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See Him as He Is
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Genesis 5:1  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) This verse proves the fulfillment of God's purpose in Genesis 1:26 to create man "in the likeness of God." John W. Ritenbaugh We Shall Be God! (Part 1)

1 Corinthians 15:45-48  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) The heavenly man is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God! Those who are after the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly! As we have borne the image of the man of dust, Adam, so we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man! We were one with Adam. Under a new rule of life, we are one with Christ. Even as Adam is the pattern of what we are now, Christ is the pattern for what we shall be. We shall therefore share His life and His being. The conclusion is inescapable. The present body, Paul shows, is corruptible. The future body is incorruptible, unfaded. It has beauty that will never lose its sheen! The present body is dishonest. The future body will be holy, no longer be subject to carnal passion. It will be a pure instrument of service. The bodies we now have full of weakness. The new body will be one of power! So often we are frustrated by our limitations. There is so much more that we wish we could do, but we are encompassed by weakness. We get tired and weary. In the resurrection, we will be clad with power! This present body is natural, subject to sickness and death. The resurrected body will be spiritual and eternal. It will be just like Christ's! John W. Ritenbaugh We Shall Be God! (Part 2)

Philippians 3:21  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) There is nothing ambiguous, cloudy, or vague about this. Our bodies will be conformed to be like His. It does not say they will be conformed to be like an angel's. It does not say they will be conformed to be like a better human being. They are going to be conformed to be like His body. Paul is referring to the Lord, who is God! Our bodies will be like God's body. The word conform or, as it is in the King James, fashioned means "to make similar to or identical with." Will our bodies be "similar to" or "identical with" God's? Which one does Paul intend us to understand? John writes in I John 3:1-3: Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not knows us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now are 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. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. When he says, "it has not yet been revealed what we shall be," he means that we do not know some of the specifics about what our nature will be like, but we do know what it will be in a generality: "We shall be like Him." What other creature that God has created has been given the Spirit of God and is being conformed to His image? Angels? Hebrews 1 says that the angels of heaven worship Jesus Christ. He is greater than angels, and we are going to be conformed to Him! We are not going to be conformed to angels. The conforming is to be to God. Another thing that John adds here is that this hope—to be conformed to the image of God in Jesus Christ—is what motivates a person to purify himself. It is the engine that drives a person along the Way, because he knows where he is headed. He is not going to be someone slightly above angels but someone like the Son of God, one who is worshipped and is worthy of the worship of angels. This doctrine is not ambiguous in any way. We are going to be like Him, and He is worthy of worship. Does it not say in Revelation 3:9 that people will worship the saints? Do people worship angels? No, the angels tell them, "Get off your knees, because I am a servant as you are" (see Revelation 19:10). God says we will be worthy of worship as part of the God Family. John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 1)

 

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