4. The Transformation of each believer into the Image of our glorified Saviour.
In the beginning, man was made in the image
and likeness of God, but sin came in and as the consequence that image has been
defaced and that likeness marred. Has then the purpose of Jehovah been
thwarted? Not so: "The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever" (Ps.
33:11). Therefore it is written, "For whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom. 8:29). The
time when this purpose and promise of God will be realized is at the
Return of His Son. It is then that God's elect will be completely "conformed
to the image of His Son." It is then that they shall "be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye." It is then that "this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality." But to
particularize.
In Rom. 7:24 the question is asked, "O wretched
man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Part of the
answer to this interrogation is recorded in Rom. 8:11 - "But if the Spirit of
Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that
dwelleth in you." This Scripture has been the occasion of considerable
controversy of late and some wild fancies have been indulged concerning it, yet
is its meaning quite simple. The "quickening of our mortal bodies" does not
refer to resurrection, nor to "healing," but to that "change" which shall take
place in the physical beings of those believers on earth at the Redeemer's
return. Here, as everywhere, the apostle has the "blessed hope" before his
heart and he would interpose nothing between (not even death and resurrection)
the present moment and the realization of that hope. The "quickening of our
mortal bodies," the "changing" of them in a moment, is described in Phil.
3:20,21 _"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall change our vile body, that it
may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working
whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." These present
corruptible bodies of ours shall be transformed into bodies like unto that
glorious body now worn by our Lord. That is, like His body as it appeared on
the mount of transfiguration - dazzling in its splendor; like unto His body as
it appeared unto Saul as he journeyed to Damascus - scintillating with a
brilliancy which surpassed the shining of the midday sun. What a glorious
transformation that will be! Each saint will be given a body of glory fitted
to and for the scene to which he shall go, as his present body is fitted to
this earth. Scientists tell us that the little sparkling diamond which we
admire so much, was once a piece of carbon, a fragment of charcoal which has
undergone a marvelous transformation, converting the little piece of black
charcoal into the resplendent jewel. This, perhaps, is Nature's type of the
glorious transformation that awaits us, when the Saviour shall take our present
mortal body and fashion it like unto His glorious body.
Physical transformation is not all that awaits
the believer. At our Lord's return there will be a mental, moral and spiritual
transformation too. In 1 John 3:2 we are told, "Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him
as He is." The emphasis here is often thrown upon the wrong words. Some read
this verse as though it had reference to present ignorance of our future
condition, the clause "it doth not yet appear what we shall be," being
understood to signify "We don't really know now what we shall yet be." But
this is a mistake, for we do "know" as this very verse informs us - "we
know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. The emphatic
words are "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." What we are really
going to be like awaits its manifestation till our Lord's appearing.
Let us illustrate. I hold in my hand a small seed: it is unlovely in
appearance and gives no promise at all of what it will ultimately become. It
doth not yet appear what it shall be. But I plant that seed in the ground, and
a few weeks later it has become a strong plant, and one morning I wake and find
it covered with the most beautiful flowers. Now the potentialities of that
little seed are fully manifested. So it is with the believer. He looks at his
own heart and wonders if after all he is a child of God. His body is just the
same as the bodies of unbelievers, and viewed by the eye of sense he seems to
be no different from them in anywise. No; because his real "life is hid
with Christ in God" (Col. 3:30 - it doth not yet appear what he shall
be, nevertheless he knows (by faith) that when Christ shall appear, he shall be
like Him, for he shall see Him as He is.
"We shall be like Him." Who dare limit
this exceeding great and precious promise? "Like Him" physically, for our vile
body shall then be "fashioned like unto His glorious body." "Like Him"
mentally! Today we are very unlike Him mentally: our minds now are often
harassed with evil thoughts, they are clouded and darkened by the effects of
the Fall, and are subject to many limitations; but when Christ appears that
which is "perfect" shall come and then, no longer shall we see through a glass
darkly and know in part, but we shall know as we are known. We shall be "like
Him" morally and spiritually. Sin will be erased from our beings; every trace
and effect of the Fall shall be eradicated from our persons. Then will God's
predestinating purpose be fully realized. Then shall we be completely
"conformed to the image of His Son." Blessed transformation! Glorious
prospect! We shall be like Him.
"High in the Father's house above
My mansion is prepared,
There is the home, the rest I love,
And there my bright reward.
With Him I love, in spotless white,
In glory I shall shine;
His blissful presence my delight,
His love and glory mine.
All taint of sin shall be removed,
All evil done away;
And I shall dwell with God's Beloved
Through God's eternal day."