When the kingdom of grace and mercy has been brought to an end, when there is no longer probation or forgiveness of sin, when there is no distinction between the kingdom of grace and the “everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”, 2 Peter 1:10-11, Christ, shall cease to exercise the distinction in purpose or dominion He was given to fulfill, THEN, God will be “all in all.” 1 Corinthians 15:28 They have withheld Their identity so much, that we do not even know their individual names if They who are of that nature even have such!! At this juncture there will no need for the distinction between the persons of the glorious Trinity to exist. The Trinity will not have to act in separate parts or roles, for the purpose of this “role playing,” having ended, has ceased, have been fulfilled and completed as fashioned and designed, the personalities of Deity, which will never cease as separate and individual, will be as They were before the great “plan of the ages, the mystery of God” began!! THEN, for the first time, we who have “remained faithful unto death” will see Him as He is!! 1 John 3:2 Just think!!, for the first time, we will be able to see Christ “as He is.”
When you see people in roles, they are different that thy are when not functioning in those roles. A man is different in different roles-father, husband, provider, teacher. Many times we do not really know the real man. I was never more understanding of this truth until I saw my father after the death of my mother. He was seemingly a completely different man. I knew him in part, not as the whole! As a son, I never saw him in his totality as a man. Sometimes we see our friends as job associates, church associates, family associates and fail to see the whole. We saw Christ as He was in the Old Testament. Here, He was aloof, impersonal, and forced to be separated; for in that covenant(s) no one was of His kind, nature, or person. “For all had sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Truly, then, we never really SAW our Lord, as He is. When on earth, He was a servant, a sacrifice, an obedient Son who was doing the “will of the Father” taking all the abuse, reviling, and punishment of the sacrificed Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world (church),” again, we never REALLY saw Him “as He is.” After His resurrection we saw Him pictured as different, authoritative, and intensive, determined to establish the apostles in heart and mind. Still, we did not know Him “as He is.” We are told more about Him as High Priest and King, after His resurrection, but STILL, we do not know Him “as He is.” But, when all has been completed, distinctions are ended, roles have been put aside as finished; we who have “fought a good fight and finished our course and kept the faith,” for the first time, “will see Him as He is.” This word “is” is the Greek word pas, it means the totality.
It was the prayer of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane; “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24 It may have never occurred to many of us that NO one has ever seen our Lord as He is, was, and will be for eternity. They who serve Him with honesty of heart and purpose await a great delight not even recognized by some. The resurrection of Christ was the first, the first of a kind, it preceded what WE will be and are. Man has NEVER known who or what he is, as with the final reality of Christ being seen, the final reality of the redeemed man shall be known!! The question asked so many times; “Who am I?” will finally be answered!! Christ is the first fruits of our kind and the first fruits of our reality.
The outside world cannot “know” us, for we have been advanced far beyond the physical, social, and spiritual relationships that they might understand. The world has never had the spiritual delight of a single time with our God in prayer, in worship, in His rapturous love. They cannot know that about us. We are different, yet like them in other ways. You cannot expect them to “know”! Our kind have been stoned, cut asunder, tempted, slain with the sword; wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world is not worthy!! and if they did know, they did not know us, for as yet “we have not received the promise!!” The unchristian world cannot know our dignity, our joys, our enjoyments as they can never know we are the favorites of God headed to Heaven, but look upon us as failures. This is the way the world looked upon our Lord when He cried; “it is finished,” even our brethren tell us He was a failure. Oh!! what they don’t know!!
