(2) They shall see Him with shame and terror, looking upon Him as to receive their just punishment (1 John 2:28). What is the explanation of that perfect likeness? Brother, with snow upon thy head, wilt thou "see Him as He is"? Regeneration means, not that we are to be developed, but that we are to be changed, to live in other ways, with other motives and for other ends. "Light is good, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." 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. R. Cocke, D. D.Loved ones, now are we the children (τέκνα) of God. The great law of mind is expansion, and we know of no assignable limits to this law.3. "Oh, blessed vision!" Sometimes, too, the true Christian is misunderstood. We shall speak of our Lord's manifestation without doubt. Young man, you have got a mother and her soul doats upon you. We shall know Him, because He will be so much like the Bible Jesus, that we shall recognise Him at once. The lordship of man over creation, which was granted him at first, will be heightened when it is restored through Christ (Hebrews 2:7). THE SEASON WHEN WE SHALL ENJOY THIS — "when He shall appear."1. "Oh, blessed vision!" Our ear hath received a little hereof, but then it shall be fully accomplished in our persons, in our bodies and souls.2. How different that sight of Him will be from that which we have here!1. There is personal identity. Who knows what is going on in secret behind those very failures in others which most provoke us? We notice —I. "For we shall see Him as He is." Christ had come into his life; and from a mere child of this world, a simple fisherman, he had been made a veritable son of God. In some of the Buddhist monasteries of Eastern Asia devotees are pointed out who have sat facing blank walls for years, and have gazed themselves into mysterious ecstasies. We shall love Him quite as much when we see Him in heaven, and more too, but it will be love without pity; we shall not say "Alas!" When we see Christ here, we see Him to our profit; when we see Him there, we shall see Him to our perfection. What the end of this social change will be we do not know, but there is no reason to doubt that society will make as great gains as it has made in the past. It was the shadow of Christ that had come upon her. G. But then we shall see Him closely; we shall see Him face to face; as a man talketh with his friend, even so shall we then talk with Jesus.5. We shall not see the Christ wrestling with pain, but Christ as a conqueror. It was the shadow of Christ that had come upon her. )The spirituality of the beatific visionW. This is not the land of sight; it is too dark a country to see Him, and our eyes are not good enough. The body in this present world serves two great purposes. It points to an end of strife, to rest and peace; but there is something better than that. In the vision reserved for the heavenly Jerusalem there will be nothing dark or enigmatical, nothing of cloud, or representation, of faith or reasoning, or intermediate ideas to inform the understanding, nothing between God and the glorified soul, the knowledge intuitive, the vision naked, full, and perfect according to the quality of the recipient, and the mind directly irradiated from the fountain of light, from the Divine essence itself.III. We shall be sure it is He; for when we enter heaven we shall know Him by His manhood and Godhead. There is such a sense of disappointment when we, perhaps, have succeeded in obtaining a goal, and then have to discover that the moment the end is touched it has already begun to change, to move, to go further. Munger. It doth not yet appear what this human world will become. Our future self is commonly the simple projection of our present self. See how Christ has transformed the world; how His spirit has stolen into the hearts of nations; how civilisation has taken on His name and is doing His work. Here holy principle is imbibed and holy habit formed; but the scope and aim are always prospective. We shall see the hand, and the nail-prints too, but not the nail; it has been once drawn out, and forever. 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." For then, then alone, are just men completely blessed, when their spirits are made so perfect that they clearly contemplate all truth and fully enjoy all good; that is, when the whole orb of the soul is filled with perfect light and perfect love. Spurgeon. 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. But we who believe that this life is at its best but a germ, a start, a discipline, can afford to broaden our hope beyond all our seeing. to which all others are penal and despicable! The life will have reached its type. To believe in future change is very different from believing in past change. Thus God can and does transform the vilest sinners into pure and shining jewels fit for His home in heaven.Transfiguration by sight of ChristAmong some reminiscences of the sweet singer, Jenny Lind, communicated by Canon Scott Holland to Murray's Magazine, occurs the following: — "She had gone to look on the face of her friend, Mrs. Nassau Senior, after death. it is so when the believer enters heaven. An unseen world is an unknown world; how can we be so sure of it? "We know."2. The text says, "We shall"; and can you and I put our hands on our hearts and know our union with Jesus? Our future self is commonly the simple projection of our present self. Now by seeing God we are not to conceive a bare intuitive knowledge only of the Divine essence, but a vision most lively and operative, warmed with all the affections of the heart, and an entire conformity of our wills to the will of God. "We shall be like Him." Conclusion: How truly wise is it to be religious! THE GLORIOUS POSITION. 