We interrupt our regularly scheduled pandemic for this important reminder . . .

We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

(2Corinthians 3:18 ESV)

That’s what reading 2Corinthians 3 is for me this morning, a reminder.

A reminder at the beginning of a day that will seem, in many ways, like the many other days before it. More counts of cases reported. More counts of deaths in the last 24 hours. More counts of those unemployed. More speculation of when and what it will look like to re-open the economy. More tensions in anticipation of opening up the economy. More time alone. More of what’s become our regularly scheduled programming.

But then, the glory of God breaks through the monotony. The glory found in the gospel. And it’s manna for the soul.

We’ve been working our way through Exodus on Sunday mornings for the last couple of years, so the ministry of Moses is kind of fresh in my mind. And, as Paul says, it was a glorious ministry. Sure, it had its bumps along the way, but at its best, it was a mountain top ministry, literally. And from that mountain top came a covenant. A rock solid covenant. Again, literally. Written by the finger of God on tablets of stone. And when God’s messenger came down the hill “the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory” (3:7).

But it was a fading glory. It was a covenant that revealed the need for a better covenant. For the covenant at the center of Moses’ ministry was not only written in stone, it was as cold as stone — unable to bring life, unable to deal with unrighteousness.

Cue a new covenant. A better covenant. The good news covenant. The gospel of Jesus Christ.

Written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of of stone but on tablets of human hearts (v.3).

A covenant more glorious than what Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai because it is a covenant founded on the Son of God who descended from heaven itself. The glory of the new covenant far exceeding the glory of the old.

The new covenant able to make known God’s multi-faceted glory, because it is founded not on the letter of the law which kills but on the Spirit of God which gives life (v.6). The gospel glorious because it unleashes the ministry of God’s life giving Spirit (v.8). Glorious for it is a ministry which has power to bring righteousness (v.9) to those who are unrighteous, “for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith'” (Rom. 1:17). Glorious, with an unfading glory, as it is a permanent ministry (v.11) — the work begun by God, accomplished through God, as promised of God (Php. 1:6).

The gospel having a greater glory because it is transfixing and transforming.

Transfixing us, setting our gaze continually upon the glory of the Lord. The glory come down. The Word becoming flesh, dwelling among us — “and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14). For He is the radiance of the glory of God (Heb. 1:3). And, as Paul says this morning, we all, with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord.

Transforming us, re-wiring us from the inside out to be, ourselves, reflectors of the glory of the Lord. The life giving Spirit conforming us more and more “into the same image” of the Son “from one degree of glory to another.”

And, it seems to me, this greater glory, whether it be transfixing us or transforming us, is realized, at least in part, through our regularly scheduled programming. This day, as much as it might be like yesterday, a new day to behold Jesus and to be made like Jesus. This continuing crisis a continuing opportunity to be further crafted in His image. This pressure a crucible for our purification. Today’s uncertainty a catalyst to fix our minds on tomorrow’s hope.

We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

A reminder by His grace. A reminder of His glory.