'Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall
be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.'--1 John iii. 2.
I have hesitated, as you may well believe, whether I should take these
words for a text. They seem so far to surpass anything that can be said
concerning them, and they cover such immense fields of dim thought, that
one may well be afraid lest one should spoil them by even attempting to
dilate on them. And yet they are so closely connected with the words of
the previous verse, which formed the subject of my last sermon, that I
felt as if my work were only half done unless I followed that sermon
with this.
The present is the prophet of the future, says my text: 'Now we are the
sons of God, _and_' (not 'but') 'it doth not yet appear what we shall
be.' Some men say, 'Ah! _now are_ we, but we shall be--nothing!' John
does not think so. John thinks that if a man is a son of God he will
always be so. There are three things in this verse, how, if we are God's
children, our sonship makes us quite sure of the future; how our sonship
leaves us largely in ignorance of the future, but how our sonship flings
one bright, all-penetrating beam of light on the only important thing
about the future, the clear vision of and the perfect likeness to Him
who is our life. 'Now are we the sons of God,' therefore we shall be. We
are the sons; we do not know what we shall be. We are the sons, and
therefore, though there be a great circumference of blank ignorance as
to our future, yet, blessed be His name, there is a great light burning
in the middle of it! 'We know that when He shall appear we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is.'