Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from 2 Co 12. 1 and following. Indeed, a man in Christ is someone for whom the flesh has lost its rights (Rom 8:1-4). He is “a new creation” (2 Co 5:16-21). His position before God is that of Christ Himself and he already occupies it with faith in heaven. Paul found himself really kidnapped there for an unforgettable moment. And what could he see in paradise? Christ risen and glorious. What could he hear there? The language of heaven that cannot be translated into human languages(2 Co 12:4). Truly extraordinary favor! But this unique experience then presented a certain danger for the apostle.
For to keep him from taking pride, “a splinter in the flesh” is given to him: perhaps a painful infirmity, tending to make him despicable in his preaching(2 Co 10:1-11; Gal 4:12-16). Lord, get rid of this, beg the apostle; my service will suffer… “My grace is enough for you” is the Lord’s answer. Contrary to appearances, the splinter was an effect of this grace. Didn’t it serve Paul to curb the flesh, this troublesome companion of his work? Yes, precious are for Christians infirmities and trials. For they help to weaken man to allow God’s power to manifest itself (2 Co 12:9; 10; 2 Co 4:7-10).
What sorrow for the apostle to see the assumptions made about him, the interested motives, and the tricks attributed to him (2 Co 7:2-4; Acts 20:33-35)! Whereas, in an irreproachable conduct, he had not ceased, with his fellow workers, to walk “in the same footsteps”: those of Christ (2 Co 12:8). If he responds at length to these calumnies, however, it is not to justify himself but because he has in view the edification of his beloved Corinthians (2 Corinthians 2 Corinthians 12:19; 1 Corinthians 14:26-33). Indeed, not to recognize the apostle’s ministry was also to reject the authority of the divine Word that he announced. How many so-called Christians today reject this part of the inspired Word and especially the epistles of Paul. Verses 20 and 21 show what sins this neglect and contempt lead to.
Thus, here “we find the most glorious state to which a Christian can be raised… and the most miserable condition into which he can fall… What a contrast between this elevation in the third sky and this vile carnal degradation! And the Christian is capable of both. What a lesson and what a warning for every saint…” We know that every minister of Christ must put his moral state in accord with the gift that the Lord has entrusted to him, and that he must personally be his representative in this world. This is what the apostle faithfully realized in his service. In the chapter we have just read, two other important points are developed: What is the power of the ministry, and where should we look for its source?
Let us first look at the second point, the source of ministry, for this is where the apostle begins. If we look at ministry in the manner of men, we see the immense difference between their conception and that of god-like ministry. Men, many Christians even, think that by acquiring a certain human science, made available to all in schools, they will be able to become ministers of Christ, or at least develop the gift that God has entrusted to them. In this they are mistaken. For the source of the ministry can only be found in the new man; it has nothing to do with everything the old man can acquire. The apostle develops this truth here. As for his condition before his conversion, and note that his “great science” dated from then, it was no longer a question of him; he no longer considered himself to be in the first Adam; also, speaking of himself, he says, “I know a man in Christ.”
It was in the new man that his ministry took its source, and not in everything that Saul of Tarsus had learned at Gamaliel’s feet. To effectively exercise a ministry according to God, one must have thrown overboard everything that man would like to add to it. From the beginning, Saul learned this on the way to Damascus. His old man was finished, judged, reduced to dust, and the apostle’s starting point is the complete ruin of the first Adam to enter Christ, into a whole new life. He had learned this in an instant; we often learn it only in the long run and with difficulty. This is also what makes it so that sometimes, when we encounter some blessing in our ministry, we willingly attribute something to our natural faculties. Often we lose the blessings of serving the Lord. Nothing similar was found in the apostle; he knew that the cross of Christ was the only place where he could place the flesh with all its advantages. So he prided himself only on the new man, on being in Christ, and on having no place anywhere else.
