| For Now We See Through a Glass Darkly |
|
by David A. DePra |
| For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which |
| is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. |
| When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I |
| thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish |
| things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to |
| face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am |
| known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the |
| greatest of these is charity. (I Cor. 13:9-13) |
| The other night there was a television program about a man who |
| had been blind for forty years, ever since he was about five years |
| old. He had never seen his own wife, or son. In fact, he didn't even |
| know what HE looked like. Things we take for granted were far |
| beyond his comprehension. |
| This man, of course, did have some perspective. He could hear. |
| He could smell. And he could touch. So even though he could not |
| see, he was able to formulate a perspective and point of reference |
| for living based on his other senses. |
| This man had a relationship with his wife and son. It wasn't the |
| same kind of relationship someone with sight would have had, but |
| it was the one he was capable of. Who are we to say it was LESS |
| of a relationship? Maybe in other ways, it was MORE. |
| Anyways, he had an operation which restored to him some sight. |
| He couldn't see much , but he could see. For the first time ever, he |
| could at least make out what his wife looked like. And his son. And |
| for the first time, he saw what he looked like as an adult. |
| Because this man had been able to see up until he went blind as |
| a child, he probably had a point of reference for sight. He could |
| probably remember things -- what it was like to see. But imagine |
| NEVER having been able to see. How could you even know what |
| a human being really looked like? You would have no point of |
| reference at all. How could you even know what it was like to |
| experience the sense of sight? |
| We might say that this man, who was blind, is now able to "see |
| through a glass darkly." His very limited eyesight enables him to |
| function better than before. But just think if he were able to see |
| everything "face to face!" Think of what it would mean to his life! |
| Spiritual Realm |
| There is a spiritual realm into which we are born as Christians. |
| But even after we are born into it, it is as if we are blind, deaf, and |
| completely unable to exercise our senses in that realm. That's |
| because it is not of this world. It is not physical. Therefore, by |
| nature, we have no point of reference for it. The five senses do not |
| work there. We cannot reach out with them and gather information. |
| There is nothing of the spirit which we can grasp with the natural. |
| Perspective is, afterall, a relative thing. You "see," or perceive, |
| as it relates to everything else. For example, try to describe to |
| someone else what an apple tastes like without referring to any |
| other taste. You can't do it. Or, try to describe what a rose smells |
| like without referring to any other smell. Or, try to describe what the |
| color blue is like without referring to something blue, or relating it |
| to another color. You can't do it. You cannot so much as |
| communicate in this physical world unless you relate what you are |
| talking about to something else. |
| If you cannot describe to someone what an apple tastes like |
| without referring to any other taste, then think how impossible it is |
| to describe to someone what the spiritual realm is like -- if there is |
| no common frame of reference. That's why God gives us things |
| like parables and spiritual types. He is showing us something |
| spiritual -- quite beyond this realm -- but using something for which |
| we have a frame of reference, so that we might have some level |
| of elementary grasp on what He is saying. |
| The point is, on our best day, we see through a glass darkly. |
| Picture it. Picture looking out of a window into the realm of God. |
| Picture that in this world is all Truth and all that is of God. Indeed, |
| in this world is God Himself. But suppose the glass through which |
| you are looking is tinted to the point of almost being black. You |
| can make out only shadows and movements. But that is all. And |
| again -- that is on your best day. |
| You see, we are like this man who was married to a woman |
| he never saw. He didn't know what she really looked like. He |
| knew lots of other things about her, but not what she looked like. |
| There was an entire dimension missing. Then, one day, he finally |
| did see her. A new world opened up for him because of it. How |
| much more of a new world -- a new realm -- is going to open up to |
| those who finally see God face to face. |
| Now and Then |
| In this age, God is revealing Himself to people. But when all is |
| said and done, there isn't much we can take. Our human frame isn't |
| geared to it. But our redeemed "new man" IS geared to it. Yet from |
| a practical standpoint, there is only time here to make preliminary |
| adjustments to God. This life isn't where the fullness of anything is |
| experienced. Now, we see through a glass darkly. Now, we know |
| in part -- a very small part. THEN -- and only then -- will we know as |
| we are known. THEN -- and only then -- will we see 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. And every man that hath |
| this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (I Jn. 3:2-3) |
| So if you want to know what God is doing in people in this age, |
| therein is the answer. God is making adjustments in us so that |
| when the dark glass of this life is taken away, and we see Him face |
| to face, we will be able to live with Him forever. |
