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SEPTEMBER 11
28 This is the burden which came in the year Than that you should be put lower in
that King Ahaz died. the presence of the prince,
Whom your eyes have seen.
29 “Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia,
Because the rod that struck you 2 Corinthians 3:1–18
is broken;
Do we begin again to commend ourselves?
For out of the serpent’s roots will come 3 Or do we need, as some others, epistles of
forth a viper,
And its offspring will be a fiery flying commendation to you or letters of commenda-
tion from you? You are our epistle written in
2
serpent. 3
30 The firstborn of the poor will feed, our hearts, known and read by all men; clear-
And the needy will lie down in safety; ly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by
us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the
I will kill your roots with famine, living God, not on tablets of stone but on
And it will slay your remnant.
31 Wail, O gate! Cry, O city! tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
And we have such trust through Christ
4
All you of Philistia are dissolved; toward God. Not that we are sufficient of our-
5
For smoke will come from the north, selves to think of anything as being from our-
And no one will be alone in his ap- selves, but our sufficiency is from God, who
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pointed times.”
also made us sufficient as ministers of the new
32 What will they answer the messengers covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for
of the nation? the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
That the LORD has founded Zion, 7 But if the ministry of death, written and
And the poor of His people shall take engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the
refuge in it. children of Israel could not look steadily at the
face of Moses because of the glory of his
Psalm 106:19–23
19 They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped the molded image.
20 Thus they changed their glory
Into the image of an ox that eats grass. 3:18 we all.Not just Moses,or prophets,apos-
21
They forgot God their Savior, tles, and preachers, but all believers. with
Who had done great things in Egypt, unveiled face. Believers in the New Covenant
Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
22 have nothing obstructing their vision of Christ
Awesome things by the Red Sea. and His glory as revealed in the Scripture.
23 Therefore He said that He would beholding as in a mirror. Paul’s emphasis
destroy them, here is not so much on the reflective capabili-
Had not Moses His chosen one stood ties of the mirror as it is on the intimacy of it.A
before Him in the breach, person can bring a mirror right up to his face
To turn away His wrath, lest He and get an unobstructed view. Mirrors in
Paul’s day were polished metal, and thus
destroy them.
offered a far from perfect reflection. Though
Proverbs 25:6–7 the vision is unobstructed and intimate,
believers do not see a perfect representation
Do not exalt yourself in the presence of of God’s glory now, but will one day (1 Cor.
6
the king, 13:12). being transformed. A continual, pro-
And do not stand in the place of the gressive transformation. into the same
great; image. As they gaze at the glory of the Lord,
For it is better that he say to you,
7 believers are continually being transformed
“Come up here,” into Christlikeness. The ultimate goal of the
believer is to be like Christ (Rom. 8:29; Phil.
3:12–14; 1 John 3:2), and by continually focus-
ing on Him the Spirit transforms the believer
more and more into His image. from glory to
25:6,7 In the royal court, as in all of life, self- glory.From one level of glory to another level
seeking and pride bring one down. Do not of glory—from one level of manifesting Christ
intrude into such a place, for the elevating of to another. This verse describes progressive
the humble is honorable, but the humbling of sanctification. The more believers grow in
the proud is disgraceful (Luke 14:8–10; James their knowledge of Christ, the more He is
4:7–10). revealed in their lives (Phil. 3:12–14).
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