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. (2) 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 is a pastoral letter and the overall theme is the fundamentals of faith. It deals with certainties, not opinions or conjectures as he expresses the absolute character of Christianity. God’s love is not earned or deserved but purely a gift. God is under no obligation to save us. The fact that God’s great love is a gift means we can’t do anything to deserve His love. In faith He imparts new life to us and we are raised from spiritual death (because of the fall) to spiritual life. This means becoming a Christian is not a matter of human will power but rather God’s power. We are saved by faith alone. Because we have been born of God the world does not understand – does not know us because it did not know Christ. Christians do not have to give up the world for Jesus’ sake but the things of the world will grow strangely dim

Divine life cannot be divorced from moral excellence which is a direct reference to the second coming of Christ and the future of our Christian life. Our verses today are a summary of chronological stages of such a life. Believers were given eternal life in faith (reborn). We shall no longer see through a glass darkly. The Bible tells us little positive about heaven but does tell us a few negative things about what heaven is NOT. No more tears, no more sorrow, no night, no death, no separation, no sickness, no pain. The positive truth of heaven is that is where Christ is complete; total and final fellowship, occupation and communion with Christ.

The apostle writes of the greatness of God’s children and their future glory. We do not fully understand what lies ahead. A constantly sanctifying influence goes on in the life of every child of God until finally the conformation being complete we see Him as He is. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. C.s.Lewis described his experience of rebirth in ‘Surprised by Joy’: I know very well when, but hardly how, the final step was taken. I was driven into Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did. And yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion, “Emotional” is perhaps the last word we can apply to some of the most important events. It was more like when a man, after long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake. And it was, like that moment on top of the bus.