Your birthday is coming up in a week’s time, or better yet, your 25th anniversary is coming up in two weeks. That person who knows you better than any other person in the world… that person who loves you more dearly than any other person in the universe…… has told you that he/she has an special gift for you. It is obvious he is more excited about giving you this gift than he has been of any other he has given you. He has wrapped it up, not just putting it in that ubiquitous and previously used gift bag. He has set it in a conspicuous place where you can see it for days and days before you get to open it. With each passing hour your curiosity and excitement are growing. Like a five-year-old, you can hardly wait to open that gift. And then when he finally gives you permission to rip off the wrapping paper, your find that it is far beyond even your wildest dreams. It is perfect.
John refers to something like that here in verse 2: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM; for we shall see him as he is.” What are we going to be when the wrapping paper is ripped off? All we know for sure is that “we shall be like HIM.” Who is that? The One who shall appear. John is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. By whatever measurement you choose to use, there will be no greater gift than that. It will be the culmination of your salvation; the satisfaction of all that you have done and endured for Him.
I tried to devise an alliterated outline to help you remember this verse, but I couldn’t come up with anything. In fact I don’t have an outline, and I didn’t look for a poem with which to close. All I can do tonight is share a few random thoughts. But perhaps, by shaking the box, feeling its weight, examining the wrapper, holding it to the light and sniffing to see if there is a scent to it, these things might make us a bit more excited about opening day.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.”
“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that WE should be called the SONS of God.” Extending my flimsy illustration: you are married to God through Christ. There was a day when He said, “Marry me,” and you couldn’t help but stammer “Yes.” That became the greatest day in your life. The day of your new birth; the day of your new life with Him. But in every moment since, the blessings have become greater and greater; the love has grown and grown. Your only regret at this time in your life is that you didn’t say “yes” earlier. If that isn’t the testimony of your Christian life, then you need to find out why. It could be that you HAVE no Christian life; you are not one of the children of God.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” But the world can’t see that. The unsaved are oblivious to the fact that you are a child of the infinite God, an alien to this world. Such knowledge belongs only to spiritual people; people who have been made alive by the Spirit of God. The citizens of the world should see that you are different from them, but they will not understand that you are a member of the family of Jehovah.
With that, perhaps I should take a step back and point to something which might have been in our last message. Just because the world can’t see, or refuses to see, that you are a child of God… that doesn’t mean the world can’t recognize that you have been on the mountain top with the Lord. What can they do about something that should be obvious? They can veil their faces; they can concoct ludicrous, secular explanations for your Christ-likeness. The world may devise secular explanations for the divine glow on your face, but they won’t be accurate. “Oh, I see that the doctor has finally changed Oldfield’s medication. It is about time.” “David, why aren’t you as stressed as you used to be? Have you started smoking weed?” When the Jewish priests “saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Yes, they had been with Jesus, but it was far more than that. Annas and Caiaphas couldn’t understand that Peter and John were new creatures in Christ. They couldn’t perceive that these ignorant and unlearned Galileans were sons of God. But they did realize that the Lord Jesus had somehow rubbed off on them. Pray and strive to enable the waitress in the restaurant and the receptionist at the doctor’s office to read us as the raised letters of God’s Braille testament and gospel.
While the world can’t see that we are the sons of God…
Not even we ourselves can see what we shall be at the time of our spiritual graduation.
“It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” And because “it doth not yet appear,” curious minds can begin to run wild. Will we recognize one another in Heaven? I won’t even try to answer any of these questions. Will we look like the age at which we were when we died? Therefore will there be babies in heaven? Will the deaf all hear and the blind all see? Okay, then will the bald have hair? I won’t have my current arthritis or cataracts, but will I still have my distinguishing wrinkles? Beard? On and on we could go with questions galore. Perhaps you’ve perhaps spent more time on these things than I have. I’ll just stick with: “it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” However it will certainly be different.
It is often said that we will have glorified bodies. What does that mean? For an answer, perhaps we should study Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. He ate food; but did He need to? Was it simply because Baptists fellowship best over a good meal? He had scars – the glorified scars of the crucifixion. He passed through locked doors; He instantly appeared; He at times wasn’t recognized. What is a glorified body?
