2 Cor.4:3 – 6 – And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants on account of Jesus. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Preaching is an amazing thing, it can be excruciatingly boring or it can rivet you to your seat, I have experienced both and the excruciating kind makes me want to poke something in my eye. First of all Preachers should be preaching God’s word, that’s pretty basic. Secondly, the anointing of the Spirit is essential, when its there you know it, its just there. God’s word proclaimed under the anointing brings revelation light. It’s more than just receiving information it is literally receiving Christ. Preaching Christ brings revelation on the scene. How do you preach Christ? It comes from knowing Him personally. Here is how Jonathan Edwards describes this passage.
“[It is] a true sense . . . of the excellency of God and Jesus Christ, and of the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God revealed in the gospel. There is a divine and superlative glory in these things, an excellency that is of a vastly higher kind and more sublime nature than in other things, [and] a glory greatly distinguishing them from all that is earthly and temporal. He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart.”
The last statement in this quote can be quite life changing, “but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart.” The gospel reveals Christ to us, He actually becomes real as we receive His proclaimed word. That’s what Paul was describing when he spoke about the foolishness of preaching Christ. To the blind it is foolish, but to awakening hearts it is the most precious of all treasures. So we have to ask ourselves, “do I have a sense of the preciousness of the Lord in my life?” Or maybe I just have a belief about Him. The gospel has the ingredients to bring Jesus alive in our hearts.
