“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2 ESV)
As believers, we enjoy the benefits of Christ during this lifetime even while we keenly anticipate the full glories of the consummation of redemption. Christ has completed his atoning work on our behalf, he has given us the Spirit, and we are already enjoying the benefits of God’s redemptive work—but our full enjoyment of those benefits is still to come.
The Already
John states that “we are God’s children now.” Sonship in Christ is not something that is withheld until a future time but is ours now through faith (John 1:12). At the moment of salvation, the believer is justified before God and adopted into his family. We do not labor to earn our place in his family; there is already a seat at the table for us which no one else can take. We do not need to wait until we stand before the judgment throne of God to see if we have done enough to make it into heaven. Christ has done everything necessary, and the righteousness of his active and passive obedience are counted to us through faith (Romans 4:3).
Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, emphasis added). Jesus paid it all, and the burden of sin which laid so heavy on our backs has been cast away.
The Not Yet
However, there is still more to come. The richness of our current blessings in Christ will grow broader and deeper when we receive the fullness of what is to come. John points his hearers toward this inheritance when he says, “what we will be has not yet appeared.” While we cannot become more saved or considered his children to any greater degree than we already are, the benefits of our salvation and sonship will become fuller and more intimate.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism helpfully distinguishes the difference in this way.
- “What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.
- “What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves until the resurrection.
- “What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? At the resurrection, believers, being raised up to glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.”
The current experience of the Christian is clouded and distorted by sin. Our communion with God is often strained due to our disobedience. The frail bodies of dust which we inhabit cannot experience the full glory of God. Yet, it will not always be this way. John says, “we know that when he appears we shall be like him.” When Christ returns, he will usher us into the complete fellowship with God for which we were created and to which he redeemed us. Paul again encourages us, “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21).
Seeing God
At his return, “we shall see him as he is.” The fallenness which separates us from God will be cast aside, and we will be able to gaze fully onto the Lamb who was slain for us. That is the great portion of the redeemed. When our glorified bodies finally experience freedom from sin, we will be able to fully experience heaven— that is, full and eternal communion with our triune God.
We are in Christ now as adopted sons and daughters of the Father, but that is merely a foretaste of what we will be when he appears to give us resurrection bodies, in which we will glorify God and enjoy him forever.
So, to the wearied traveler feeling the weight of this life of exile and longing for the rest of our heavenly home with our heavenly Father, take heart in the words of a modern hymn,
Almost home, we’re almost home
So press on toward that blessed shore
Oh, praise the Lord, we’re almost home
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
We cannot fathom the depths of love by which you adopted us as children. We have been made new by the Spirit and called into union with Christ. May all that we enjoy in Christ now set our eyes on his return, when our redemption will be consummated and we will see him as he is.
In his name, amen.
Prayer Requests:
- Tuesday: Pray for Wayne and Sue Royce as they serve children and young adults with disabilities at the Simanyene Residential Home in South Africa.
- Wednesday: Pray for Hope Radio in Mango, Togo, to broadcast the hope of Christ to the surrounding regions.
- Thursday: Pray for missionaries in East Asia as they provide pastors with needed theological resources and Bible study tools.
- Friday: Pray for Memorial Christian Hospital in Bangladesh to fill their critical staffing needs.
- Saturday: Pray for the Japan Bible Academy to train and equip a new generation of Japanese pastors to reach their communities.
- Sunday: Pray for national partners in Paraguay to remain faithful in their ministries.
- Monday: Pray for ongoing translation projects to provide people with the Word of God in their own language.
Featured Opportunity to Serve:
Nursing Clinical Faculty
Location: Togo
Nursing clinical faculty are needed to teach and mentor nursing students during their clinical rotations at ABWE’s two hospitals in Togo, Africa.
