Good Day Dear Friends,
“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the Word implanted, which is able to Save your souls.” (James 1:21 NASB)
Today, we take them for granted, because they are ubiquitous; that is, they are everywhere, in our bathrooms, bedrooms, hallways, foyers, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a store nowadays that doesn’t have them. Mirrors… they’re an everyday part of our lives, but not so back a couple thousand years ago. Although it’s estimated that the Egyptians may have discovered the secrets to glass as early as 1500 B.C, most mirrors of Biblical days were made of a highly polished metal, such as bronze, which made them very expensive and rare, except for the wealthy. And so, as one might expect, the Bible rarely mentions the word “mirror”; in fact, it’s only found six times in all of Scripture, but these few references may be revealing for us.
The first mention of mirrors is found in Exodus at the construction of the Holy Tabernacle. “Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.” (Exodus 38:8 NASB) The second place we find the word “mirror” is in the Book of Job, where, just before the great I AM speaks, Job’s friend Elihu is rebuking him by speaking about God’s Glory. “Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a molten mirror?” (Job 37:18) And the third reference to “mirrors” comes in Isaiah, where the prophet proclaims the Day of Judgment against the haughty Israelites. In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils… money purses, hand mirrors…” (Isaiah 3:18-23) Three OT references to mirrors- one of sacrifice to God, one that praises His AWESOME Glory, and one about judgment against God’s people, who had turned away from His Face.
That leaves us with three places in the New Testament where we find the word “mirror.” First, let’s look at the last place it’s mentioned in Scripture, in the Faith-in-action Book of James. “For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face [the face of his natural birth] in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be Blessed in what he does.” (James 1:23-25) James is telling us that we need to look in the mirror at ourselves through the eyes of Christ, realizing the new creation that we are in Him, and walking with Him always. Jesus actually said the same Words, just in red-letter form, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it.” (Luke 11:28)
The last two places “mirror” is mentioned come through Paul, as the apostle looks intently forward to what God has Promised. “Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity [face to face]. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1Corinthians 13:12 NLT) The “then” that Paul is referring to above is the Day of the Lord, the Day when Jesus Christ comes to take His Bride and reveals all Truth for all time. And finally, in his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes: “Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the Glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2Corinthians 3:15-18 NRSV)
Mirrors… where would we be without them; and what might we look like without them? Hopefully, this little exercise through Scripture will make us look at mirrors in a different way. From now on, whenever we look intently into the mirror, may it stir up our desire to be Christ’s Reflection. And, may the mirror be a sharp reminder for our daily effort to be the person who doesn’t forget who they are as a child of the King, and live a life of sacrificial Praise unto His Glory forevermore. In Jesus’ Name may it be so,
AMEN
Tom