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. Let us recount our gains from such a belief in respect of the world at our feet, before our eyes.1. It is the same one. This would seem to mean, first of all, HE THAT BELIEVETH THE TRUTH. It disposes His children to obey all His commands. "We know that we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.". The lily life is subject to hostile climate, and hence is imperfect. T. Munger.John, looking back, sees what great spaces have been covered in his spiritual history; he also looks forward, and sees greater changes in store for 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 final transgurationR. Our last point remains yet untouched. 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. Secondly, assimilation or transformation into the image of God and Christ.1. But he contends manfully against the difficulties, and is climbing up slowly, but surely, to a fitness for the position in which he has been so happily reinstated. We shall not see the Christ wrestling with pain, but Christ as a conqueror. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, but it doth not appear what we shall be." Again: how partially we see Christ here! Guard unhurt the germ. Lastly, from this perfection of knowledge will arise a perfect conformity of our wills and affections.(W. But it will go on, he says. we are already lagging in the rear, we are passe, we have lost the cue. His thoughts and his hopes stretch beyond the shadows of earth and time and fasten on the skies. This will be evidence of our being like Him, since none but the pure in heart can see God.(C. That is human life in the believer's eye, in its best and wisest form — still the child life, wistful, prophetic, marvellous, suggestive; a child life so full of strange dreams, but with all its achievements yet to come, to come in that great after world for which the whole round of this age long story of man is but a nursery, but a preparation, but a rehearsal, but an education. As soon as we have understood one, and seen our way to its realisation, we see our way to another; each is but a fragment of the great kingdom to be. New questions come up; life varies its phases; I am myself not quite the same being as yesterday; I see more, feel more; duty is a little broader; time presses upon me a little more heavily; eternity becomes more real. H. Spurgeon.I. Then, do you know, there will be another difference — when "we shall see Him as He is." 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? (3)The prince serves as a soldier before he reaches the throne.3. Something is already accomplished; an effect is secured. It is the same one. John 3:21. "We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."IV. WHAT PROVISIONS GOD HAS MADE TO SATISFY THE WANTS OF MAN, AND FILL THE LARGE CAPACITIES OF THE SOUL WITH GOOD. 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. The limit of physical development may be reached, but the mental and moral development may go on long after, and, for aught we know, forever, and the fact that we draw our life from God makes it probable that it will be so. That were sad indeed. It pulls the pliant stuff into its own range, and then refines and exalts it into those living organisms that are the glory of the earth.2. We shall find Him a man, even as much as He was on earth. I cannot see Thee and not be blessed. (1)His glory was veiled in flesh. And I put down my candle, and I said, "Let me see this thing. A new creation; born again; a son of God; transformed — these phrases are too weak to express it. Manton, D. D.)Man's capability of future glory and blessednessJ. For if the ideal, if completion, is to be sought here on earth, then we know how despairing is our view of those who are born in thousands in dark and low dens, born out of the seed of sin, out of the fires of lust and of drink, born into a life that must be stricken and stunted, blind with ignorance and cursed with a loveless doom. That is what damps the spirit. 2. And in the spiritual realm this fact has its counterpart. Which is a really an incorrect distinction, for all true Christians have been "born again" -- But what does it mean to be "born again"? (3) The present transfiguration is gradual, whilst the future is instantaneous. The soil may dwarf the Divine life and prevent its perfect development; nevertheless, we have that life in germ. Nor do I think that that desire is wrong. We have a strong desire to see Him. "(Quoted by Dr. Remember, again: we are not to see Christ as He was, the despised, the tempted one. Cheerfulness in the face of change. 