to adopt. If a man bowing and scraping before a king becomes obsessed with his own bowing and scraping, with the lowness of his bowing – he has missed the point. He has in fact, stopped worshipping. The one who focuses on the greatness of the king, will find the humble posture is natural. Humility does not notice itself, anymore than a sprinter watches his feet when running the 100 meters.

But having said that, our first stop is that the Holy Spirit will reveal Christ to us in the Word of God, in the Scriptures, by illumination. The Spirit must show us the glory of Jesus. In this session, when I talk about the Word, I am using it as a term to describe the Word and prayer. The concepts of the Word and prayer are so interconnected and woven together, that I am speaking about prayerful meditation on the Word, both God speaking to us, and our reply. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us in the Word and prayer by illumination.

I am not going to spend time establishing the truth of illumination. It is taught very clearly in Scripture in 1 Corinthians 2. The Spirit of God that wrote the Word of God must enable us to understand it. He must switch on the light – illuminate us, before we will truly see Christ. The Word of God is not simply a manual which can be understood by reading the Hebrew and Greek or by analyzing it in block diagrams. It is not a piece of literature which simple study will unlock. It is the very Word of God, which will only be revealed by the Spirit of God, so that God may retain all the glory for it. It will be a closed book to those with hard hearts. It was for this very reason that Paul prayed for his Ephesian readers: ‘that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe” (Eph 1:17-19). Why would Paul pray for the opening of the eyes of their hearts, if it was something they could do on their own? No, the Holy Spirit must illuminate Scripture for us to come to understand it.

But here is the thing – illumination is not something the Holy Spirit gives to every Christian regardless of their spiritual condition. This is clear by looking at any given church service. Why are some believers lapping up every word, hoping the preacher will not end any time soon, while others are frowning, looking at their watches, and inwardly begging the man to quit? They’re hearing the same words, aren’t they? The difference is illumination. This is clear by looking at our own quiet times. Why do some have a feast, a time of great delight with God – seeing Him in the Word and in prayer, while others read words on a page, shrug and go on? They’re reading the same Bible, aren’t they? The answer is illumination.

What does it look like?

Illumination is when the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and clearly shows us the Son of God. Remember that Jesus said that He is the truth. Therefore all truth we read in Scripture terminates and finds its final end in Christ Himself. He shows us the validity of something about Christ.

The illuminated man says – this is right, I must believe it. I will even defend it, I am so certain of it being true. The Spirit will show us the beauty of the truth. The illuminated believer says, “This is beautiful, I must praise it!” He cherishes it, and delights in it, and further delights in it. The Spirit also shows us the urgency and responsibility of the truth, so that we say, “This is compelling, I must do it!” The Spirit shows us Christ, and we are moved mentally to believe Him, emotionally to praise Him, and volitionally to obey Him or imitate Him.

Spurgeon put it this way: “Purify flesh and blood by any educational process you may select, elevate mental faculties to the highest degree of intellectual power, yet none of these can reveal Christ. The Spirit of God must come with power, and overshadow the man with His wings, and then in that mystic holy of holies the Lord Jesus must display Himself to the purblind sons of men. Christ must be His own mirror. The great mass of this blear-eyes world can see nothing of the ineffable glories of Immanuel. He stands before them without form or comeliness, a root out of dry ground, rejected by the vain and despised by the proud. Only where the Spirit has touched the eye with eyesalve, quickened the heart with divine life, and educated the soul to a heavenly taste, only there is He understood.”

Illumination is not simply fascination. Illumination will include fascination or wonder at the truth, but many are fascinated with truth, but not illuminated. The tell-tale sign of this is the pride and arrogance with which they argue over the truth they are fascinated with. When you have been illuminated, you cannot be proud, for as Paul said, “…What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)

This illumination by the Spirit is the difference between the nominal Christian, and the living one, between the bored Christian, and the zealous one. Without illumination, theological truth can be information and nothing more. With illumination, it becomes experiential communion with the very Present Person of Christ.

Clearly, God has some pre-requisites to be in place before He will reveal Christ to us in the Word. It does not happen to all Christians, and God is not partial when it comes to His children, so the problem is with His children’s hearts, not His sovereign will. God delights to reveal Christ, but He will not do so to hard, indifferent hearts. Therefore, I believe this heart of humble faith is what is needed for us to see Christ in the Word and so treasure Him with our heart, soul and mind.

