This episode highlights the dynamics involved in the reversal of the Great Exchange. When we were not in Christ, we had exchanged the glory of God for images and produced a litany of sins based on this fundamental idolatry. In sanctification the Holy Spirit progressively reverses the Great Exchange, moving us to repent from dead works and live for the glory of God. Very interesting is one of the means that the Holy Spirit uses to inspire us to repent. The Holy Spirit uncovers some of the glory of Christ, and we perceive the vileness of our idolatry contrasted with the glory of Christ. The more we see the glory of God in the person of Christ, the more we sin our sinfulness, losing all hope apart from the mercy and grace in Christ. So when we have degrees of the beatific vision in this life, when we progressively behold God's glory, we repent and change our mind about our particular sins based on self-idolatry. The result is we become more and more like Christ. Struggling to repent of particular sins? Ask God to uncover His glory, and that experience will devastate and transform you.