Twice Paul was talking about temporary physical suffering when he followed it up by referring to glory. Romans 8:18: “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed IN us.” When we see Jesus, His glory will not simply shine around us; it will be found in us. II Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
In Colossians 3:4 Paul repeated this promise: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” John Gill says of this verse: “yea, they shall ‘appear in glory’ too; with a GLORY on their BODIES, which will be raised in glory like unto the glorious body of Christ; and on their souls, being in perfect holiness, having on the wedding garment, or robe of Christ’s righteousness, being clothed upon with their house from heaven, and appearing in the shining robes of immortality, incorruption, and glory; having the GLORY of God UPON THEM in SOUL and BODY, and such a glory revealed in them, as the sufferings of this present life, and all the enjoyments of it, are not to be compared with.” Notice that twice in Colossians 3:4 Paul says “appear, appear.” “When Christ, who is our life, shall APPEAR, then shall ye also APPEAR with him in glory.” This Greek word is found 49 times in our Bibles, twice in this verse. It is also found twice, in exactly the same way, in our verse in I John. “It doth not yet APPEAR what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall APPEAR, we shall be like him…” More often than not, the word is translated “to make manifest,” meaning to reveal. Only twelve times is it translated “appear” and we have a third of those usages in these two verses. And this is the point: at the time when the Lord Jesus reveals Himself as Lord of lords, and King of kings, we shall be revealed as the children of God. Christ’s manifestation will come first an then ours will follow. Only as He is revealed will we be revealed. If he does not appear, then we will not be made manifest. But of course this is moot, because it is guaranteed by the promise of the Lord: “When Christ appears, then shall we also appear with him in glory.”
John, what will we be like when the Lord appears?
“We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him.” Before we get to that, please reconsider the word “to know.” Do you remember that there are two Greek words both translated “to know” back there in I John 2:29? One speaks of a knowledge that is planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit. It is innate; unlearned. The other speaks of a knowledge that is put in the head through things that are learned. Which kind of knowledge would you guess John refers to in this verse? This is a knowledge which God gives to those who are His children. That we shall be like our Saviour when He appears, is not something we have learned by observation. This knowledge is a gift of God, received by faith. “We KNOW (with Holy Spirit assurance) that, when Christ shall appear, we shall be like Him.”
Perhaps at this point we should spend a few minutes thinking about Christ at His transfiguration. How did He appear before the disciples? “His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.” A “fuller” was someone who washed clothes. Luke says that Moses and Elijah appeared in glory that day. (There is that word again.) Peter, James and John didn’t look up to observe the conversation. Was it too painful for sinful eyes? When we appear with Christ at His next appearance will our faces radiate and reflect the Son of God, who is the light of the world? Ironically, Moses, who appeared with Christ at the Transfiguration, spent forty days with Christ on Sinai. And when he came down he had to veil his face before meeting with Israel.
What will we be like when we are made to appear when Christ reappears? When we shall be like Christ, all the residue of the curse will be gone. We know that we will be finally be sinless. We will even be untemptable – impeccable – like Christ, even if in heaven there were temptations. I Corinthians 2:7: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
John how is it that we will be like Christ?
“We shall see Him as He is.”
In passing, notice the grammar: “We shall in that day see the Lord as He is today, not as He will be.” He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
A moment ago I asked: “How did Jesus look at the transfiguration?” And in my simplicity I made a couple of comments. I’ve been stuttering and stammering up here, trying to paint a verbal picture of our glorified Saviour. But it is a fool’s errand. Who am I in attempting to accomplish the impossible? ne of these days, the Lord is going to pull back the curtain to take center stage once again. And then we’ll all see how futile our attempts to describe the glorified Son have been. We will finally see him as He is, and we will find Him to be more beautiful than we ever imagined.
And in seeing the Lord, we will become like Him. “We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Have you ever heard it said that no dead person ever remained dead in Jesus presence? I don’t know that is ultimately true, but I can’t prove that it is false either. Would Mary and Martha’s brother have remained dead, if the Lord hadn’t said, “Lazarus, come forth?” Would the widow of Nain have had her son restored to life if Christ had not said, “Young man, arise?” I’ll just apply the thought that there can be no death in the presence of the One who is life. I will just say that we shall be like our Saviour when we see Him, because in His presence there will be an automatic transformation. When we see our Saviour, He will be glorified by our likeness to His glory.
Conclusion
I will conclude these meager thoughts with the same conclusion as John: How can I try to elevate my thoughts above God’s thoughts. “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
How can we justify any sinfulness in us today, thinking that our future glorification will fix everything. It doesn’t work that way. We need to strive to be as righteous and as much like Christ today, as we will be in eternity. II Peter 3:14: “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”