These pre-requisites apply to the various ways we are to see God in the Word. It applies to our own private or family devotions. It applies to times of study and examination. It applies to the public proclamation of the Word – the preaching. It applies to the dissemination of the Word in discipleship and study groups. In all of these forms – and we are to place ourselves into and under each of them – we must have the right heart attitude so that we may see Christ, and treasure Him.

Humble faith firstly submits to the Word of God as the means by which God will reveal Christ. Humility places itself into a submissive, teachable position, where it regards the Word of God as the voice of the Lord. You must be convinced of the Word’s nature as God’s speaking voice. It is no accident that the Bible and Jesus have the same name – the Word of God. Christ is the communication of God. The Word is the communication of God. Therefore, humility submits to the apparent foolishness of preaching, to the apparent foolishness of reading a book thousands of years old, trusting that this is where God will reveal Christ. I do not have to spend time here detailing the authority and veracity and power of Scripture. Far better preachers than I have expounded Psalm 19 and 119 and 2 Timothy 3:16 to make that clear. I take that for granted here, but add you must submit to that truth. See, you can mouth words about Scripture being your final authority, you can pay lip-service to the Bible is God’s Word, but if you do not stop to listen, then you are a practical liberal. In your creed you say – The Bible is God’s Word, but in your conduct, you dismiss it by not having a quiet time, or skipping the preaching services. Humble faith begins by repenting of proud objections, repenting of a haughty attitude toward the Word or its preaching, repenting of a dismissive, indifferent attitude, and submits under this written Word as the voice of the Lord. If you had a tape recording of God’s voice, a CD of His voice – would you play it many times? If you did – then it would mean you had submitted yourself to it – saying by faith – this is the very voice of God. If you left it lying around, then you would betray your true belief, that you either did not believe it was the voice of God, or you did not want to hear it. The humble faith that results in illumination starts with the submissiveness that says, “Speak Lord, for your servant heareth.”

The next heart attitude I believe humble faith will have is to quiet our spirit. James tells us before receiving the Word with meekness, we are to be slow to speak, quick to hear. That suggests quieting a noisy, distracted mind to be able to hear the still, small voice of the Spirit revealing Christ. Quietness is becoming a lost art in our world, but why do you think we use the term ‘quiet time’? It’s because the Bible makes it very clear that the heart is to be quiet, still and prepared before the Word is broken, privately or publicly. Part of humility is a quiet, still, listening spirit.

I see a number of heart requests that we might pray before we go into the Word that will quiet us. Incline My Heart (Ps 119:36) says – God make me want to see you today. My heart is cold. Purify My Heart (James 4:8) says – God remove the stones, thorns and hardness of my own sin that will prevent me from seeing you. Open My Heart (Ps 119:18) says – God illuminate my eyes as I go into your Word now. Unite My Heart (Ps 86:11) says – God deliver me from being distracted, from a wandering mind, from divided, lukewarm, double-minded loyalties. Enlarge My Heart (Ps 119:32) says – God, your glory is more than my small heart can take. Stretch my heart to contain what you show me. Satisfy My Heart (Ps 90:14) says – God cause me to treasure you.

What all these amount to is coming to a place of quietness where we desire to see Christ. God is pleased to bless such hearts with illumination. Our hearts are compared to soil by the Lord, and anyone knows that soil must be prepared before seeds will sprout and successfully bear fruit.

Humility submits to the Word as the voice of the Lord, humility silences itself to hear the voice of the Lord, but then humility also has a very vigorous aspect. Humility is hungry to see Christ.

“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;” (Proverbs 2:1-6)

It’s very clear from all the verbs – treasure up, make your ear attentive, incline your heart to understanding, call out for insight, raise your voice for understanding, seek it like silver and search for it as hidden treasures – that humility is hungry. It is thirsty. Its desire for God is great. And so, having prepared the heart, there is to be a vigorous, wholehearted pursuit of the knowledge of God in the Word. This involves examining what is there, understanding its meaning, then meditating on it. It is in this meditation – searching into every verse so as to obtain blessing from it that George Mueller found his secret. He would meditate on a verse, and then wait on God to illuminate Him, and then respond with prayer – either of intercession, or thanksgiving, or supplication, or adoration or confession. So His reading of the Word turned into prayer.

