1 john 3:2 sermon

Let them come and see. The body can rise at once to its highest perfection, but the law of spirit is that of advance by slow degrees. Shall this mysterious law work through our fears and terrors, and conform us to the disease of which we may think and work towards death, and shall it not also operate through hope and admiration and worship, and assimilate us to the ideal of health, and be fruitful for glory and honour and immortality? And in the spiritual realm this fact has its counterpart. I can never forget the dramatic intensity of her manner as she told me all this, and how she at last had to drag herself away, as from a vision, and to stumble down the stairs again. Manton, D. D.)Man's capability of future glory and blessednessJ. Spurgeon. For, secondly, God communicates Himself in this world not immediately, but by inferior instruments and secondary causes: He feeds the soul with the graces of His Spirit, by the ministry of His Word and sacraments, and preserves the body by the help of His creatures. The premonitions of our future are afforded by the nature of —(1) Our present states. But what if this life is all of it not an end, but only a beginning; all of it a suggestion of more beyond, none of it a goal attained? Now, if men by projecting themselves into moods of abstraction discover new powers of mind, find unknown fires begin to burn within them, and rise into worlds of spiritual ecstasy, what change, think you, ought to effect itself within us if with the same steadfastness we contemplate the personality of Him who is the Leader and Consummator of our faith? Have you never heard of mothers having recognised their children years after they were lost by the marks and wounds upon their bodies? It is pleasant to believe His grace, but we had rather see it. "It doth not yet appear," etc.(R. )The beatific visionC. who can imagine it? The believer will be as much astonished when he sees Jesus' glories as He sits on His throne as He would have been to have seen Him in His earthly sufferings. To which I answer, that if such knowledge will add to our happiness we shall surely enjoy it. And oh! It is to act up to the dignity of our nature as made in the image of God, rational and immortal beings; is to look beyond the scenes of earth and time to those invisible realities which the Word of God presents for our consideration, and prepare to meet them; it is to love, reverence and serve the great Being who holds our destiny in His hand. This is not the land of sight; it is too dark a country to see Him, and our eyes are not good enough. He may have an adequate intellectual conception of this ideal character. If we had seen our Saviour as He was, it would have been a triumph to see how He conquered, but still there would have been suspense about it. Could your mother come to you this morning, she might take hold of your arm, and say to you, "John, we shall 'see Him as He is'; it is not I, John, that shall see Him for myself alone, but you and I shall see Him together; 'we shall see Him as He is.'" bitter, bitter thought that just now crossed my soul! Almost as far off as the farthest star! WHAT THE CHILDREN OF GOD DO KNOW CONCERNING THEMSELVES IN A FUTURE STATE. A CHANGE OF THE MOST MARKED CHARACTER IS ALREADY SUPERINDUCED. Man has a capacity for endless advancement in happiness. The sand arranges itself in mysterious, infinitely fine parallel lines, which reflect the blue, green, purple, and red rays in the greatest beauty. The text says, "We shall"; and can you and I put our hands on our hearts and know our union with Jesus? And there is an assimilation to Christ's pattern that is more or less conscious, corresponding to these processes in the social realm around us. And thou, who hast come to middle age, struggling with the toils of life, mixed up with all its battles, enduring its ills, thou art asking, it may be, shalt thou see Him? We cannot, must not, see Him as He was; nor do we wish, for we have a larger promise, "We shall see Him as He is."1. The vision here intended must be intellectual — a vision of the mind and not of the eye, a clear perception or sight of God in the souls of just men made perfect. Sometimes you have been driven to a great extremity, and whether you would succeed or not seemed to hang upon a thread. Nor do I think that that desire is wrong. The facts were typical, and suggestive of principles that were operating beyond the range of these special instances, and as such helped to colour the thought and speech and hope of the founders of the coming Church. We gain cheerfulness in the face of change, and we gain hope just where we most need it. I am sure you will all confess that this strong desire has arisen in your minds concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. I can never forget the dramatic intensity of her manner as she told me all this, and how she at last had to drag herself away, as from a vision, and to stumble down the stairs again. God is appearing all the while to those who have eyes to see Him. He is in us the hope of glory, and such a hope maketh not ashamed.(T. Crown Him!" Yet more, we have known Him better than by Scripture sometimes — by close and intimate fellowship with Him. If the broken gleams of Christ's life, the fragments of His tradition, the piecemeal presentation of His character and personality to the world by His followers, can effect such sublime changes amongst men, how much richer will be the transfigurations effected by His direct personal manifestation at His second coming "without spot unto salvation"? God save thee! Hanford.)TransformationsMr. Reeves, M. A.As vain and troublesome a world as this is, and as short and uncertain as our abode is in it, yet are we so strangely charmed with the glittering appearances in our way as to forget the crown of glory at our journey's end. Have you never stood upon the hilltops when the mist has played on the valley? On it was peace, and a smile, with her lips parted; but that was not all. So we shall feel awe when we see Christ on His throne; but it will be awe without fear. These four may be separated each from the other. A CHANGE OF THE MOST MARKED CHARACTER IS ALREADY SUPERINDUCED. The time of our open presentation at court will have come.1. First, that there is something difficult to comprehend about the present spiritual position of the believer. If so, "we shall see Him as He is." Then shall we know, not in part, not by wearisome steps and deductions, but clearly and all at once; we shall know in the same manner as God knows, that is, by His immediate self, for in Himself only can we see Him as He is, and in His infinite mind we shall see the hidden forms of His creatures and the ideas of all perfection. First, he will desire to act worthily of his present princely state; and then, because he knows he is to inherit, at some time or other, his father's sceptre, and because wide dominions and large populations will then be placed under his sway, he will wish to qualify himself for the task and responsibility of ruling, whenever he shall be called upon to ascend the throne. W. Hamilton, LL. The soil may dwarf the Divine life and prevent its