Mirrors are used in most instances to reflect oneself and the closer a person gets to the mirror, the more detail and definition become apparent. Conversely, the further one stays away from the mirror, there is a likelihood that flaws, and imperfections may be overlooked or missed, and if there is no mirror, the person would have very little ability of knowing, or seeing their true appearance. As a result, the proper and necessary assessments, as well as the remedial actions would not be taken, because the individual lives, oblivious of their own defects.
In the spiritual realm, the gold standard for mirrors is the law of God, as it is exemplified in the life and teaching of Christ, and therefore, if we truly desire to know what our characters look like, we will need
to do analysis against the background of the law of God, as well as the perfect righteousness of Christ. In fact, Christ is the literal embodiment of the letter, and the spirit of the law, and thus, no human being can know their true condition, without first knowing Christ.
In fact, any personal assessment outside of Jesus is certain to produce man-made goodness, which will never pass the searching scrutiny of Omnipotence. which leads us to our first passage for this evening. Let’s read:
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he
was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
One of the reasons why the mirror is important to mortal man is that our eligibility for eternal life will be judged against the backdrop of God’s law, for in the beginning the law was broken, and in order that we be restored to the first dominion, the law of God must be written in our hearts, and practiced on a daily, continual basis, until it becomes permanently embedded in our characters. It’s very important for us to understand this, because over a period of time efforts have been made to amend, change, modify, and alter the mirror, so that it will reflect what we want to see, not what we need to see.
And thus, because an accurate assessment of our lives, characters, and habits, will ultimately call for change, many have chosen to break the mirror and live in an illusion, rather than face the music, and be changed by the grace of God. This is what had taken place as recently as June 2016, when the definition of original, God ordained marriage was altered by the legislature in order to accommodate different and alternate lifestyles, and as a direct result, the many variations and strands which exist today, are no longer identified as sin but are accepted as being the norm.
Wherever the law of God, which gives an accurate reflection of the man in the mirror, is laid aside to accommodate grievous errors, the morality of the nation, and individuals will be put on a very slippery slope, by which righteousness becomes subjective, and the standard of right and wrong becomes just a matter of mere conscience, without absolute truth being the final arbiter. This then opens the gateway for what we are now witnessing with consternation, with fake news, fake truth, and fake persons, being
the order of the day.
However, the Bible is clear concerning the role that the law of God is to play, in deciding the eternal destiny of earth’s inhabitants, and it will do us well to ponder soberly, where we stand in relation to the righteousness of Christ, who is the embodiment of the law. The following passages therefore outline in the clearest terms, what is now taking place in the heavenly courts, and which will soon culminate in the irrevocable decisions of the judgement, with the man in the mirror being acquitted, or incriminated, as the case might be. Let’s read:
James 2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
2nd Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
Daniel 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep his
commandments for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
A very important commentary is written by the pen of inspiration, pertaining to these issues, and now it behooves us to search our own souls in the light of these solemn truths, instead of being distracted by the issues of the day. We should also be reminded, that over and over again in the scriptures, The Lord says He will come suddenly, at a time when earth’s inhabitants are not expecting Him to appear, thus, we must watch, lest coming suddenly, He finds us sleeping. Let’s read:
[G.C. pp 483] As the books of record are opened in the Judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted names rejected.
When any have sins remaining upon the books of record, un-repented of and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book of life and the record of their good deeds will be erased from the book of God's remembrance. The Lord declared to Moses, “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” [Exodus 32:33.] And says the prophet Ezekiel, “When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, ... all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned.” [Ezekiel 18:24.]
All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their names in the books of Heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life.
But there are specific truths connected with God’s great mirror that we should be cognizant of, for as was stated before, anyone who stands in the mirror will soon discover very serious flaws, and defects of character, and as stated before, the closer one gets to the mirror, the more disturbing revelations will be seen.
Conversely, self-righteousness is often manifested by those who do not have the mirror, or are not making use of it, for in case after case, wherever believers were brought up close to God’s great looking glass of righteousness, they recoiled in horror when the beheld, what they thought was their own goodness. Let’s read:
Daniel 10:5 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:
6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
7 And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.
8 Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.
9 Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of
his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Zechariah 3:1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
2 And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.
6 And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.
Now, if Daniel, Isaiah, and Joshua, the high priest found themselves coming up short, what about you and me, who are living in the 21st century, at a time when God’s law has been tampered with and where self-righteousness is the order of the day. When we hear of persons declaring that they have no need of forgiveness, and others who have never lied, nor done anything wrong, we may know that the time has come, of which Christ spoke in the 3rd chapter of Revelation. Let’s read:
Revelation 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
This takes us to our case study for this afternoon, to the house of a man, who had become quite rich by clandestine means and fraud, but who, after looking at the man in the mirror, discovered his errors, and consequently saw his dire need of true repentance. Zacchaeus lived at a time when imperial Rome had subjugated the Jewish nation, much to the chagrin of its inhabitants. And the tax collectors, who were Jewish, were given tremendous leverage in levying taxes against the people.
As a result, the abuse of this authority became so notorious and widespread, that men like Zacchaeus were generally held in contempt by all the ordinary people, for they had gotten their riches by milking the populace. But Zacchaeus found himself staring at the mirror of God’s great law, in which he saw himself as he truly was in the sight of God. His own conscience was then awakened to the enormity of his sin, and the counsel of God to repent was set in motion. The rest of his life story is history. Let’s
read:
Luke 19:1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.
6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, that he was gone to be guest with a man that is a
sinner.
8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
There are many Zacchaeus’ is still alive today for there are many rich men who have gotten their wealth by grinding the faces of the poor, and who are now held in great contempt by the populace in general. The apostle James alludes to this fact as symptomatic of the days in which we live currently. The same greed, the same extortion, the same overreaching is to be seen in the lives of many, and like Zacchaeus some are in dire need of repentance. Let’s read:
James 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
There are certain actions which can and should be taken, as soon as the man in the mirror is exposed, and some of these actions do not require baptism, before being taken. They are literal actions which pertain to the resolution of errors in action, which can be addressed, prior to one’s conversion. When the conviction of sin rested upon Zacchaeus, he did not wait to see Jesus personally, before he began to retrace his steps, for restitution, can and should be done, even if one has not been baptized as yet.
Similarly, if a drug dealer becomes convicted in his conscience that what he’s doing is wrong, there’s no need to keep selling drugs until he meets Christ. Instead, all of his reserves and supplies should be dispensed with, as soon as he has looked into the mirror, and then, Jesus will do for him, what he cannot do for himself, in giving him a new heart
and mind.
Whatever our individual situation may be, wherever we may have come up short, the word of God to us is for us to take a good look at the mirror, and like Daniel, Zacchaeus, Isaiah, and Joshua, repent, so that the perfect righteousness of Christ can then be imputed, and imparted to us. Thus, we end with an invitation from Christ, pointing us to our present duty, especially since we are living on borrowed time. Let’s read:
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
God bless!