Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 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. (1 John 3:1,2)
I have often wondered why do we, who claim to be Christians, still find ourselves putting Christ on the backburner in pursuit of wordly comforts and pleasures. I believe that it is because we do not truly understand what we have as being a child of God. I must confess that the term "child of God" has been misunderstood by many, including myself. If we truly realized the implications that come along with the divine adoption and the being made righteous through the righteousness of Christ we wouldn't use our seemingly holy title as a rite of passage or belonging. Instead we would appreciate the mere fact that God took it upon himself to provide a means of reconciliation towards him through the shed blood of his dear Son. Now in all of this, there lies on major problem.....we just don't SEE what the 1st century saints SAW. The writer of this epistle is John and in the first verse of chapter 1 of this same book, he says that "we(disciples) have seen with our own eyes" and verse three says "what we have seen and heard, we declare unto you." Now in the world in which we live now, we do not have the luxury or privilege to see what the eyewitness followers of Christ saw firsthand, but we do have the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ as recored in the OT/NT canon, which is the Bible. It is the written revelation of the mind of God, it is the divine _expression of his nature as revealed in the living Word(logos). Now again the author is the same John who saw JESUS!!! & saw the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the dead raised. I'm sure that we'd like to listen to what he as to say. He starts off by saying behold....and that is an interesting word (Gk. eido) which actually means to look and know by investigation and consideration. Before he even tells us what we have, he's actually saying...."PAY ATTENTION TO THIS" There are two things John shows us that we have.
They are.......
I. LOVE OF THE FATHER (v.1)
A. Extent of His Love (1a) "manner" (gk. how far/carries the idea of FOREIGN/UNKNOWN)
1. Unbelievable - yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8)
2. Unmerited - by grace are ye saved...not of works/self ((Eph. 2:8)
3. Unbiased - God so loved the world....whosoever (John 3:16)
4. Unmatched - no greater love....lay down his life (John 15:13)
B. Effect of His Love (1b) "sons of God.....knoweth us not"
1. Spiritual Adoption (Eph. 1:5)
2. Spiritual Contradiction (Heb. 12:3)
II. LIFE FOR THE FUTURE. (v.2)
A. The Actuality of this Life (2a) "now" (emphatic in the Gk.)
1. Presently Saved "now"
2. Powerfully Secured (Eph. 4:30)
3. Patiently Satisfied "doth not yet appear" (Rom. 8:24,25)
B. The Assurance of this Life (2b) "we know"
1. Definite Manifestation of our Savior "WHEN he SHALL appear"
2. Definite Transformation of ourselves "we SHALL be LIKE him"
a.) Sinless
b.) Spotless
3. Definite Observation of our Sovereign "we SHALL SEE him as HE IS"
a.)From the Lamb on the Cross to the Lord on the Throne
b.)From the Suffering One to the Sovereign One
If we can keep this on and in our mind, we would lose the desires to chase after the skirts of the world. Live a life that is full of appreciation towards him and him alone that you would not be ashamed at his return.(1 John 2:28)
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