One day we will see Jesus face to face. All our dreams will come to fruit, and we stand right there in front of Him.
But oddly, it will be a human-sized experience in some way. It will be the opposite of a dream that can keep changing with every new thought. Jesus will be Jesus, and He'll never change. He'll be there in a body, just like our new one, and He'll definitely look like something. It's an odd thing, but He'll no longer be an amazing million possibilities. Jesus will be Jesus, and when we pass Him on the streets of gold, we will recognize Him.
In a sense, that might be a little odd. Imagine meeting the girl of your dreams for the first time. 999,999 possibilities drop away in an instant when you see the real thing. You could almost mourn the 999,999 girls that will never be, but then you can finally begin knowing the girl that's really there.
Getting to know the Jesus that's really there just might be like that. We might first have to mourn the Jesuses we imagined before we can love the Jesus Who's standing there in front of us. I think that will feel good and right.
And when it happens, I suspect an amazing thing will happen. We will be shocked to discover that we already know Him. We'll be shocked at how few surprises there are for us, because have already known each other. Jesus will reach out to us, and we'll know that gesture because Bob and Dan were just like that. And He'll laugh with us, and it'll be just like Charleen and Linda.
I think the biggest surprise of meeting Jesus will be the degree to which we are not surprised by the beauty we see in Him.
It's an exciting hope.
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"and we know that we shall be like him .."
I think the other surprise might be to discover which bits of ourselves he had already remade in his image. We get confused about what real godliness looks like.
There's a wonderful bit somewhere in C S Lewis' "Voyage to Venus" where the protagonist meets the "Adam" of that world (who of course in in the image of Christ) and he says something to the effect that he recognised his face, because it was so like "that" face which everyman knows when he sees it.
It's an exciting hope indeed, thanks for sharing it with us.
It is an exciting hope indeed.
I never have thought of ever finding shock in Heaven. I do like the image of Him being like those around us. That hand on my back from a man who looks for me at work. . . .that hug from. . . that twinkle of an eye when. But I only think comfortable and free in Heaven. Then again I am darn optimistic a lot. ;-}
(Now you know I’m think of that morn the part. Hmmm that could end up a post.}
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.
What do elephants do for laughs?
Tell people jokes
Doesn't face to face also mean one-on-one? I'm looking forward to that time when He will welcome me personally into His Kingdom by my first name. Not because of my moral excellence, achievements or even my doctrinal correctness, but because we have an in-depth relationship.
Many years ago when I first met Him, it was a very moving, life changing experience. My Bible-believing friends took me aside and asked me questions, testing my orthodoxy. I probably flunked their test.
Years later, I find myself wondering if we are in danger of losing our intimacy with God in our quest for theological accuracy. Is it possible that I could lose Him in a maze of doctrinal debate?
Is the Kingdom of Heaven more like college, where I am admitted because of what I know and believe, or a family reunion, where I'm welcomed because I'm related to the Head of the family?
A clue: Jesus said that the world would recognize us by the quality of our relationships, not by our theological excellence.
Brother Lazarus
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