Lesson 25: The Ultimate Realization Brings Complete Knowledge
"We shall be like Him" (1 John 3:2)

II. Perfect Correspondence.
The first result of this, according to our verse today, will be that of perfect correspondence with our Master. In the moment of vision, the word of the Master on the Mount of Beatitudes — whether that word was promise or command, or both — will be fulfilled in our experience; you will be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect. All the possibilities of our being will be fulfilled. Everything that was in the thought of God for us, as to capacity, will be realized, and we shall thus be prepared to fulfil the highest functions of our life.

As today it is true that where there is no vision, the people perish; and the constant cry of the human heart is that of Philip, "Show us the Father, and it is enough for us" (John 14:8); and the immediate consciousness of the soul that has even the partial vision of God, seeing through a glass dimly, is that of healing; so at last the full and unclouded vision will be final salvation, perfect healing, and absolute satisfaction. Oh, does not the thought of the apostle overtake and run ahead of all these thoughts, glorious as they are? "We shall be like Him." Nothing can be added to this. It defies analysis. If it is an uninspired statement, it is the most daring blasphemy of the mind of man. If the word is Spirit-taught, it is the most gracious unveiling of the infinite love of God. Like Him, and therefore fitted for fellowship of thought and action; like Him, and so falling into line with all His mighty movements through the unexplored spaces and the unborn ages.


III. Full Knowledge.
Paul speaks of another result resulting from unclouded vision. "Now I know in part; then shall I know fully, even as I have been fully known" (1Corinthians 13:12). The messages of the Spirit to the Church, delivered through human agents, are all messages which met the need of the writer, and so appeal to thousands of similar temperaments. The Spirit's declaration of correspondence through John answers the question of spiritual devotion. The Spirit's message of full knowledge through Paul answers the problem of mental activity. Through all the system of Paul's writing his mind is discovered active, alert, mighty, pressing on, desiring to know. He thinks of the Spirit as knowing "the depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10). His constant prayer for his children in the faith is that they may have full knowledge of God; and here, after describing in language that seems as though it might be a part of the poetry of heaven, the nature and the activity of love, his active mind reasserts itself, and he seems to lift his eyes and gaze away to the land of light, and exult in the consciousness that "then shall I know fully, even as I have been fully known." Thus we learn that the condition of heaven will be that of perfect light. The problems that trouble us today and the recurring mysteries that demand repeated acts of faith — these will all find their answer, not so much in the process of teaching or revealing, but in the vision of the Master Himself. Seeing, we shall know. Seeing face to face, we shall know even as we are known.

Question: What happens to us when we walk in the perfect Will of God?
Let's reflect on, even memorize: "We shall be like Him" ‒ 1 John 3:2