This meditating on the Word, turning over the truths in our minds, is the atmosphere in which the Holy Spirit will illuminate Christ to us. This diligent pursuit of Christ He will reward. That is what the verse tells us – if this kind of hunger characterizes our approach to the Word, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of the holy. I believe that is nothing less than experiential communion with God – the knowledge of the holy. Notice why this will take place – “for the Lord gives wisdom”. Illumination does not come because of this vigorous pursuit – but it does not come without it. It comes because the Spirit illuminates, but the Spirit illuminates this kind of seeking and searching. We must be relentlessly in search of experiential communion with God.

Now you might have some kind of method. I will not commend or condemn any Bible study method here. All I will say is that the Bible makes it clear what the goal is, and what the attitude should be. Your goal is to see the glory of Christ – the knowledge of the Holy. Your goal is to enter into communion with God in prayerful meditation over the Word. The means by which you do that may involve writing while you read. It may involve reading it out loud. It may involve memorizing the Scripture. It may involve certain methods of examining Scripture. But let me say – do not worship methods. Do not substitute the means for the end. The end is not to have Bible study. The end is to see Christ – to the degree that your Bible study method helps you meditate so the Spirit may illuminate – it is good. But the key is – whether reading the Word privately or listening to it in public – your heart must be thirsting for communion with God – crying out for His Person.

Apathy toward God is a result of being passionate about something else. All of us pursue something with keen interest, desire, enthusiasm and motivation. If our goal is to treasure Christ, this must be our heart’s attitude in approaching the Word. Hard thinking – meditation.

Hear the words of the puritan John Owen: “Let us regard it as our duty to meditate frequently on Christ’s glory. It is neglect of meditation that keeps so many Christians in a feeble state, regardless of their divine privileges. They hear of these things and assent to the truth of them or at least they do not question them. But they never solemnly meditate on them. They think that meditation is above their capabilities, or they are totally ignorant of how to go about it, or they are not too concerned about it, or they treat it as fanaticism. Many cannot meditate because their minds are so cluttered up with earthly things. … There are some who profess to be strict, disciplined Christians, but who never put aside time to meditate on the glory of Christ. Yet they tell us that they desire nothing more than to behold His glory in heaven for ever. They are wholly inconsistent. It is impossible that someone who never meditates with delight on the glory of Christ here in this world, who does not make every effort by faith as it is revealed in the Scripture, should ever have any real gracious desire to behold it in heaven. It is sad, therefore, that many can find time to think about earthly, foolish things, but have no heart, no desire to meditate on this object. What is this faith and love they claim to have?”

Finally, once we have done the meditation – humility has one more aspect. It will depend or wait on the Holy Spirit to illuminate. We have just read – the Lord gives wisdom. Humility then will not rush out the room without depending on God to open its eyes so that it may behold wondrous things out of His law. Pride is content with some fascination, with a few new thoughts, with perhaps a repetition of some already known facts. Humility will wait on the Lord to bring illumination to the heart – till Christ is seen and savored.

This is how Jim Berg put it in his book, Changed into His Image:

“Believers must take the time and effort to hike into the forest of God’s Word and harvest the logs of truth from that massive timberland. They must by reflection split the logs and stack them on the fireplace of their own heart while they pray for the illumination from God to set the logs ablaze. The resulting fire will provide the light that directs their paths and the heat that fuels their passion for God.

Unfortunately, most people accumulate only a few sticks of kindling from their pastor’s Sunday sermons—not because he doesn’t present great truths from God’s Word but because they think little upon those truths, even during the message. Even when God does ignite those splinters of truth, their fire blazes only momentarily because there is so little truth for the Holy Spirit to burn.”

To add to Jim Berg’s analogy – some people bring back logs, but never wait long enough to allow the Spirit of God to set them ablaze. Humility waits on God to illuminate what we have studied. Here, we have the heart of Moses, who cried out – “I beseech thee, show me thy glory!” Lord, I have sought with my whole heart, now show me Christ. Set it ablaze so that mentally, emotionally and volitionally I may treasure Jesus Christ!

The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus Christ in the Word of God. But He reveals Christ to the heart of humble faith. The heart that submits to this book as the voice of God. The heart that quiets itself and prepares itself so that the words may be effectual. The heart that hungers and thirsts, that pursues the knowledge of Christ in the Word. And the heart that dependently waits on the Spirit to illuminate. This kind of heart will see Jesus Christ revealed to it in increasing amounts, and will see that He is altogether lovely. This kind of heart will treasure Him, which will glorify Him.

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. This command is parallel to be filled with the Spirit. When we are saturated with the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will so control and illuminate Jesus Christ to us, that we will go forth to imitate Him in sanctification and service.