“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” – 2 Cor. 3:18.
The Old Testament of the Law has a glory in it from God. It is the first glory that God ordained for mankind. By it, we were to recover our lost glory from our bad fall in the Garden of Eden – Rom. 3:23. When you live by this first glory now, you will have a certain degree of supernatural results following you. When you minister according to the Old Testament, your ministry will have some glory of God as well – 2 Cor. 3:7-8. But, it is the first glory that does not please God now, although it is still glorious before men and by religious man’s standards – Heb. 8:7-13.
So, when the Lord Jesus came, He introduced us to a second glory that God wants mankind to move into. Its arrival demands that we reverently move away from the religious glory we are used to and that has blessed us all in times past, although it is always difficult to say ‘bye-bye’. But, this second glory is not just from God but is of God. It is not based on the weaknesses of mankind due to our bad fall in Eden – Matt. 19:8. It is the God-kind; the one from the very beginning that we fell short of later in the Garden of Eden.
This is kingdom glory that excels above the religious glory of the Law and Prophets – 2 Cor. 3:9-11, 14. The Law and Prophets constitutes the Old Testament. It is mainly a focus on ones person and performance for God. This was a temporary arrangement or system from God, until the re-introduction of God’s original and eternal arrangement by Christ, called the kingdom of God -Gal.3:17, 19, 24-25.
God accepted the glory of the temporary for a while, but now He does not – Acts 17:30. So, the Law and the Prophets are the opposite of the kingdom system that Jesus re-presented to us – Lk. 16:16.
by: Rev. Kofi Assan
