(1 John 3:1 NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Behold - Not translated in the NIV. It is the Greek word idete which means "behold, look at."
This word means, “behold you.” The writer wants everyone to take notice. Another way to put it is “Behold, all of you.”
How great a love – The kind of love that John is talking about is a strange kind of love, an unusual kind of love, a kind of love to which we are not accustomed to.
We are accustomed to “fair-weather” love – When the storms come the love goes
We are accustomed to selfish love or selfish motive love – As long as they are getting what they are around, but if the well dries up, they’re gone.
The word speaks of something foreign. The first part of verse one could also be translated, “Behold, what foreign kind of love…”
It is an out of this world love. (i.e., other worldly)
It is not of this life or from this place. (i.e., unearthly)
I’ve known the love of a mother, the love of a child and the love of a woman but none compares to the love of Christ.
God’s love is a:
1.) Great love – Ephesians 2:4, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…”
2.) Giving love – “For God so loved the world that He gave…”
3.) Sacrificial love – “He gave His only begotten Son…”
4.) Pursuing love - Hosea 11:4, “I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.”
5.) On Time love - Romans 5:6-7 – “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.”
6.) Demonstrating love – Romans 5:8 – “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
… the Father has bestowed on us
A minister one day sat in the vestry of his church to meet anyone who might have spiritual difficulties. Only one came. "What is your difficulty?" asked the minister. The man answered, "My difficulty is the ninth chapter of Romans, where it says, 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,'"
"Yes," said the minister, "there is great difficulty in that verse; but which part of the verse is difficult for you?" The latter part, of course," said the man. "I cannot understand why God should hate Esau." The minister replied, "That verse has often been difficult, but my difficulty has always been with the first part of the verse. I never could understand how God could love that wily, deceitful, supplanting scoundrel Jacob."
If truth be told, every one of us could say the same thing about ourselves. “How could God love a sinner like me?”
(Job 7:17 NKJV) "What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him,
God bestowed His love on us
Bestowed – To give something to someone—He gave us His love!
Titus 3:4-5 - “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared…He saved us…”
Rom 5:5 - “ … the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
The word “bestow” is in the perfect tense – indicates the gift becomes a permanent possession of the recipient.
Jeremiah 31:3b - "…I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
Romans 8:39 – Nothing “… shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
…that we should be called children of God.
Schofield - A tender word is used for "children," teknia, "born ones." This word is used in the Scripture by both the apostles Paul and John.
Paul is concerned with our public position as sons:
Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Rom 8:17a and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…
John is concerned with our nearness as born-ones of the Father.
1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
God has called us His “born ones;” His children.
As King, He could have referred to us as merely His subjects.
As Master, He could have confined us to the realm of servitude as His slaves.
As Lord of heaven, He could have related to us as only His tenants
As Creator, He could have associated with us as simply His creation.
As our Savior, He could have referred to us primarily as His debtors.
BUT! Because He is Father, He chooses to call us His little “born ones”—His children.
Just think of the intimacy expressed by a loving parent to his or her little born one. How a mother uses loving words, warm embraces, nurturing and caring for her little born one. Multiply that great love by infinity and you have the love of God for one of His born ones.
…and such we are!
1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
The KJV and NKJV omit the last part of verse one. But other translations have the expression, “and such we are!”
John is saying, we are only called children of God---we are children of God.
Not only does a Christian carry the name “child of God,” we have the character or essence of sonship.
The child of God can say emphatically, “I am a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ.”
We don’t hope to be…
We don’t expect to be…but every believer can glory and rejoice and constantly thank and praise God that he is God’s child.
But we don’t boast not in ourselves, we boast in the wonderful God that we have who would make us His children.
We don’t need to sing songs like, “I’m climbing up the rough side of the mountain and I'm doing my best to make it in…” If you have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, you are one of God’s “born ones” and you are in!
Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
World – kosmos – people of this world system of evil
Know - ginosko, - to "know" experientially
Now that we know the Greek, let’s figure out what John is saying. What he is saying is so profound.
He is saying, ‘The world can’t get into us because it did not get into Him.”
He is saying that the world cannot come to an understanding and appreciation of the nature of the person we are, since unsaved people never have a saving relationship with God and an understanding of God.
