<p>2:28- see on Lk. 6:46.</p><p><em>And now, little children, abide in him- </em>The appeal was to abide in Him by letting Him abiding in them by the Spirit&nbsp;(3:24; 4:13; Jn. 14:17). There is an element of our permitting Him to dwell in us; being possessed by the Spirit does not remove our freewill in allowing Him to be a guest within us.</p><p><em>That, when he shall be manifested, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming</em>- The &quot;boldness&quot; at the day of judgment is only possible if we have the &quot;eternal life&quot; within us now, having received and having lived the spirit of the life of Jesus in our mortal life. To forsake that Spirit would leave them naked and thereby ashamed before Him.</p><p>&quot;Before him&quot; is literally 'from before Him'. After the rejected start to perceive the reality of rejection, there will be an ashamed slinking away from the judgment. It would appear that the wicked will argue back in protest against their rejection at the judgment (&quot;When saw we thee?... Thou art an hard man&quot;), and will desperately try to find acceptance. All this has to be reconciled with the silent dejection and grim acceptance of the 'goats'. 1 Jn. 2:28 speaks of them as being &quot;ashamed from before him at his coming&quot;, the Greek suggesting the idea of slinking away in shame, after the pattern of Israel being <em>carried away</em> into captivity (2 Kings 17:6,11,23,33- Heb. 'to denude, make naked'). Another foretaste of this was in the way the condemned world of Noah&rsquo;s time the flood was a clear type of the final judgment were to &lsquo;pine away / languish&rsquo; (Gen. 6:17; 7:21- AV &ldquo;die&rdquo;). The wicked will melt away from the Lord's presence (Ps. 68:2). Rejected Israel are described as being &quot;ashamed away&quot; (Joel 1:12)- the same idea. This is the idea behind Heb. 12:15 RVmg: &quot;&hellip;man that falleth back from the grace of God&quot;. What they did in this life in slinking away from the reality of pure grace back to Judaism will be what is worked out in their condemnation experience. Note that Jesus Himself will be likewise ashamed of His unworthy followers (Lk. 9:26); there will be a mutuality in the natural distancing between the two parties. This is the scene of Rev. 16:15- the rejected being made naked in shame. This slinking back in shame will fulfil the prophecies of Is. 1:24,29 and Jer. 2:35,36, which speak of the rejected being made ashamed, becoming ashamed, of their idols; which is all that legalistic obedience amounts to. They will be made ashamed by the judgment process. Thus we have the picture of them initially arguing with Jesus, growing less and less forcible, giving way to a pleading with tears for a change of mind, finally followed by a silent slinking away in shame. There seems a certain similarity between this and how the combined Gospel records imply that men initially mocked Jesus on the cross, and then eventually slipped away in silence (Heb. 6:6). Adam attempted to hide from God's presence, the Hebrew implying 'to drawn oneself back'. Judas went away (Gk. he retired away) to try to hang himself, once he knew his condemnation (Mt. 27:3-5). See on Mt. 27:5. Speechlessness is a characteristic of the rejected (Mt. 22:12); the brothers slunk away from Joseph's physical presence (Gen. 45:4), as the rejected will.</p><p>1 Jn. 2:28 speaks of our being able to have &quot;boldness&quot; at the day of judgment; but the Greek <em>parresia</em> means literally 'a saying of all'. This free telling of all will be when we list our sins to the Lord; and yet, in the greatest paradox, this will be our confidence before Him. That 'freedom of speech' in His presence will be the sign that we are accepted; and yet the freedom of speech begins with our free confession to Him of our unworthiness.</p><p>The 'manifestation' of the Lord is paralleled here with His <em>parousia</em> or second coming. But John has used this word of how the life and person of the Lord is manifested to believers in Him through the Spirit (1:2; 3:8) as He was manifested in His life (Jn. 1:31; 2:11 etc.), just as His physical life and presence was manifested at His literal resurrection (Jn. 21:1,14). The Comforter enables us to experience the Lord's presence just as real as He was physically present with men during His ministry. This is not at all to devalue His second, literal coming; but the essence of His manifestation is already experienced by those who have His Spirit.</p>