“We Shall Be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jno. 3:2). What is Jesus like? How can we describe him? We have to consider things concerning which we have no experience. Jesus said: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:18).
The latter part of that verse is of direct interest to us because the key is that which unlocks us from the sleep of death. There is no doubt that those words concern not so much a mere rising from the grave as an everlasting release from it: “behold, I am alive for evermore”. And we shall be like him.
Like the angels
What is involved in all this? When being pressed by the Sadducees on the matter of the resurrection Jesus pointed out that the children of the resurrection die no more, being like the angels of God (Lk. 20:36). Before giving our attention to Jesus, therefore, let us consider the angels. We know that in appearance they are like human beings, for Abraham mistook three angels for ordinary men.
We are also told that,
“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him” (Ps. 34:7).
An example of this encampment is revealed to us in 2 Kings 6, when the king of Syria attempted to take Elisha, the prophet of the Lord, a prisoner. This is an example of what is going on all the time, as our Father in heaven presses on with His purpose of looking after His saints, as He guides and directs the affairs of the kingdoms of men to their appointed end and to the establishing of His Kingdom upon this earth.
The work of the angels also involves them in the affairs of the nations. We know that time and chance happen to all men. This is true, generally, but in pursuing His course to His Kingdom God has to keep a very tight rein on the movements of nations. All through the centuries the angels have been guiding the nations on a definite path, bringing them into existence as required and destroying them when necessary.
Angelic power
The power of the angels is immense, but even so it appears to be limited, though how the limitation is effected is beyond our understanding. One manifestation of power was in Creation. The Hebrew word for God in Genesis 1 is the plural word elohim, a word which is very definitely applied to the angels who do the will of the Lord. Thus when we read statements such as “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” we are being informed of a stupendous manifestation of power, incomprehensible to our feeble understanding. We accept the facts. We know it happened, but apart from being told that it is the wonderful working of the power of God through the angels we cannot explain it.
Knowing therefore that all this power exercised by the angels in the days of Creation was derived from the Supreme Source, we can understand in a measure the words of the Lord to Moses in Exodus 31:17: “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed”. There is a slight difficulty here in that the word for Lord is Yahweh, and is usually (but not always) applied to the Father. It cannot be so here because the word “refreshed” in this verse indicates a replenishing of used-up energy. It is also used in connection with the sabbath, but with reference to animals and human beings (Ex. 23:12).
Now it is obvious that we cannot apply this word “refreshed” to the Father, Who fainteth not, neither is weary. He is the source of all power. He gives, He does not receive. We can understand, however, that the angels of God, having expended such a tremendous amount of energy at Creation, would require a period for refreshment, that is, a replenishment of Spirit energy from the Divine fountain.
The use of the word ‘Yahweh’ in this verse must be understood in the same way as it is understood in other places. For example, the same chapter (Ex. 31) states on two occasions, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying” (vv. 1,12), and we know very well that the Lord (Yahweh) here is the angel who was commissioned to lead Israel through the wilderness. “Obey his voice”, said God, “for My name is in him” (Ex. 23:21). And so we understand the refreshing of the Lord to be the refreshing of the angels. How this is accomplished we cannot tell, but that they are dependent upon the Father is certain.
We now consider their status in relation to ourselves. This takes us to the passage we have just referred to, Exodus 23:20-23. It is evident from this that angels are beings to be respected and obeyed, for they act with the authority of God Himself. Note the interchange of the first and third person in the passage: “if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak. . . “. The angel spoke for God as God. It reveals this to us, that although we have been promised that we shall be equal to them, in our present state we are lower than the angels, but developing towards them.
Now we have to acknowledge them as the accredited representatives of the Father in all respects. We remember the respect of Abraham: “Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the bard, which am but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27). We remember the words of the angel: “let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them” (Ex. 32:10). Could an angel speak like that unless he had supreme authority from above to do so?
A little lower than the angels
So far we have presented the power and position of the angels so as to help us in our appreciation of the position of Jesus. We said above that we are lower than the angels. We deliberately left out the words “a little” from Hebrews 2:7 because we believe that it was Jesus who was made a little lower, whereas we are rather further down the scale. We might consider Adam as being a little lower when created, but the gap certainly widened after the transgression.
Jesus was the only begotten Son of God. The angels were not. Jesus was given the Spirit of God without measure. We have suggested on the authority of Exodus 31:17 that the angels did not so have it. We are not begotten as Jesus, and we have no direct control of Spirit power. Indirectly, through faith and prayer, it may be possible that we can work wonders, such as, “the prayer of faith shall save the sick” (Jas. 5:15).
We consider therefore that the “little lower” status applied only to the nature of Jesus because, although mortal, he was the begotten Son of God, and power without measure was given to him. But after his resurrection this disability was removed; corruption was swallowed up of incorruption, and his mortality put on immortality. And so the words of Paul in Hebrews 1:3-6 were fulfilled:
“Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to Me a Son? And again, when He bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship him”.
With regard to this personal glory, its manifestation from henceforth would depend upon the circumstances. Like the angels, glory could be withheld or revealed. To Mary after his resurrection he appeared as another mortal, unchanged we believe at that time. But even after the change he withheld the glory within him. He appeared to two of his disciples, we are told, “in another form”, unknown to them but changed from mortality to immortality. Not only the glory, but also his appearance whereby they would have recognised him, was withheld from them.