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. In this life we feel after God, as it were, in the dark, we trace Him out by the foot steps of infinite power and wisdom, we see Him in His works but not in Himself; but when we commence angel life this veil shall be taken away, then we shall be no longer under the pedagogy of types and shadows but admitted into the immediate possession of original truth.II. Moses himself asked that he might see God. And in the spiritual realm this fact has its counterpart. Looking beyond the question of privilege, He speaks of the disciple as deriving his spiritual existence from the Great Being into whose family he has been introduced. Holiness now is clothed with beauty. But the infinite future lies before us: "It doth not yet appear." Spurgeon. we are already lagging in the rear, we are passe, we have lost the cue. Let us give ourselves to this thought for awhile. III. THE POSITIVE NATURE OF VISION. Reeves, M. Who knows what is going on in secret behind those very failures in others which most provoke us? 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. 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. Probably the traditions of saints who had set themselves to meditate on the agonies of the pierced hands and feet, and at last received nail marks in their own persons, are not simple myths, but have a basis of scientific fact. we are already lagging in the rear, we are passe, we have lost the cue. There is personal identity. But are thy grey hairs full of sin? "We shall see Him." If we could see Jesus as He was, we should see Him with great awe. (1) There are more to appreciate us, and it would be as though kings showed their royalty at a wake, or wise men discoursed philosophy before fools. They labour with meaning and soar with aspiration. On it was peace, and a smile, with her lips parted; but that was not all. (3)He will be manifest in highest glory. It is the same one. The hints, the glimpses of the glory which is to follow, the beginning, the omen, the voice — all are here close about us in human nature trod in flesh and blood. (3) The present transfiguration is gradual, whilst the future is instantaneous. (Matthew 26:64). Where are my children? (c)To everything there is a season, and this not the time of glory.II. "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour." But we who believe that this life is at its best but a germ, a start, a discipline, can afford to broaden our hope beyond all our seeing. If we had seen Jesus Christ as He was here below, there would have been joy to think that He came to save us; but we should have had sorrow mingled with it to think that we needed saving. Then Christ will present us to God by head and poll, and give an account of all that God hath given him, that they may be introduced into their everlasting estate, not one wanting (John 6:40).III. )What we shall beCanon Scott Holland.Surely a wholly new interest creeps over this poor human world of ours if we once see in it the germ of possibility, the suggestion of all we shall be hereafter. T. Munger.John, looking back, sees what great spaces have been covered in his spiritual history; he also looks forward, and sees greater changes in store for him. "When He shall appear" all will be well; the life will unfold itself in divinest forms under the immediate sunlight of His countenance. We touch here a most vital fact — the revelations of God and their effect upon us. T. On it was peace, and a smile, with her lips parted; but that was not all. The Son creates them at once to new majesty as He once created worlds, for His power is dealing with an entirely obedient material, a material ruled by regenerated wills promptly and absolutely responsive to His sovereignty. That is the use to be made of such events as they touch us. (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. G. H. On it was peace, and a smile, with her lips parted; but that was not all. II. 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. Though we are not favoured with such evidence as John enjoyed, we have all that is necessary to sustain our hope in the reality of that blessedness which God has in reserve for His children. )What we shall beCanon Scott Holland.Surely a wholly new interest creeps over this poor human world of ours if we once see in it the germ of possibility, the suggestion of all we shall be hereafter. And in the spiritual realm this fact has its counterpart. but we shall shout — "All hail the power of Jesu's name," etc. The Christian disciple is more or less of a puzzle to those who, not being born again of the Spirit, do not really belong to the family of God. and doth lust tarry in thy old cold blood? That is human life in the believer's eye, in its best and wisest form — still the child life, wistful, prophetic, marvellous, suggestive; a child life so full of strange dreams, but with all its achievements yet to come, to come in that great after world for which the whole round of this age long story of man is but a nursery, but a preparation, but a rehearsal, but an education. 