now we turn to verse 17 in our study of 2nd Corinthians 3 and 4 this is a pretty
famous verse that a lot of people memorize it says now the Lord is Spirit
and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom this verse is often
pulled out of context and used to talk about all kinds of freedom I've seen
people use this first to say that the spirit brings freedom from shame
inhibition fear and any number of other things
now while this isn't necessarily untrue of what the Spirit of God does in our
lives this is not what Paul is talking about
here in this text he has a very specific type of freedom in mind and to
understand what kind of freedom he has in mind we only need to look at what
kind of slavery he said we are under up to verse 6
Paul is comparing the old and new covenants the covenant of Moses and the
covenant of Christ the covenant of law and the covenant of grace he says that
they are now ministers of the New Covenant not the letter but the Spirit
for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life the Old Covenant brings death
because no one can perfectly fulfill the law however the New Covenant brings life
because Jesus fulfilled the law for us and gave us his spirit so we can receive
his righteousness and follow after him so when the Spirit comes to a believer
it brings freedom freedom from death freedom to follow Christ indeed freedom
from sin the wider context of this chapter allows us to attach all of this
meaning to what Paul means by freedom but there is an even more acute meaning
as well tied to the immediate context surrounding verse 17 and that freedom is
freedom from the veil freedom from God's glory being hidden for
so let's ask the question what does that kind of freedom look like well let's
think back to the story of Moses in Exodus we learned in the last session
that when Moses would enter into the tent of meeting to talk with God his
veil would be removed the presence of God removes the veil now think about the
Christian when we put our trust in Jesus and his gospel the Holy Spirit comes to
dwell in us that's why the beginning of verse 17 while it may seem unnecessary
to us is so important it says now the Lord is Spirit Paul is making a
connection between the Lord Yahweh who was present in the tent of meeting with
the Spirit who is present with us it is the same God our bodies are now the new
tent of meeting God is coming to meet with us in our tents and when the Spirit
of the Lord comes to us the veil is removed just like Moses when the Spirit
comes to dwell in us we are free from the veil but being free from the veil is
not an end in itself it is the means to an end and the end the purpose for which
the veil is removed is far better when the Spirit comes to us it frees us to
enter into and behold the glory of God and one of the ways the Spirit does this
is by opening our eyes to see the glory of God in every corner of scripture now
that the veil is removed from our Bibles the Spirit illuminates our eyes to see
what is hidden and what is hidden is the glory of God and this truths would not
have been unknown to the Corinthians to whom the letter was written because in
another letter Paul wrote to them before this one what we know as first
Corinthians Paul taught this truth explicitly he said this
we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the ages
for our glory none of the rulers of this age understood this for if they had they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory but as it is written what no eye
has seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for
those who love him these things God has revealed to us through the spirit for
the spirit searches everything even the depths of God for who knows a person's
thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him so also no one
comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God now we have received
not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God that we might
understand the things freely given to us by God and we impart this in words
not taught by human wisdom but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths
to those who are spiritual you see God put his wisdom in the scriptures but how
can we know what that wisdom is we would need his very spirit to understand his
very mind well the good news is that is what we have the Holy Spirit comes to
the Christian and helps them understand the hidden secrets of the glory of God
in every corner of Scripture now this does not mean that you will discover a
secret truth different from the one I discover we are not searching out what
is hidden in our Bibles for us alone we are searching out the mind of God we are
searching out the glory of God that is one thing that is one wisdom that is one
truth and that one truth that one wisdom that the Spirit helps us to see all
throughout the Bible is the gospel of Jesus Christ
Jesus himself demonstrated this truth after his resurrection he walked with
two men on the road to Emmaus they were discouraged that Jesus had died and they
thought all hope was lost but Jesus opened the scriptures of the
Old Testament to them and showed them all the things in it that were about
himself Jesus taught that the whole Bible was about him but these two men
could not see it for themselves until Jesus opened their spiritual eyes
this is what the Holy Spirit does for us whether it's seen Jesus as the new and
better glory that passed by Moses and the cleft of the rock or that he has
made us a new and better tent of meeting in which he himself comes to dwell the
whole Old Testament every part of it points to Jesus and his gospel and the
Spirit is inside you opening your eyes to help you see it might I invite you to
pray this simple prayer each time you read scripture it comes from psalm 119
18 it says this open my eyes that I might behold wondrous things out of your
law may the spirit free us to see the glory of Jesus in every corner of
Scripture hey there I'm David Bowden with spoken gospel it's the mission of
spoken gospel to speak the gospel out of every corner of Scripture and you've
just watched one of the sessions that we try to do that in 2nd Corinthians 3 and
4 if you miss the very first episode we invite you to click here and see the
very first episode in this series if you want to learn more about what we're
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