To encourage him in his ministry where he was going to encounter so much suffering, God delights him in the third heaven and makes him hear ineffable things there. It was of utmost importance that the apostle be brought into the presence of Christ’s excellence in the third heaven so that, coming down to earth, he would be convinced that it was worth enduring for Him the greatest sufferings. What a place that the third heaven, to be transported there! The model tabernacle of heavenly things that God showed Moses on the mountain, was divided into three: the forecourt, the holy place and the most holy place. These were types of things that were outside and above the earth. First the forecourt where the brass altar was located, the image of the cross, in a sense above the earth, and of which Jesus says: When I am “lifted up from the earth, I will attract all men to me”. The world declared there that there was no place here on earth, even for the Savior’s feet.
It can therefore be said that the first part of the tabernacle goes beyond the limit of earthly things, as a symbol. This is the point that already separates us from the world. From the forecourt one entered the holy place where one found the table of the loaves of proposal, the candlestick and the golden altar. As a type, we are in the holy place, presented to God in Christ, able to worship, enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Then comes the most holy place, the type of the third heaven. There was the ark and the throne of God on the propitiatory. In the third heaven we can enter through the Spirit, through the torn veil, for we find there the throne of grace. But the apostle had been delighted in reality, without being able to say how, and he had heard things that were incommunicable to others.
When the apostle speaks, he knows very well what would have happened, if he had been left to his own self, if he had been a descendant of the third heaven, for he would have prided himself on having been there. The danger, for him, was not to be in the third heaven, but to descend from it. As long as he was up there, he absolutely kept his place, but when he came down to earth, the extraordinary revelations could have filled him with pride. In order to keep him from glorifying himself, God sends him an angel of Satan to blow him, so that he could become an object of contempt or disgust for those to whom he was addressing. So the false apostles said of him: “His person is despicable.” Far from being diverted from the path of dependence, he follows in the footsteps of his Savior in Gethsemane. For Jesus had prayed three times that the cup would pass away from Him, Paul begged the Lord three times for the trial to withdraw from him. Once again Satan was wrong. He hoped to make the gospel despicable in the person of his minister, but God says, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is fulfilled in infirmity.”
It is here that we find the answer to our second question: What is the power of ministry? God says: You must be without strength in yourself for my power to develop in you. This passage is true for all of us. We only find power in our service if we are nothing in our eyes. This is indeed what Paul says: “I have been in no way less than the most excellent apostles, although I am nothing.” One has to wonder if any of us could say of ourselves, in all sincerity: “I am nothing”. Ah!” said Paul, as well as I glorify myself of a man in Christ, I glorify myself in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell upon me. I accept the bellows of Satan’s angel, I consent to be nothing, I do not shrink from suffering, provided only that this power does not abandon me. “My thousand,” said Gideon, “is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the smallest in my father’s house”; then a word of the angel communicates strength to him. If, on the other hand, like Samson, one confides in his strength, one becomes an easy prey of the Enemy. This can be the case for us. When, losing the feeling of our weakness and nothingness, we put our trust in ourselves or in the gifts that God has given us away, the power has left us without perhaps, like Samson, knowing anything about it; and the blessing is not found. So the apostle says: “That is why I take pleasure in infirmities, in outrages, in necessities, in persecutions, in distress for Christ: for when I am weak, then I am strong.” He does not say: I support them, I accept them; he takes pleasure in it; his happiness is to suffer in view of the goal to be achieved, and because in weakness is the secret of the power of his ministry.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- Divine Revelations
Dn 2:22 He reveals what is deep and hidden, He knows what is in darkness, and the light dwells with Him. Am 3:7 For the Lord, the Lord, does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants, the prophets. Jn 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you all that I have learned from my Father. 1 Co 2:9-10 But, as it is written, these are things which the eye has not seen, which the ear has not heard, and which have not ascended to the heart of man, things which God has prepared for those who love him. 10 God revealed them to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit probes everything, even the depths of God. Eph 1:9-10 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to the benevolent plan he had formed in himself, 10 to put it into effect when the times are fulfilled, to gather all things in Christ, those that are in heaven and those that are on earth.
