We Shall Be Like Him

We Shall Be Like Him - Nathele Graham -twotug@embarqmail.com
 

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1. God had a plan and that plan needed light. The heaven and the earth could not have sustained
life if it remained in darkness. Even before the sun and stars were created, God spoke light into existence. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness" Genesis
3-4. Where was the source of this light? The answer is Jesus.

We read Scriptures which describes Jesus as the Light of the World and many people think that this is just an allegory. It isn't an allegory, a fable,
or a nice story. It's truth. "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12. Without light we would stumble around in darkness and fail miserably.
Jesus is Light, and Satan is dark. The closer we draw to Jesus the closer we come to His light. It's easy to fall into darkness and to be prey for the wiles of the Devil if we move away from the Light. If we stay near Jesus we have His light as a guide. The
Psalmist knew this when he wrote "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105. We have to study God's word and apply it to our life in order for Him to light our path.

When Jesus took on the form of a man, the light that shone from Him was covered with skin just like us. His light wasn't dimmed, just shielded. John was
a man who was blessed to see Jesus as He truly is, so he writes with authority when describing Jesus' appearance at the Transfiguration. John was one of three disciples, along with Peter and James, who witnessed this event. "And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light." Matthew 17: 1-2. The Gospel of Mark also describes this event,
and describes His clothes in more detail "And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." Mark 9:3. The word "fuller" is translated from the word gnapheus. Other Bibles translate this in terms of laundry and
bleached cloth, meaning His robes were whiter than white. The disciples had seen Jesus perform many miracles, but seeing Him change from human in appearance to having a shining radiance that was as bright as the sun must have baffled them. In this account
we are also told that Moses and Elijah appeared there too. We aren't given a description of their appearance, but the disciples knew who they were. Did Jesus call them by name or did He later tell Peter, James, and John that they had seen Moses and Elijah?
Scripture is silent on this point, so any discussion about this is pure speculation.

Most of us who yearn to be with Jesus don't give much thought to what He will look like. For that matter, we don't give much thought to our own appearance
after death. Our human minds tend to relate everything to what we are familiar with, so when we read descriptions of Jesus shining like the sun, we don't truly understand. As far as our own appearance we mostly just figure we will continue to look the same
as we do now. Will we? Scripture says that we will be like Him, and we've already been given a description of His face shining like the sun. John tells us that we will be like Him. "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 3:2. Interesting. I know that I will be in awe when I behold Him, and from my human perspective I'm sure I will bow before Him being unable to stand.

When we receive our glorified bodies will we glow? Probably. When Moses went up on Mt. Sinai, he met with the LORD. When he came down he had to put a
veil over his face because of the light that shone from it. "And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while
he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him." Exodus 34:29-30. He had been in the presence of Yehovah. Why did his skin glow after being in the presence
of the LORD? In 1923 a Russian scientist named Alexander G. Gurvich discovered that there is a natural glow found in living cells which is called" biophoton". It's actually in the DNA found in the nuclei of cells. This is very weak light that is emitted from
all living things. Scientists have some ideas about it, but Christians know that Jesus is the Light of the World and in Him is no darkness. Could it be that the closer we draw to Him the stronger our biophotons glow? Moses' skin shone bright after being in
the presence of the LORD. The more we study God's word, spend time in prayer, and live to please Him, the more of a Heavenly aura we acquire. It's His light shining through us that a dark and fallen world sees.

At one time we all stumbled down the dark path. We may not have been murderers or thieves, but if we didn't follow Jesus then we followed Satan. Once
a person accepts Christ there should be a desire to draw near to Him and come into His light. "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and
truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Ephesians 5:8-11. We aren't to be judgmental and condemn people, but we are to inspect the fruit they bear. Fruit needs
light to grow and we've already seen that Jesus is the source of Light. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Galatians 5:22-25. The Holy Spirit indwells Christians and we need listen to His promptings. He will only lead us closer to Jesus where we will bear more fruit.
If we ignore Him we will fade into darkness. "Quench not the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:19. Study Scripture and it will be easier to hear the guidance given by the Holy Spirit.

We need to seek truth in order for the Holy Spirit to enlighten us. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, but was a man who wanted to know the truth. He came to talk
with Jesus to find out more about who He was. One of the things that Jesus talked about was light and darkness. He told Nicodemus that God loved the world and He hadn't come into the world to condemn it but to offer salvation. "And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the
light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." John 3:19-21, If you love darkness rather than light then you condemn yourself. Nicodemus didn't let his position as a Pharisee blind him to truth. We know this because the next time
we read about him is after the crucifixion. He and Joseph of Arimathaea tended to Jesus' body after He died. "And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury." John 19:39-40. It took courage for these two men to come forward. In spite of the darkness around them their eyes were opened to the Light
of the World.

Light has many beneficial properties in our daily life. When we draw near to the Light of the World we separate from the darkness found in the world.
We will be like Him.

God bless you all,

Nathele Graham

 

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