The minds of the children of Israel had become hardened. “For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.” 2 Cor. 3:14. You can see that it was because their minds were hardened that the veil remained unlifted. Hardness of the mind closes the heart and binds it, so that revelation from God cannot get in. But an open mind and an open heart go together. “When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” Verse 16. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Verse 18. Here an unveiled face means an open heart and a receptive mind. We behold the glory of the Lord and are transformed—not changed, but transformed. Note the difference. Transformation takes place when we let God’s light in the face of Jesus Christ illuminate us. Christ does not want to keep the glory just for Himself, He wants to share the glory that the Father gave Him with us. Transformation into the likeness of His image takes place here and now. The saying goes, “Show me who your friends are, and I will tell you what you are like.” If in our daily life we spend time with Jesus Christ and are constantly beholding His face, we become like Him. The ungodly, on the other hand, keep company with people of a like mind. As a result, they become more and more like the one from whom all ungodliness stems. “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.” 2 Cor. 4:1. What is this ministry? It is the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of a new covenant. Paul was a servant of the law that was written on his heart and in his mind. He came to the Gentiles in order to bring about obedience to the faith among them; in other words, that they would obey the laws which were already written in their hearts. Rom. 1:5 and 16:26. Hearing God’s Word is of no value unless it is mixed with faith in our heart. The proof that the Word has been mixed with faith in us is that we practice what we believe. This is obedience to the faith, and faith without works is dead. When we believe the Word, it becomes effectual; and through that effectualness, we are transformed—transformed into the image of the Son of God, from glory to glory. If we hear God’s Word but do not put into practice what we hear, then it is as though we see an image of ourselves in a mirror, with all our failings, but immediately forget what we look like. Consequently, no transformation can take place, and the Word cannot become effectual. Which is more profitable: hearing the Word time and time again but not doing it, or hearing it and actually doing it? As a rule, people progress no further than hearing the Word, because they are afraid of bringing all their evil deeds into the light. The fact is that God does not start to transform a person into the image of the Son until He has thoroughly cleansed him from his past sins. These sins must come into the light of day, since we are children of the day. But people refuse to come to the light, because their deeds are evil. They stay where they can hear the Word because they have a longing for it, but they never get around to doing anything with it. Such people end up in death and darkness. Because they attend the meetings regularly, they get an outward form, a veneer of religiosity which is no different from the old leaven that inspired the Pharisees. But they can’t keep that form for long, unless they are particularly interested in the organization within the church. In that case, they soon become involved in the leadership. What happens then? The old Adam becomes involved with the leadership. If anyone that is genuinely saved comes into such an assembly, he immediately falls into the arms of thieves and robbers. It is no wonder that God cannot bless and add members to such a church where the leadership is fully outfitted with all the attributes of the flesh. The new converts are consigned to death in the midst of the church’s cold embrace, since the smallest spark of divine life is regarded as rebellion against the elders. The life of Christ is persecuted with as much zeal as it was by the Pharisees. Now, as then, the life of Christ is the criminal, while they themselves are the truly orthodox ones, who feel that it is their responsibility to ensure the correct doctrine is preached. Darkness, darkness, darkness!!! If only their light would become pitch black for them, then maybe in this darkness they could be saved by God’s light. “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully . . . .” 2 Cor. 4:2. What kind of people continue in the hidden things of shame and walk in craftiness and handle the Word of God deceitfully? Is it not those who preach the Word of God without having been born again by God’s Word—those who hate the light because their deeds are evil? For them the word of the cross is like a red flag to a bull. They hate the light, the cross and the sufferings, because they don’t want to give up those things that the spirit of judgment and burning reveals for them to cleanse. It only takes a few words spoken in God’s light to make them feel uncomfortable. This testifies to unresolved issues lying in the depths of their heart. As soon as anything brings these things to remembrance, their cozy, religious atmosphere dissipates. However, Jesus did not come to give us cozy, good feelings. He came to build us into a habitation for God in the Spirit. To be transformed into the image of the Son, a person must first come to “Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” Heb. 12:22-24. A person cannot come here unless he has been born from above by the Word of God that lives and abides forever. These alone are able to hear the One who speaks from heaven. “For the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has also made it shine in our hearts so that the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ might radiate from us.” 2 Cor. 4:6 (Norw.). Why is it written that the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ might radiate from us? Because Jesus is the Mediator, and He gives us light in small doses, so that we are able to go from light to light. No one can behold the face of God. That is why Moses could only see Him from behind. Those who have sin and unresolved matters on their conscience can hardly look another person in the eye, let alone look into the face of Christ. And when a person cannot look into Christ’s face, then how can the knowledge of the glory of God radiate from him? This is a quality that distinguishes those who stand before the face of Christ from those who don’t. God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Don’t you think He gives the same command today? It is a fact that everyone who asks God for light experiences that he comes into darkness. Why is that? It is because the light that they thought they had was actually darkness. