We Shall See Him As He Is-Face to Face

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. 1Jn 3:2

This we know—we shall be like Him

​"Jesus Christ was transfigured before His disciples.
Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 
​That was a glorious manifestation, and when the three privileged disciples who beheld His glory on the Mount were permitted to do so, when the period of enjoined silence had passed, they testified to that glory in glowing words. And here we are told by one of their number that Jesus Christ’s disciples are to be transfigured, not now and here, but in the future life, at the termination of the present dispensation, at His appearing or coming. We are told that in that day they shall be like Him, like Him whose face when He was transfigured was like the sun, and whose raiment was white and glistering, and who will come forth in His second appearing in His own glory and in the glory of His Father and of the holy angels. In that day His disciples shall be glorified together with Him. Not all men, but His disciples, they who have received Him, who believe on His Name, and to whom He gives power to become the sons of God."
​[Great Texts]

In the description given of Jesus transfigured before Peter James and John, we get a glimpse of the Lord as He will appear in heaven. This event also opens up the truths of Jesus' preeminence, and that it reveals Jesus as the "I Am" who spoke with Moses on Mt. Sanai. Going further, it opens up to us these facets of how His majestic transfiguration, gives us a picture of our future when we join Him in glory. This excerpt below helps break this down for us:

​Now are we the sons of God - He speaks of those who are begotten of God, and who work righteousness. See the preceding chapter.
And it doth not yet appear what we shall be - It is not yet manifest; though we know that we are the children of God, we do not know that state of glorious excellence to which, as such, we shall be raised.
When he shall appear -  When he shall be manifested; i.e., when he comes the second time, and shall be manifested in his glorified human nature to judge the world.
We shall be like him - For our vile bodies shall be made like unto his glorious body; we shall see him as he is, in all the glory and majesty both of the Divine and human nature. 

See Php_3:21; and Joh_17:24
Joh 17:24 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. 
​Php 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. 

Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. John had seen his glory on the mount when he was transfigured; and this we find was ineffably grand; but even this must have been partially obscured, in order to enable the disciples to bear the sight, for they were not then like him. But when they shall be like him, they shall see him as he is - in all the splendor of his infinite majesty."  [Adam Clarke]

By and by
Charles H. Spurgeon

“It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” At present we are veiled, and travel through the world incognito.
1. Our Master was not made manifest here below.
(1) His glory was veiled in flesh.
(2) His Deity was concealed in infirmity.
(3) His power was hidden under sorrow and weakness.
(4) His riches were buried under poverty and shame.
2. We are not fit to appear in full figure as yet.
(1) The son is treated as a servant while under age.
(2) The heir is kept a pensioner till his majority.
(3) The prince serves as a soldier before he reaches the throne.
3. This is not the world to appear in.
(1) There are more to appreciate us, and it would be as though kings showed their royalty at a wake, or wise men discoursed philosophy before fools.
(2) A warring and waiting condition like the present would not be a fit opportunity for unveiling.
(a) The winter prepares flowers, but does not call them forth.
(b) The ebb tide reveals the secrets of the sea, but many of our rivers no gallant ship can then sail.
(c) To everything there is a season, and this not the time of glory.

“But we know that when he shall appear.”
1. We shall speak of our Lord’s manifestation without doubt. “We know.”
2. Our faith is so assured that it becomes knowledge.
(1) He will be manifest upon this earth in person.
(2) He will be manifest in perfect happiness.
(3) He will be manifest in highest glory.
(4) He will appear surely, and so we speak of it as a date for our own manifesting—“when He shall appear.”

“We shall be like him.” We shall then be as manifested and as clearly seen as He will be. The time of our open presentation at court will have come.
1. Having a body like His body: sinless, incorruptible, painless, spiritual, clothed with beauty and power, and yet most real and true.
2. Having a soul like His soul: perfect, holy, instructed, developed, strengthened, active, delivered from temptation, conflict, and suffering.
3. Having such dignities and glories as He wears: kings, priests, conquerors, judges, sons of God.
IV. “We shall see him as he is.”
1. This glorious sight will perfect our likeness.
2. This will be the result of our being like Him.
3. This will be evidence of our being like Him, since none but the pure in heart can see God. 