- Visions, examples
Gen 15:1 After these events, the word of Jehovah was addressed to Abram in a vision, and he said, Abram, fear not; I am your shield, and your reward will be very great. Gen 46:2 God spoke to Israel in a vision during the night, and He said, Jacob! Jacob! Israel replied: Here I am! Ez 37. 1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and the Lord carried me in spirit, and laid me in the middle of a valley filled with bones. Acts 9:10 Now there was a disciple named Ananias in Damascus. The Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias! He answered: Here I am, Lord! Acts 10:3:11 Around the ninth hour of day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who entered his house, and said to him: Cornelius! 11 He saw the open sky, and an object like a great tablecloth attached by the four corners, which descended and lowered towards the earth; Acts 18:9 The Lord said to Paul in vision during the night: Fear not; but speak, and do not be silent; Acts 22:18 and I saw the Lord who said to me, Hurry up, and come out of Jerusalem promptly, because they will not receive your testimony about me. Acts 23:11 The next night the Lord appeared to Paul, and said, Take courage; for just as you bore witness of me in Jerusalem, you must also give testimony in Rome. 2 Co 12.1 We must boast… This is not good. Nevertheless, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. Rev 1:12 I turned around to find out what voice was speaking to me. And, after I turned around, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
- Secret things
Dt 29:29 The hidden things are to Jehovah, our God; the things revealed are to us and to our children, in perpetuity, so that we may put into practice all the words of this law. Pr 25:2 The glory of God is to hide things; The glory of kings is to probe things. Dn 12:9 He answered: Go, Daniel, for these words will be kept secret and sealed until the time of the end. Mk 13:32 As for the day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Rev 5:3 And no one in heaven, neither on earth nor under the earth, could open the book or look at it. Rev 10:4 And when the seven thunders had made their voices heard, I was going to write; and I heard from heaven a voice saying: Seal what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it.
- Altruism, examples
Abraham Gen 13:9 Isn’t the whole land before you? So separate yourself from me: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.
Joseph Gen 50:21 Be without fear; I will talk to you and your children. And he consolate them, speaking to their hearts.
Moses Nb 11:29 Moses replied, “Are you jealous of me?” May all the people of Jehovah be composed of prophets; and want the Lord to put His spirit upon them!
-Jonathan 1 S 18:4 He took off the mantle he was wearing, to give it to David; and he gave him his clothes, even his sword, his bow, and his belt.
-Daniel Dn 5:17 Daniel answered in the presence of the king: Keep your gifts, and grant another your gifts; I will nevertheless read the writing to the king, and I will give him the explanation.
Paul 1 Co 10:33 in the same way that I too strive in all things to please all, seeking not my advantage, but that of the greatest number, so that they may be saved.
Christ 2 Co 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who for you became poor, rich as he was, that by his poverty you may be enriched.
From all of the above, we note that we have seen a man in Christ and the power manifested in his ministry; and we no longer find the fruits of the Spirit in the heart of the redeemed, but the fruits of the flesh, fruits as they raise redness to our foreheads: “For I fear that when I arrive I will not find you as I would like, and that I will not be found by you as you would not want, and that there be quarrels, jealousies, anger, intrigue, backbiting, insinuations, swellings of pride, disorder, and that having returned again in your midst, my God does not humble me as to you, and that I am not afflicted on the occasion of many of those who have sinned before and who have not repented of impurity, and the fornication, and the immodesty they have committed.” For the Corinthians, gifted as they were, had walked according to the flesh, and it was not only an individual, “the wicked” among them who had sinned; many of them had done similar things, and then returned in appearance from their mistakes, without their consciences having been attone and repentance having occurred in their hearts. How serious all this is! It is possible for us to live in the power of the new man; but, on the other hand, we can follow the way of the flesh and walk with God’s children, afflicting those who have at heart the glory of their Savior. Let us be careful to banish from our lives all that does not correspond to the character of Christ, so that our conduct may glorify Him. May the desire of all our hearts be to live according to the new man and in his power! Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER FOR ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “the last exhortations and greetings of Apostle Paul.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.