“We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”
In expounding from the pulpit this striking passage, it is said the late Dr. John M. Mason was accustomed to illustrate the meaning of the Apostle by the family resemblance observable between children and their parents, derived in part at least from the affectionate and earnest contemplation of the parents’ countenance, which is so observable in young persons; thus moulding the very outline of the features into likeness to that of father and mother. So the redeemed soul “shall see the King in his beauty,” and feel the transforming power of the adoring contemplation.
But how do we love him whom we have not seen? This, too, admits of a familiar explanation. How is it that Washington is an object of profound admiration to millions in this and other countries who never saw him? How is it that this veneration and respect, gratitude and admiration, instead of diminishing with the distance, rather becomes more profoundly intense in the breasts of all true patriots? As one has well remarked: “We sometimes form a very strong attachment to earthly friends whom we have never seen. We hear of their works; we catch their spirit; we see numerous and most expressive manifestations of it; and our interest in them is scarcely less than if we had seen them with these eyes. There are multitudes of holy men, living and dead, for whom we cherish the deepest affection and regard. How many precious spirits among the patriarchs, prophets and apostles do we admire and love; for our souls have been trained and turned to gratitude, submission, adoration, and praise, by the sweet words in which their hearts once gushed and poured forth their devotions. Hence we feel as if we knew them. In fact, we are scarcely less acquainted with them than if we had seen them.”
Yet while we know them much, we have known Jesus more. The streams have been good, the fountain incomparably better. We have gone to them for instruction. Their example has been valuable; that of Jesus has been priceless. Their sympathy—but we cannot begin to put it in comparison with that of Him who can be touched with the feeling of all our infirmities, and who was tempted in all points like as we are—whose infinite heart goes to the bottom of the deepest sorrows of every one of his countless children of every nation down through all ages. And to crown all, Jesus gave himself for us by a death, a self-sacrifice and agony. He took our place before and underneath the sword of justice. We have not seen him; but we have seen and felt the proofs of his unutterable love for us. We see such grace and such unsurpassed moral excellence—we cannot but admire, love, and adore him. No matter whether we have seen him—we can love him and adore him, as if there were nothing else to be loved or adored on earth or in heaven.—Presbyterian Advocate.