John begins this portion as we will today by talking about what we spoke of last week. “Beloved, we are God’s children now” Because of this great love that God has shown us “we are God’s children now” through God’s adopting us, and killing His Son for our purchase (Isaiah 53:10). We are no longer “Sons of the Evil One”, but we are now “Children of God” “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.” If God has changed you and made you His then you are a child of His and all of the gifts and mercies that he bestows on His children are His. This should bring great joy to our hearts and awestruck wonder and worship to God that He would save us. That He would kill His Son for our redemption, that He would adopt us and pull us out of the world and the punishment that it will receive, and would give us a purpose in life so that we could find satisfaction and joy in this life and infinitely more so in the next. “But to all who did receive him, who believed his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” -John 1:12-ESV “See what kind of love the Father has given us”
Since we are God’s children we have a hope in the future that only God’s children have and John discusses this in this passage and John is giving those people hope that are truly God’s children. “What we will be has not yet appeared” As we are on this earth and live in this world we are living in frail, perishable, imperfect bodies. In the age to come we will be in strong, imperishable, perfect bodies. It is no wonder we have no idea or no comprehension of what we will be like, and it has “not yet appeared” what we will be like. “We know that when he appears we shall be like him” Upon Jesus’ return we will be changed, “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” –I Corinthians 15:50-53 We will one day have perfect, imperishable bodies and will be “like him”, but as for now we have no idea what that will be like, but we will be “like him”. Right now we have bodies that can get overweight, get sick, and become crippled; but this will not always be the case. This means that one day we will not fight sin in our flesh the way we do now. We will have perfect bodies with no remaining sin, that do not die and do not decay, because as Paul said “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” and neither does the perishable. We know that when he appears we shall be like him” When Jesus comes back we will be totally changed and our nature will be perfect as is His. It is quite obvious from the rest of scripture that even though we will be like He is in nature we will not be like He is in stature. Many cults today such as Mormonism teach that people will one day be Gods. They will even say that you will be God of your own planet or something stupid like that, but it is obvious from scripture that this is not true. In fact all believers will bow down and worship in heaven. Why is that because they are still worshipping something greater than they are at the throne of God. “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.” –Revelation 19:6-7
It is very interesting that this will be the first time in history that humans on earth will see Christ as He really is. He clothed Himself in humanity when He came to earth, but now He will be seen as He really is. And this view of Christ will be glorious. Even though we know much about God and much about Christ form our studies here on earth, from the things that He has done, and from the wonders of creation. As Paul said, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” –I Corinthians 13:12 As glorious as we see God as being in the Bible with scenes such as Isaiah 6:1-4, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.” We will someday see God in all His glory, but for now we see “in a mirror dimly”.
It is the love of God mentioned in Verses 3:1-2 and also this that is the hope of all who believe and pushes believers to live in the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14), getting rid of the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1), and waging war against the flesh (Romans 8:13), and “everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure” A true believer will attempt to walk as Christ walked and we learned that in I John 2:6. We have heard this same thing throughout the Bible starting in Leviticus. “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” – Leviticus 11:44; “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” –Matthew 5:48; “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”-I Peter 1:14-15. Now we hear John saying it. “Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies Himself as He is pure” We are the people of God. God is sanctifying us, or making us holy/set apart and everyone who has their heart set on Christ, or is saved, purifies himself/herself as we are striving against the world and the desires of this world. God is sanctifying us, but we are working here too. Notice in Romans 8:13 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.” We are constantly striving against and fighting sin, but as we are doing so God is working in us “to will and to work for His good pleasure” –Philippians 2:13 God is working in us for multiple purposes that we don’t have time to cover here, but one of those is your sanctification which will continue until you die or Christ returns and then we will be made perfect and will see Him as He really is.
We have set our hopes not in this world but in the world to come. God’s love in adopting us, giving us eternal life, and one day seeing Him as He is will move us forward in our faith.
Conclusion – combines a little with last week
1. God’s great love toward us (allowing us to breathe His oxygen as we sin against Him, killing His Son for our sins, adopting us into His family, giving us full rights as children of God, and giving our lives purpose and meaning; there is much more but this is all we talked about last week) should move us into being people of action.
2. We see now through a dimly lit mirror the glory of God, but someday we will see God as He truly is. This should stir our hearts up and give us a longing for the day to come.
3. We are in a process of being made perfect, we have spoken a number of times about regeneration/being born again and sanctification/the process of being made more holy until the end of our time here on earth, but we haven’t talked a lot about after that, but what we know about our “glorification” should enable us to take risks for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
4. How much should we be willing to risk knowing what we will be given upon our death? Can we say like Paul, “as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”-Philippians 1:20-21
Dwain Minor