The Gospel is Hidden to those who Live by the Thing that Forms what they Think, Feel, and Do

2 Corinthians 4

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.

• Let’s avoid being captive to shameful secrets so that the Gospel can go forward.
• The Gospel of Christ is hidden to those influenced by the god of this world.
• The Gospel is not from an earthly source but from the Creator of this world.
•  Sharers of the Gospel have difficulties from all sides.
• The reward for speaking the Gospel is eternal life.
• We are getting older but nearer to eternal youth in the New Jerusalem.
• The “democratic” society is temporary, but we have eternal life.

Let’s avoid being captive to shameful secrets so that the Gospel can go forward. “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.” 2 Corinthians 4:1 The Gospel of Christ is what makes us different from the world and He is the life-changing ministry we share with others. We hold on to the testimony of Jesus. “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:2 We are not hiding shameful secrets nor being deceitful about the teachings of the Bible. We want to convey the truth of Christ in a way that sets well with a Godly conscience. However, those who have power over physiology enflames our feelings and emotions so that we do things that causes us to keep our actions secret. It builds a wall against the Spirit of Christ and prevents the spread of the Gospel. It is holding people captive to the mark of the beast. Whatever we do, let’s always say a word for Jesus and keep His Spirit alive in us.

The Gospel of Christ is hidden to those influenced by the god of this world. “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 If the Gospel of Christ is being hidden, it is hidden from those who live by the thing that forms what they think, feel, and do. They will never be able to shine with the Holy Spirit because God will not allow them to enter into the place of Holiness within the soul. They cannot be the home of the Holy Spirit because they are the home of the mark of the beast. They do not believe in any form of Divinity because they focus on human rationale.

The Gospel is not from an earthly source but from the Creator of this world. “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5 The message we share is not from ourselves and not from an earthly source, it is from the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6 The Gospel is from the Creator of the world who causes His light to shine in the darkness of the human heart. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7 The light of Christ is a treasure that lives in our heart through Jesus Christ.

 Sharers of the Gospel have difficulties from all sides. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-12 They persecuted Jesus Christ, and they persecute His followers today, but He was raised from the dead into eternal life and because He lives, we will live too.

The reward for speaking the Gospel is eternal life. “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,” 2 Corinthians 4:13 Psalms 116:10 is where the quote is from. When we believe in Jesus, we are going to talk about the message of the Cross. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit and His whole mission is to reconcile people to God. “…knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.” 2 Corinthians 4:14 The sole purpose of Jesus is to reconcile people to God by making atonement for sin. He was crucified and put to death and was raised from the grave after three days. As people filled with the Spirit of Christ, we have the same commitment to His testimony, and we will also be raised from the dead to live eternally with Jesus. “For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:15 When others receive Jesus Christ it glorifies God, and everything works for the good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

We are getting older but nearer to eternal youth in the New Jerusalem. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 We are getting older and older every day, but we are getting nearer and nearer to eternal youthfulness in our new resurrected body. That has nothing to do with the youthfulness that is given by the thing that has power over physiology. That youthfulness is in exchange for blaspheming God and discarding the need for Jesus Christ, which end is eternal torment in hell. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” 2 Corinthians 4:17 In this earthbound life, our body will suffer many afflictions, pains, and heartaches, but compared to eternity it is just a moment of time. When we hold to Jesus during our hardships and sufferings, it works Holiness within us today and brings eternal life tomorrow. What we suffer now doesn’t even compare to the glory waiting for us in Heaven.

The “democratic” society is temporary, but we have eternal life. “…while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 Every time we hear about “democratic” rights, the global “democracy,” world peace, economic “equality,” etc. etc. it involves thing we can see. Those ideals have a form of Godliness, but they deny the need for the remission of sin through Jesus Christ. The “democratic” society is rooted in the mark of the beast and is temporary as it has a turbulent end. It is the global government of the beast which ends in tribulation and total collapse, as depicted in Revelation 18. We live for the invisible things of God, which includes the Holy Spirit, Holiness, and eternal life in the New Jerusalem.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11