1 John 3: 2 -3

So today we are going to look at what our future holds in terms of our physical body. As a young person what was your concept of the afterlife, as in what would you be like?

In we get our first proof that our eternity will be physical

The New King James Version Chapter 19

And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

That in my flesh I shall see God,

2 - Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

I love this verse, it begins with a statement of fact. “We are” is in the tense of continuing to be children of God. But now John ponders the future of our lives in eternity in a physical sense.

The word see is optanomai in Greek. We get words like optical.

Have you ever thought about it? All we are told is when He appears we will be like Him.

There are a number of clues throughout the scriptures that give us clues.

First, what was the first man like, before the fall?

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

They were able to enjoy food. They were created to sentient and immortal. How did they know they were naked?

Wuest - page 149 - 152

What is Jesus like now, as He is. After Jesus rose from the dead in His glorified body, His body uniquely retained the nail prints in His hands and the scar on his side ( ).

24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

In , Jesus speaks prophetically of the day when the Jewish people, turned to Him, see Him in glory: then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. continues the thought: And one will say to him, “What are these wounds between your arms?” Then he will answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”

When we see Jesus in the He is pictured as a “lamb who had been slain.”

Will we be able to recognize others? It seems that yes we will. Moses and Elijah were recognizable.

3 - And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Purify is in the PAI, meaning he is continually purifying himself. How does one purify himself? Prayer, fellowship with Jesus, walking in the spirit.

Why would knowing these truths cause one to purify himself? Ultimately, as we abide in Him we become more like Him. Knowing this is not some myth, that we will see Him again, makes us live holy lives.