“But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them” (A. W. Tozer).
2 Corinthians 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 4:6 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.”
These verses are quite clear regarding the issue that we are discussing. One, the gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ. Two, the Gospel of the glory of Christ is light. Three, Christ is the image of God. Four, the light that God commands now is the light of the Gospel. Five, the light He shines is Himself because the text speaks of “the One who has shone in our hearts.’ Six, when He shines in our hearts that gives the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Seven, the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Christ.
I have been referring to the Gospel as the Gospel of God and as the Gospel of the glory of God. But here we see that the Gospel is the Gospel of the glory of Christ. There is no difference in the terms. Since it is the glory of God in the face of Christ that is the glory of the Gospel, the Gospel of the glory of Christ is the Gospel of the glory of God. We must also consider that the glory of Christ is in the fact that He is the very outshining of the glory of God. As John 1:14 tells us, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” When we see the glory of Christ, we are seeing the glory of the Father and the glory that is full of grace and truth. In other words, the glory of the Father as seen in His tabernacle of glory consists in grace and truth. After all, when Moses cried out to see the glory of God, what was he told by God? “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion” (Exodus 33:19). God’s glory is seen in His grace, compassion, and sovereignty.
But since we are talking about the loss of the Gospel in our day, how does that fit in here? If we have low views of God, we don’t have much glory to talk about. If we don’t talk of His glory, then we don’t have the Gospel of glory to talk about. If we don’t speak of the Gospel of glory, we are not talking about the true Gospel. Since God has revealed His glory in and through Christ, we are not talking about the truth of Christ unless we are talking about the glory of God that shines in and through Christ. We have transformed Christ into a being that is all about the glory of man instead of God in human flesh who shone and shines forth the glory of God. Jesus Christ and the Gospel of His glory is not just a formula by which man may be saved from hell. It is the message of the glory of God which God uses to turn men from vain things and the vanity of a life spent in serving and living for themselves to being temples of the living God doing all for His glory. A message that leaves out the glory of God is hopeless as to being the Gospel of God. There is no Gospel without the message and wonder of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
We can see from the verses above the importance of light. But what is that Light? The Light is the Gospel of the glory of Christ. Let us be clear and not mess around with this point. Men are in darkness and they have no light. The Church is not shining the light of the Gospel because it is not shining the light of the glory of Christ. Men who hear a truncated message about how worthy they are hear that with gladness but they are still in darkness. All are in darkness that do not see the Light Himself as He shines forth His glory in the Gospel. The Church is not being light in the world because it is not speaking of the truth of the Gospel by which the Light truly shines. How desperately the Church needs to repent of its idolatrous practices of man-centeredness and love for numbers. This is another reason that Tozer is dead on when he says that low views of God destroys the Gospel.
God Loves... Himself 
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