1 John 3:2 – Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
This scripture first struck me as a new Christian over fifty years ago. Two things in this passage were shocking to me; first that as far as the Lord is concerned I am a son of God, the implications of that will be part of our eternal discoveries in heaven. The second part really shook me to my core; we will appear in the glory of children of God at the appearance of Jesus in the clouds. Paul even said that the upheaval in the world today was creation itself groaning in travail anticipating the manifestation of the children of God. C.S. Lewis has a famous quote about all of this that I often turn to and reflect on its implications, here is part of that quote from Lewis’s message called WEIGHT OF GLORY.
“ It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
So at any gathering, whether it is at a ball game, the grocery store or even a church service you are surrounded by immortal creatures. Humans are created in the image of God, in other words they are eternal spirit beings. Some are sons and daughters of God who are about to break out in amazing glory in the twinkling of an eye. Others are monsters with the grotesque disfigurement of the prince of darkness in their nature about to be revealed as the horrid creatures that they are at His coming. If this becomes real to any of us it will cause a trembling fear and and outrageous joy to be our day to day experience.