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not receive it. Why? Because a person thinks that the darkness is light. How immense, then, is that darkness! When our light becomes what it is in truth—darkness—then God kindles His light in that darkness, for the Lord has said He would dwell in the dark cloud. Therefore, the way to God’s light goes through darkness. God does not despise a broken and contrite spirit. Such a person is in that darkness where God Himself will become his light. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” They have lost their smugness and confidence in their own light; it has become darkness for them. Instead, they become blessed in that light which the kingdom of heaven shines into their darkened soul. Learned theologians who believe that they have received light through their studies will still have to come into darkness to get light. The wisdom of the Egyptians is darkness, while in Goshen the light is shining. The natural man cannot comprehend the things that belong to God’s Spirit—not even if they study to become priests. The scribes and the Pharisees held important counsels with Herod—the one who sought to kill the baby Jesus. They were trying to find out where the Scriptures indicated Jesus would be born. Yet, the shepherds in the fields and the wise men from the East found their way by revelation to the manger where Jesus lay. The scribes stood in their synagogues and preached the Law of Moses and the Prophets according to the deadness of the letter—without finding the Savior of whom Moses and the prophets had testified. The scribes looked up to those who were highly esteemed, and naturally it was a great honor for them to get an audience with King Herod. Simeon and Anna conferred with totally different powers, and they found the Savior. Wouldn’t you agree that the scribes of that time were in pitch darkness? And yet they believed themselves to be in the light. I wonder if the scribes have improved since then? From this we can learn that God in His wisdom commands light to shine out of darkness. A light that does not shine out of darkness is not God’s light, but only an imagined light—an illusion. This is how God has created boundaries for His light, so that no one can find their way to it except through self-acknowledgement, humility and poverty in spirit. So when you pray for light, you will first come into darkness. In this darkness God makes a person humble and poor, so that he matures to the point where he can receive God’s light. In nature also, things mature in the dark. Just think how grain and fruit ripen during fall’s long evenings and nights. When a pastor preaches from his own light about God’s Word, even when he does it sincerely, it will not be the gospel that comes forth but rather the law. The gospel demands a complete surrender in order to be effective. It only shines into the darkness and out from the darkness. For the very same reason, eminent theologians can stumble and flounder—even over the most elementary principles in God’s Word—so that those who are not considered learned, and yet have received God’s light, dread listening to them. There is absolutely no clarity or direction in their preaching. The apostle Paul referred to the Corinthians as babes in Christ because they quarreled with one another. There are also plenty of quarrels in the theological world today. Secular newspapers broadcast this disunity throughout the world. In the religious world they argue about holy things right in front of the beast (the world). Does this testify to an understanding about God’s darkness and God’s light? No. In the midst of their theological light, they are in pitch darkness. The darkness is just as intense as when Herod, following the directions of the theologians of his day, stumbled in darkness trying to kill the baby Jesus. John saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, who was full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.” Rev. 17:3-6. Who else could this woman be than that vast army of unconverted priests that is subsidized by the state? There was something attractive and mysterious about this woman arrayed in purple and scarlet. She had in her hand a golden cup full of the filthiness of her fornication. In other words, she always acts as a priest for the beast on which she is sitting, and from which she obtains her livelihood. The woman was drunk with the blood of the saints. She came with the ideas, and the beast did the killing. Throughout time, in all these false prophets, the world has had a priesthood who supported them in killing God’s prophets. In Jesus’ day, the world had a priesthood who out of envy took God’s Messiah and crucified Him at the hands of the Romans. In the Roman Catholic Church it was considered to be one’s duty to exterminate anyone who had a spark of divine light in his breast. Here in Norway they thought they were doing God a service by rendering Hans Nielsen Hauge inactive. In our days the clergy sits so insecurely in the beast’s saddle that they have to use all their energy just to keep from being thrown off. If they felt as secure as they did in times of old, they would once again cast Satan’s fiery darts at the believers. All this comes from believing that a person is in the light, when he is actually in darkness. John the Baptist came “to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” Luke 1:79. God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Therefore we have no fellowship with the lords of this world who reign in this present darkness. On the contrary, we have to battle against them even if they happen to be theologians and believe they have light. The kingdom of God is not of this world, nor is it dependent on this world. The world supports a harlot.Johan O. Smith