<p>3:2 <em>Beloved, now are we children of God; and it is not yet revealed what we shall be. We know that, when He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him- </em>The same Greek word is used in Heb. 2:17 of how the Lord in His life and death was &quot;made like His brothers&quot;. Here we read that finally, we shall be &quot;made like&quot; Him. His experiences of life, of our humanity, brought Him into identity with us- so that we might reach final identity with Him. Our identity with the Lord is not complete and total, despite all the very exalted language John uses for our current status in Christ. The promise that we shall be made like Him at His return is a great comfort when we ponder the question of how far we shall be changed. For if our nature alone shall be changed, and spiritually we shall be left as we are, then we feel the burden of knowing that our characters are not as transformed as they ought to be. Yet if character is going to be changed overmuch, we personally shall not be saved, but turned into someone whom we are not. Yet in the end, we do need to be changed to be &quot;like Him&quot;. More thoughts about this on 1 Cor. 15:51,52.</p><p><em>For we shall see Him even as He is- </em>This 'seeing' of God in His Son was and is possible in this life; for whoever has 'seen' the Son has seen the Father (Jn. 14:9). Especially was the essence of the Father and Son upon the cross, and &lsquo;seeing&rsquo; / perceiving Him there leads to a transformed life. And yet He will be manifested / appear AV at the Lord&rsquo;s return; and through seeing Him as He truly is, we will be transformed into an existence like Him. Yes, our natures will be changed in a twinkling of an eye. But have you ever asked <em>how</em> this will happen, putting meaning into words? John says that it will be through our &lsquo;seeing&rsquo; of Jesus in that actual and new way which we will then. Seeing Him fully as He is will mean that our very natures are changed; and this is exactly what is going on now in a moral sense as we see the essence of Him manifested in His life, in the cross and in the manifestation of His life now through His resurrection. As noted on 2 Cor 3:18, even now we are changed from glory to glory, the more we perceive Him. Our change will not therefore simply be at the flick of a switch, as it were, in some mechanical way. The change will indeed be instantaneous, but will be predicated upon our mental perception of Him as He is in the fullness of His moral and personal glory.</p><p>The idea of being able to &quot;see&quot; God must be understood in the context of how John uses the word &quot;see&quot;. It carries not only the idea of physical vision, but also of believing and understanding. If we can't love our brother, another human being who on some level we <em>can</em> comprehend; how then can we love God, who in this life we cannot comprehend (1 Jn. 4:12,20)? Yet John says that ultimately, we will see God (1 Jn. 3:2). Perhaps the implication is that seeing God in our brother and loving him, having a relationship with him, is the prelude to seeing God Himself and relating with Him eternally.</p>