| What We Shall Be |
| Never think you have much of an idea of who you are, or of what |
| you are really becoming. You don't. Yes, you do know in part. You |
| have certain revelation. You know right from wrong. You know of |
| faith and unbelief. You can recognize spiritual character. But you |
| are only seeing a bare grain or seed. You are only seeing how |
| those things exist in this realm. You know nothing about what you |
| will be when all of those things are released to fullness. |
| We cannot know "what we shall be." It does not yet appear. But |
| note: If it "does not yet appear what we shall be," then what we DO |
| see isn't it! It is but a bare grain. It is only the correspondent |
| element of something else much greater and eternal to come of it |
| through the resurrection. We have little point of reference for much |
| more in the here and now. |
| Perhaps we could use the characteristic of faith to best |
| illustrate this. We have an idea of what it means to "have faith." Yet |
| faith -- as we know it -- is merely the evidence of things NOT seen. |
| It is NOT the "thing not seen" itself, but only the evidence of it. Do |
| you see that? Faith is the evidence OF things not seen. (Heb. 11:1) |
| Faith is also the substance of things hoped for. In other words, |
| there are spiritual things BEYOND faith -- things hoped for -- which |
| faith -- as God calls it -- is the substance OF. In effect, what we |
| rightly call "faith" in this life is but a bare grain or seed of something |
| eternal, and yet to come. Faith is the seed. The release or fullness |
| is beyond us. We cannot know it or see it. We have no frame of |
| reference for it. We are blind to it. At best, we see it through a glass |
| darkly. Yet -- it is IN us. |
| This makes even more sense once you realize that you aren't |
| going to need faith once you see God face to face. Faith is the |
| evidence of things NOT seen. Well, once you SEE face to face |
| you won't need faith. Yet what faith, in this life, is a seed OF, shall |
| remain. Faith is the groundwork or foundational of something we |
| might think is totally unrelated later. But without the faith you cannot |
| have it. Faith is the evidence of it, and the substance of it. |
| Faith, hope, and love are evidence in our character of eternal |
| seeds God is working in us. But they aren't the whole plant. Just |
| as an entire tree is contained within a little seed, so is an eternal |
| capacity contained in these seeds. We experience the seed here. |
| But in the resurrection, we experience the fullness and the reality |
| of what God is doing. |
| Focus For Living |
| There are going to come times in the life of a Christian when no |
| matter how much they pray and how much they try to think through |
| their situation, they will not be able to come to a sane conclusion. |
| There will be nothing in their knowledge of God which explains what |
| is happening. There will be nothing which can vindicate God as |
| faithful. There will be nothing which is able to go into the situation |
| and salvage some good purpose. Things will appear utterly |
| insane. See through a glass darkly? There are times when we |
| don't even know where the glass is to begin with! |
| It would be terrifying if such experiences were not already in the |
| Bible happening to those who God calls His people. Joseph had |
| such an experience. He "was sold as a servant. Whose feet they |
| hurt with fetters. He was laid in iron until the time that His Word |
| came. The word of the LORD tried him." (Ps. 105:17-19) |
| Joseph was thrown in prison. Not for merely a week, month, or |
| a year. It was for 13 years. Do we actually think that every day for |
| thirteen years God was talking to Joseph? No. Probably years |
| and years went by. It certainly must have seemed to Joseph as if |
| God had forsaken him. How else could it be said that "the Word of |
| God TRIED Joseph?" It tried him because God had given Him a |
| word which appeared, for 13 years, to be nothing but nonsense. |
| The brutal Truth is, God was not the least bit concerned about |
| whether Joseph got out of prison for those thirteen years. In fact, |
| God allowed Joseph to be put into irons. Sometimes it seems as |
| if, rather than answer our prayer for deliverance, God hands us a |
| heavy set of irons, doesn't it? The point is, God did care about |
| Joseph. But if God had delivered Joseph out of prison before the |
| time, the prison would have still been in Joseph. God was doing |
| something eternal in Joseph and knew that 13 years of prison was |
| nothing of a price to pay. |
| Herein is a great Truth: When all is said and done, everything |
| God uses in this life to build us for eternity is going to pass away. |
| But what He builds THROUGH those things will abide forever and |
| enable us to forever fellowship with God. |
| This is to become our focus for living. Let God have His way. |
| Believe and obey. And in the end, we will not only see that He was |
| completely right and just in everything He did or allowed, but we |
| will find that He used it to His glory and our betterment. |
| The point is going to arrive for each of us, in eternity, when all |
| things are going to be put into perspective. That perspective is |
| going to be the face of God. When we see Him face to face, then |
| we will see everything else the way it really is, and really was. And |
| we will fall down in worship, marvelling as to how we could have |
| doubted. Hopefully, we can also say, "I couldn't prove You were |
| faithful and right in that Lord, but I believed it. Now, I see it." |
| Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. It does |
| not yet appear what we shall be. But when He appears we shall be |
| like Him, as see Him as He is. These are awesome promises, and |
| should govern our entire focus for living. |