He is saying that Christians are foreign to them because God is foreign to them.
(1 John 3:2 NKJV) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be
What John is doing here is taking the two thoughts of the present and future condition of God’s children and placing them side by side and centering them in light of the fact of being the children of God.
He says that both our present and future conditions are certain, being rooted in the fact that we are children of God.
…it has not yet appeared – Means it has not yet been made manifest. It is aorist passive – meaning our future condition was never manifested on any occasion.
…what we shall be – something unspeakable. No one has died , been changed, went to heaven and then returned to tell about it.
but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
John is writing that it has not yet appeared—It has not yet been made manifest—There is no revelation on this and in the absence of such revelation, we know (because of the inner witness of being God’s child) that if “what we shall be” were manifested, we would be shown to be in the likeness to the Lord.
John is saying here that the only way to see Him is to be like Him.
It would help us to understand what John is saying by examining what he means when he says, “when He is revealed.” John is referring to what is called the Rapture.
The word “rapture” means caught up. The Rapture is that event in Bible prophecy when Jesus returns from heaven and appears in the clouds to call up His children. He summons the bodies of the departed believers to be reunited with their spirits that have been in heaven up to this point. Then He calls up Christians who are alive at that moment to meet Him in the air. He proceeds to change the bodies of both the living and the dead believer into the glorious kind of body that He has and all this occurs in the time that it takes for an eye to twinkle.
(1 Th 4:16 NKJV) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
(1 Th 4:17 NKJV) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
(1 Th 4:18 NKJV) Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Back in our text, John says:
…we shall be like Him…
This statement has to do with physical likeness, not spiritual likeness. If you know Jesus Christ as Savior you are already spiritually like the Lord. You are more spiritually like the Lord each day through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
However, one day we will be transformed into the physical likeness of the Lord:
(Phil 3:20 NKJV) For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
(Phil 3:21 NKJV) who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
“change/transform” – to change the outward expression by assuming one put on from the outside
In other words, this is not a change from the inside out but a change from the outside in.
(1 Cor 15:51 NKJV) Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed;
(1 Cor 15:52 NKJV) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
(1 Cor 15:53 NKJV) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
(1 Cor 15:54 NKJV) So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
John writes, “when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Only at the Rapture will we be able to see our Lord as He is now; for physical eyes in a mortal body could not look on that glory, only eyes in glorified bodies. And this is the reason we shall be like Him, for only in that state can we see Him just as He is.
Are you looking for Him? Do you want to see Him? Are you one of little “born ones”?
How many of us have ever seen the president of the USA?
When I was growing up, the president was the most important man in the entire world and if one would be blessed enough to meet him—what a blessing it would be!!!
It is natural that when we hear of a great person or a person who is well-known that we should see this person in person.
I remember about twenty years ago when my wife was singing with this group who had to record a spot that was going to be on TV. While at the studio, she ran into Stan Stovel and couldn’t wait to get home to tell me that she saw “Stan Stovel.”
While taking Precious to John Hopkins for a check up, she ran into Dr. Ben--- and couldn’t wait to get home to tell me that she saw Dr. “What’s his face.”
It was years ago when it was announced that President Reagan would be visiting my job. Most everyone wanted to see him. It didn’t matter whether you were Republican or Democrat—after all, he wasn’t only president, he had been a movie star too.
The day he visited our manufacturing facility I could only see him from a distance because of the crowd. A few years later it was announced that Vice-Presidential candidate Dan Qualye would be visiting our job. I couldn’t wait to get down to the airplane hanger to get a glimpse of his face and to shake his hand.
When we read the works of any famous writer, we have a habit of turning to the back cover to look for his or her picture.
When we know of any singer or preacher who is holy, and who is highly devoted to his or her ministry, we won’t mind waiting in line at a book signing, just to get a glimpse of the one whom God has so highly blessed.
This feeling becomes even more powerful when we have any connection with the person; when we feel, not only that he has been a blessing to the church, but that he has been a blessing to us as individuals.
I’ve waited in line to shake hands with RC Sproul, Tony Evans, Dr. Bob Cook, Jerry Vines, and John MacArthur—men who have made an impact in my life since becoming a Christian and over the years of my ministry. Sometimes the lines were so long I never got to see some of them.