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. was the apostrophe of an ancient confessor. Almost as far off as the farthest star! But then it will not be to improve us, it will be to perfect us, when we see Him there. More or less, we are hidden from each other, and perhaps from ourselves. 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. We thought ourselves in the van — lo! When we see Christ here, we see Him to our profit; when we see Him there, we shall see Him to our perfection. But are thy grey hairs full of sin? St. John doubtless had in mind the effect of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. "BUT WE KNOW THAT WHEN HE SHALL APPEAR."1. Look at the Book. We touch here a most vital fact — the revelations of God and their effect upon us. (Canon Scott Holland. It is, indeed, a pleasant thought that if I cultivate a spirit of patience, or sympathy, or self-control, it will become a fixed habit in me. How different that sight of Him will be from that which we have here! "We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."IV. The deep mental impressions of the mother often infix themselves legibly upon the young life she brings into the world. Let me stop here always. Princely beauty hides itself away in the sons of God everywhere, and if we only suffer the Spirit of God to come to us and assimilate our characters to the Christlike ideal, that beauty will adorn even the bodies of our humiliation, and will at last clothe our quickened and recreated flesh forever. But if society is capable of such transformations, much more must the individual be capable of them. We call the result habit; it is rather the natural tendency of character, aided by habit, to consolidate; it is the loss of native freedom, for habit is the absence of freedom. The premonitions of our future are afforded by the nature of —(1) Our present states. Oh! It pulls the pliant stuff into its own range, and then refines and exalts it into those living organisms that are the glory of the earth.2. How much better that sight will be than what we have here! A. 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. If selfish or lustful or proud, these qualities tend simply to go on and harden into fixed form. There is a great deal in every nature, and most of all in a Christian nature, which is like the packages that emigrants take with them, marked "Not wanted on the voyage." The hints, the glimpses of the glory which is to follow, the beginning, the omen, the voice — all are here close about us in human nature trod in flesh and blood. Job said, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and though worms devour this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God": that was his desire. Here he stands and looks upon Christ veiled in a mist — upon a Jesus who is shrouded; but when he gets up there, on Pisgah's brow, higher still, with his Jesus, then he shall not see Him dimly, but he shall see Him brightly.4. See how the tide of progress sets steadily Christward — more peace and less war, more justice, more equality, more mercy and kindness and goodwill. Scripture: John 3:31–36. (1) A relative and adherent glory, as the saints are admitted into a participation of His judicial power (1 Corinthians 6:2). Now three things are necessary —(1)A prepared faculty;(2)A suitable object; and(3)The conjunction of both these.Now in the state of glory all these concur. Lastly, from this perfection of knowledge will arise a perfect conformity of our wills and affections.(W. In ways unknown to us these assimilative forces work deep down amidst the elemental mysteries of life. The fraudulent lie succeeds for a time, but at last comes the fatal one, which recoils upon him who uses it with shame and disaster. Perhaps while I have been speaking some have said, "Ah! But then, seeing everything in God, we shall be affected only as God is affected; we shall love one another for our relation and likeness to Him only, and as we are members of Christ united and informed by the same Spirit, which will be both the bond of our union and the cause of our love. The righteous burst forth at once into the zenith of their destinies like stars into the swift kindling splendour of the firmament. The one would have been astonishment, and horror would have succeeded it; but when we see Jesus as He is it will be astonishment without horror. Sermon 12 6 20. 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. T. Munger.John, looking back, sees what great spaces have been covered in his spiritual history; he also looks forward, and sees greater changes in store for him. 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. Probably the traditions of saints who had set themselves to meditate on the agonies of the pierced hands and feet, and at last received nail marks in their own persons, are not simple myths, but have a basis of scientific fact. We shall not see Him fight; but we shall see Him return from the fight victorious, and shall cry, "Crown Him! It is, indeed, a pleasant thought that if I cultivate a spirit of patience, or sympathy, or self-control, it will become a fixed habit in me. THE MEANING AND EXTENT OF THIS PHRASE, OF SEEING GOD AS HE IS. 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