After his ascension there is recorded his appearance in his glory to mortal man. As such he appeared to Paul. There are three accounts of this appearing, one by the writer Luke and two by Paul when defending his position on two occasions. Putting the three accounts together we know that a tremendous light, brighter than the sun, appeared on his way to Damascus in company with others. All saw the light, all heard the voice, but only Paul could understand what was being said. It does not actually say that Paul saw Jesus; neither does he say so in recounting the event, only that he saw a great light.
Nevertheless, it was the glory of the presence of Jesus which was there, for in Acts 26:15,16 we have Paul repeating what the Lord said to him: “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which! will appear unto thee . . . “. It is also evident, on the authority of this verse, that he would be favoured with more appearings of the Lord to him. It is interesting to note that, although the light was so strong that it blinded Paul until he saw Ananias, yet the light had no effect at all upon the men who accompanied him. But again, this was a miraculous occasion, for the exclusive benefit of Paul. What else could have turned a man so completely round in his tracks?
With regard to this “excellent glory”, we believe that this experience of Paul was also the experience, in a lesser degree, of the three disciples when they were upon Mount Hermon and saw the transfiguration. We feel that this experience was given to Jesus as a foretaste of his future glory, and as a strengthener for the awful days that lay ahead.
Thus we have Jesus: all powerful, all glorious, immortal, with all its attendant blessings, like the angels only greater in excellence and in glory. And we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Sons of God now
But that is only half of the picture. We now come to the very heart of the likeness—the most difficult part. We return to 1 John 3 and consider what verses 1-3 say. Note these words carefully: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God . . . we shall be like him. . . And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure”. These passages are perfectly clear. We not only hope to be the sons of God in His Kingdom, but we are the sons of God now. We hope to be like him, and if that hope is in us we will do something about it now; we will purify ourselves.
A brother once said, “God will change our nature but He will not change our characters”, by which he meant that the conditions of the change of body depend upon a previous developing of a suitable mind or character to go with it. The two must go together or we shall never be like him. If we are not like him now we shall not be like him then. When we read the words “as he is” we must also consider what he was.
As Paul says: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”. When we say that we shall see him as he is, it is equally important to know him as he was in the days of yesterday. We know that we can take yesterday right back to the beginning of the purpose of God, but we want now to confine it to the yesterday of his mortal pilgrimage.
The first reference to the character of Jesus which we have is to be found in Luke 2:48-52, which concerns the time of his first appearing at the Passover feast at Jerusalem. On the way home his parents missed him and returned to the city to look for him. After three days they found him, in the temple. He appeared to be surprised that they should have spent so much time looking for him. They ought to have known at once where they would find him: “wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”.
The word from which “business” is translated means ‘house’. “Did you not realise that I would be in my Father’s house?” He went home with them and, in the words of verse 51, “was subject unto them”. And as they were godly parents we can readily appreciate that his upbringing would be the best possible for the work which lay before him.
It will be impossible to deal with all the experiences necessary to the perfecting of his character, so we will content ourselves with a few general observations. Firstly, we have the four Gospels which give us four different pictures of the work of Jesus. Each one is complete in itself, yet each is complementary to the other, and combined we have a perfect picture of a perfect man. His character was perfection itself, all due to a complete submission to his Father’s will There appears to be one outstanding feature, however, in all the records. Not one characteristic of Jesus stands out in pre-eminence above another. This is understandable because he was perfect in all.
Practically all men, whatever standard they may attain to, are noted for some particular feature or quality which stands out in prominence against their general character, be it good or evil. I suppose we can say that it is in our inequalities that we are all equal. In that respect we all stand upon the same foundation. Biblically we would say, Thomas the doubter, Peter the impetuous, John the disciple of love. And so we could go round our own brethren and sisters and mark their outstanding qualities. But Jesus? Perfection in all that is perfect, an absence of all that is evil. Paradoxically we can say that there was nothing outstanding in the life of Jesus because everything he did and said was outstanding.
Without entering, therefore, into any details of examples in his life, that is the picture we have of Jesus, the perfection which we have to try to reach in our days of probation. As we said previously, this is the most difficult part of being like him, but it is nevertheless the most essential as far as we are concerned. Take the words of Paul in Philippians 2:5-11. It is a picture of the glory of Jesus, and it is a picture of the measure of glory that can be ours; but first of all there are those all-important words, “Let this mind be in you”—the mind of Christ, a mind dedicated to one thing only: his Father’s will.
Jesus is as a pattern that is laid out before us, a character that we have to copy. Which of us has not at some time or another examined different samples of patterns in an endeavour to match up? And very often after an intense search we have had to make do with something which is not exact but as near as we can get to the original. There is a difference here.
The pattern that we have to find to match the original is one we have to make ourselves, not find ready made. And because we are at best clumsy workers our pattern is not going to be exactly according to the masterpiece. Yet if we do our best with the material to our hand we shall receive a very sympathetic reception in the day of comparisons. Not a single pattern will match up to the masterpiece, but our Father in heaven ( and His beloved Son) will be content to make do with the patterns that conform very closely to the original.
He will know that those who made them have done their best. So He will more than make do with them; He will transform them into the perfection of the original. The blemishes of sin, disease and death will be swept away. He will change our bodies so that we can then manifest in perfection a character that we so much wanted to reach, so much tried to reach, and so often failed to reach in our days of trial. We shall have shown by our efforts in all circumstances, adverse and otherwise, that we want to be like him. And we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We shall look at him with a body and character like his: all glorious, all perfect. May the patterns we are now preparing, bear some resemblance in that day to the master of perfection.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One