Around 1978, I first heard his preaching. It was like nothing I had ever heard. I had been saved for only a couple years by this time and hearing a man teach and preach from the Bible, explaining verses in the Bible was both encouraging and exciting.
This man not only preached the Word of God but had a passion to see souls saved from sin and won over to Jesus Christ. The impact he’s made on my life I have not forgotten.
I’ve mentioned this man in my sermons over the years. I’ve mentioned him in the devotionals we ran on WRBS radio some years ago and I’ve even written about him in my Woodlawn Villager column.
But I never had a chance to thank him personally until this past spring at the Pat Kelly Banquet when I had the opportunity to express my love and appreciation to Preacher Joseph Brown for his impact on my life.
I saw him sitting at a table—there was no one around except for a friend of mine who serves as associate pastor of his church. I walked over and introduced myself and told him how he has blessed my life and this church.
It was great talking to him. He shared with me about what he was doing in his ministry and gave me a video to preview for him and offer suggestions. Then he invited me to come over one day to speak at his church!
Is there someone in your life who has impacted your life in a big way but you have yet to meet face to face? Do you have a desire to meet that person one day?
Do you have an even more intense desire to meet the Lord Jesus Christ face to face?
Preaching on the subject, 19th century preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon said,
We owe to none so much; we talk of none so much, we hope, and we think of none so much: at any rate, no one so constantly thinks of us. We have I believe, all of us who love His Name, a most insatiable wish to behold His person.
The thing for which I would pray above all others, would be forever to behold His face, forever to lay my head upon His breast, forever to know that I am His, forever to dwell with Him. Ay, one short glimpse, one transitory vision of His glory, one brief glance at His marred, but now exalted and beaming countenance, would repay almost a world of trouble.
The song says,
Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face,
There to sing forever of His saving grace;
On the streets of Glory let me lift my voice;
Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice.
I don’t know about you but I want to see Jesus because I know that when I see Him I will be like Him.
I want to see Jesus because I know that when I see Him, “the former things will be passed away.”
I want to see Jesus because I know when I see Him, I will have been translated from this wretched place and saved from the wrath to come.
When I see Jesus, that moment, that twinkling of an eye’s worth of time will have expired and the trumpet will have already been sounded and I will be with Him and be like Him.
Douglas Miller sang a song years ago. While I don’t agree with all the words to this song, I like the chorus:
And when I see Jesus, Amen…
When I see Jesus…. A- Men…
All of my trials,
all of my troubles…
All of my heartaches,
all of my disappointments will soon be over,
when I see Jesus, A-men…
When I see the man who died for me…
The one who set me free…
The one who opened doors for me…
The one who made a way for me… A-MEN…
Purifying hope
(1 John 3:3 NKJV) And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
What hope? This hope “in Him.”
This hope, this expectation of His return to get us;
This hope, this expectation of seeing Him;
This hope, this expectation of being like Him…
Do you have this hope? If you have this hope, John writes that it should have a purifying effect on you because He is pure.
You should want to live a pure life because you know that in order to see Him, you have to be like Him. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8 )
Let me close by sharing from the journal of Martha Snell Nicholson who, for more than thirty-five years wrote beautiful Christian poetry. A number of years before she died she wrote about her hope in the coming of the Lord.
This is what she wrote: The best part is the blessed hope of his soon coming. How I ever lived before I grasped that wonderful truth, I do not know. How anyone lives without it these trying days I cannot imagine. Each morning I think, with a leap of the heart, "He may come today." And each evening, "When I awake, I may be in glory." Each day must be lived as though it were to be my last, and there is so much to be done to purify myself and to set my house in order. I am on tiptoe with expectancy. There are no more grey days -- for they're all touched with color; no more dark days -- for the radiance of His coming is on the horizon; no more dull days, with glory just around the corner; and no more lonely days, with His footsteps coming ever nearer, and the thought that soon, soon, I shall see His blessed face and be forever through with pain and tears.
(1 John 3:1 NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! And such we are! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
(1 John 3:2 NKJV) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
(1 John 3:3 NKJV) And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
He is coming soon. Are you one of His “born ones”? Are you a child of God?
He is coming soon. Do you hope for His soon return?
Do you hope to see Him?
Do you hope to be made like Him?
Does this hope make you want to live a pure life?