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​Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 
Mat 17:3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 

When the Veil is Lifted
John's Vision of the Son of Man​

Rev 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 
Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 
Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 
Rev 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 
Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 
Rev 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 
Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 
Rev 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 
Rev 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. 

"I am he that liveth, and was dead - I was indeed once dead, but now I live, and shall continue to live forever. This would at once identify him who thus appeared as the Lord Jesus Christ, for to no one else could this apply. He had been put to death; but he had risen from the grave. This also is given as a reason why John should not fear; and nothing would allay his fears more than this. He now saw that he was in the presence of that Saviour whom more than half a century before he had so tenderly loved when in the flesh, and whom, though now long absent, he had faithfully served, and for whose cause he was now in this lonely island. His faith in his resurrection had not been a delusion; he saw the very Redeemer before him who had once been laid in the tomb.

Behold, I am alive forevermore - I am to live forever. Death is no more to cut me down, and I am never again to slumber in the grave. As he was always to live, he could accomplish all his promises, and fulfil all his purposes. The Saviour is never to die again. He can, therefore, always sustain us in our troubles; he can be with us in our death. Whoever of our friends die, he will not die; when we die, he will still be on the throne.

Amen - A word here of strong affirmation - as if he had said, it is “truly,” or “certainly so.” See the notes on Rev_1:7. This expression is one that the Saviour often used when he wished to give emphasis, or to express anything strongly. Compare Joh_3:3; Joh_5:25.

And have the keys of hell and of death - The word rendered “hell” - “Hades” - refers properly to the underworld; the abode of departed spirits; the region of the dead. This was represented as dull and gloomy; as enclosed with walls; as entered through gates which were fastened with bolts and bars. For a description of the views which prevailed among the ancients on the subject, see the Luk_16:23 note, and Job_10:21-22 notes. To hold the key of this, was to hold the power over the invisible world. It was the more appropriate that the Savior should represent himself as having this authority, as he had himself been raised from the dead by his own power (compare Joh_10:18), thus showing that the dominion over this dark world was entrusted to him.

And of death - A personification. Death reigns in that world. But to his wide-extended realms the Savior holds the key, and can have access to his empire when he pleases, releasing all whom he chooses, and confining there still such as he shall please. It is probably in part from such hints as these that Milton drew his sublime description of the gates of hell in the “Paradise Lost.” As Christ always lives; as he always retains this power over the regions of the dead, and the whole world of spirits, it may be further remarked that we have nothing to dread if we put our trust in him. We need not fear to enter a world which he has entered, and from which he has emerged, achieving a glorious triumph; we need not fear what the dread king that reigns there can do to us, for his power extends not beyond the permission of the Savior, and in his own time that Savior will call us forth to life, to die no more." [Albert Barnes]

"It doth not yet appear - Even to ourselves. What we shall be - It is something ineffable, which will raise the children of God to be, in a manner, as God himself. But we know, in general, that when he, the Son of God, shall appear, we shall be like him - The glory of God penetrating our inmost substance. For we shall see him as he is - Manifestly, without a veil. And that sight will transform us into the same likeness."   [John Wesley]

"The likeness. There is the likeness of resemblance: God sent forth His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was not sinful flesh, but lie bare the likeness. There is the likeness of identity: He that was in the form of God was really God; He that was in the form of a servant was really a servant; and He that was made in the likeness of men, and was found in fashion as a man, was really a man. There is also the likeness of equality: He not only took the nature of man, but his frail, afflicted, mortal state. And there is here also the likeness of representation: in His low and afflicted condition on earth, we have an image of man as a mourner and a mortal; and in His glorified condition at the Father’s right hand, we have a representation of what the saints in heaven shall for ever be. As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."  [Biblical Illustrator]
2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.