perfect development; nevertheless, we have that life in germ. "WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM." But the infinite future lies before us: "It doth not yet appear." But though the confusion may arise — in part — from the fact of your being placed in the thick of a spiritual struggle, it may be attributed still more to the difficulty of realising the things of the eternal world: a difficulty for experiencing which we are surely not altogether to blame.2. how transitory is our view of Jesus! The righteous burst forth at once into the zenith of their destinies like stars into the swift kindling splendour of the firmament. But in these transfigurations there are contrasts as well as analogies. III. A. So seen, it is no aged and weary traveller tottering slowly down to his end; but it is a child still, with the fascination of a child all about it, the fascination of a life which is feeling its way forward by start, by gleam, by sudden intuition, by experiment, by tentative trial, by flashes of insight, by glances, by glimpses — yes, and by stumbles and falls and shocks and jolts, from out of which it still pulls itself together and runs on yet ahead. For, secondly, God communicates Himself in this world not immediately, but by inferior instruments and secondary causes: He feeds the soul with the graces of His Spirit, by the ministry of His Word and sacraments, and preserves the body by the help of His creatures. The life dawning in that birth mediated through the Spirit is alone susceptible of these sublime modifications and perfectings; and in the heavenly transfiguration there is the same parallel or analogy. W. Hamilton, LL. But are thy grey hairs full of sin? You do not see the person, you only see him reflected. It enters into its nature and purpose to open before us great changes and developments. It is by the law of assimilation that men are bound together into homogeneous communities and nations.3. If we are absorbed into Christ, and Christ into us, when He is manifested we also shall be manifested with Him in glory. First, that there is something difficult to comprehend about the present spiritual position of the believer. Sheathe the sword; the battle's won.II. An illustration somewhat resembling that with which I started, must serve me to place this part of our subject before you. We call it then an opal. THE MEANING AND EXTENT OF THIS PHRASE, OF SEEING GOD AS HE IS. God save thee! But are thy grey hairs full of sin? (1) The first transformation is brought to pass by contemplating the reflected image of Christ; the second, by contemplating the direct glory of His essential nature. bitter, bitter thought that just now crossed my soul! This is not the world to appear in. Paul and John take hold of these inscrutable and stupendous transfiguration forces, and trace the effect of their working upon a man's moral life and character here, and upon his person and destiny hereafter. Like an unblossomed flower, the glory is hidden yet. (b)The ebb tide reveals the secrets of the sea, but many of our rivers no gallant ship can then sail. Such Divine contemplations will give a new turn of thought and quite another taste and relish of things; they will be of great use to cure a downward disposition of soul, and to raise us above the world.I. -------------------- By degrees he comes to understand his position — he did not quite understand it at first — and he is full of gratitude when he contrasts what he is now with what he was some months or years ago. Young man, the text says, "We shall see Him as He is." Here is a woman who has seen Christ."' He is in us the hope of glory, and such a hope maketh not ashamed.(T. THE MEANING AND EXTENT OF THIS PHRASE, OF SEEING GOD AS HE IS. Brother, with snow upon thy head, wilt thou "see Him as He is"? D.There is a very lofty sentiment in these words. The habits of years of depraved life are not easily shaken off. And the reason of this is plain enough. It was the look of another, the face of another, that had passed into hers. The Son of God Appeared to Destroy the Works of the Devil. WHEREIN THE HAPPINESS OF THIS BEATIFIC VISION DOES PRINCIPALLY CONSIST. This will be evidence of our being like Him, since none but the pure in heart can see God.(C. (a)The winter prepares flowers, but does not call them forth. But we leave the thought with you, and lest you should think that if you are not worthy you will not see Him — if you are not good you will not see Him — if you do not do such-and-such good things you will not see Him — let me just tell you, whosoever, though he be the greatest sinner under heaven — whosoever, though his life be the most filthy and the most corrupt — whosoever believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ shall have everlasting life; for God will blot out his sins, will give him righteousness through Jesus, accept him in the beloved, save him by His mercy, keep him by His grace, and at last present Him spotless and faultless before His presence with exceeding great joy.(C. bitter, bitter thought that just now crossed my soul! Again: how partially we see Christ here! Partly because he is engaged in the tug and strain of a spiritual conflict. I bear my Master witness, I never saw Him yet without being profited by Him. The best believer only gets half a glimpse of Christ. That is the use to be made of such events as they touch us. (2) To see God "as He is," does imply our perfect enjoyment of Him. The natural comes first, then the spiritual, but it is no less full of germinant seeds and possibilities than the natural. {3} and every man that hath … We shall speak of our Lord's manifestation without doubt. Quick as the kindling of light His exalted humanity will implant itself in us. And yet these natural changes in the past ought to teach us that as great changes may await us in the future, and also that there may be spiritual changes and developments corresponding to the physical changes. Thou hast had many years of fighting, and trying, and trouble: if thou ever dost "see Him as He is," that will pay for all. Now, what are the duties of religion? Passwords should have at least 6 characters. In the same way that life develops: "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory." Ever since the morning of creation, when God made man in His image, and gave him dominion over His works, He has been continually operating for his good. W. Hamilton, LL. Crown Him!" if we ever should be sundered from those we love so dearly when the last day of account shall come! The life in us is an exotic from a celestial clime, "and" hence "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." Yet more. It was the look of another, the face of another, that had passed into hers. Nor do I think that that desire is wrong. Having a body like His body: sinless, incorruptible, painless, spiritual, clothed with beauty and power, and yet most real and true.2. "Oh, blessed vision!" To see God, therefore, is to enjoy Him. We find, as a matter of experience, that we can absorb and assimilate that on which we succeed in detaining the attention of our concentrated powers.

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