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2 Corinthians 4:17-18, ‘…this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.’

Paul does not say that our afflictions in this life will *give way* to glory, but that our afflictions are *preparing* glory. For the one in Christ, the myriad thorns of this life are not simply trials through which we need to pass, they themselves are employed by the grace of the sovereign God to function as servants of our joy, harrows tearing the soil so that seeds of glory might be planted and brought, in time, to fruitful harvest.

Note that afflictions achieve glory *as we look* to what is unseen. That is, afflictions achieve glory in those who live out of the desperate dependence of faith; those who looked to and hope in what is unseen (and often unfelt) rather than what is seen before the eyes (or felt in the heart and flesh). But what is this unseen reality that we are to ‘look to’ such that afflictions become servants of glory?

The answer is in v. 7-15, namely, the Crucified Jesus Christ who is Risen in glory, never to die again. HE is the ‘things which are unseen’ upon whom we are to look in our affliction. And as we do, we will find that these same afflictions are servants of our glory in Him.

How does that work? Consider what we see when we look by faith upon the Risen Christ: we see in Him the wounds of our afflictions—the same afflictions under which we are suffering—now transfigured to heralds of peace, joy (Jn 20:19-20), glory, and blessing (Lk.24:39, 50). We see the thorns of *this particular affliction* borne in Christ’s death, and so turned by His resurrection to the green cypress and flowering myrtle and fruitful vine of everlasting blessedness (Is.55:3). Indeed, from the vantage point of faith, we may even recognize the afflictions themselves—as borne in and so defined by the anastasiform Christ—as the everlasting arms of our Shepherd, carrying us with sovereign purpose through all our stumblings, tears, and death into the Land of the Living—which is Himself.

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Full of Eyes series cover
Preparing Glory episode cover
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Full of Eyes

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WisePathBooks
The purpose of this series is to help you see (by faith), savor (as all satisfying food to your soul), and sing (in all of life) the beauty of the One True God as he is revealed in the crucified and risen Jesus throughout all of Scripture. This is not an arbitrary goal since the God for whom we—and all things—exist is communicated to his creation with definitive authority in the incarnate Son (John1:14,18), and with climactic finality at the cross (John 8:28, 17:1,5). The implication that derives from this truth is simple and yet, like the wardrobe in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, contains worlds of glory within it: if we would know the glory, the beauty, the identity of the One True God, we look to the resurrection-illuminated cross of Jesus Christ. - by Christopher Powers (www.FullOfEyes.com)
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