From Dust to Devine Nature

Yes, sir. We are. Okay. Brethren, God has a wonderful plan, a purpose for mankind, for you and I. You know, we have a booklet that describes or addresses this very point that God has a purpose for us, as a plan for us. And God's Holy Days, God's Holy Day plan, highlights that plan of salvation, highlights the major milestones of how God will achieve His plan of salvation. He has been working at it since before the creation of the universe. It was from past eternity. And He will work with us to achieve His great purpose beyond the future that we can even understand and see, as we can see in Revelation 22, when new heaven and new earth and the bride of Christ and we have a whole new set of activities that God has planned for us.

So, what is God doing with you and I, with us today? What is He creating in us? So, let's just look at a few scriptures. We're going to start by looking at Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. And we'll start in verse 5. We break into the chapter there, into that section. We'll go back a little bit, a little later. But first, let's look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5. And it says, God has predestined us to sonship as sons by Jesus Christ.

You know, quite often, and this is where sometimes people get up, I've seen some ADC students or sometimes asking, well, then God knew that you specifically. But I think we might actually be a bit presumptuous when we say me specifically. Because God has predestined all of us, the whole of mankind, not just you and I that are called now.

God has predestined humankind to be children of God. So, when we take our blinders and enlarge that, and we can see that God has an enormous plan, just not for the few of us that are called now. God's got a plan for the whole of mankind. God has predestined us, human beings, to sonship as sons by Jesus Christ, to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. That is God's will for all mankind to be His children in the kingdom of God. And look a little bit further in verse 9.

Having made known to us the mystery of His will. Yeah, sure, those of us that understand, but we will, mankind one day, the whole of mankind will know in their due time that there is a mystery. And what is the mystery? It's that we are going to be children of God.

Previously, people did not fully understand that. Okay, there were hintings and inklings in the Old Testament, but that was not made completely clear. This is known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure. Put it that way. According to His grace, His graciousness, His desire to want us to be in His family, which He purposed in Himself. He purposed, He just decided by Himself. Looking a bit further in verse 11. In Him, in other words, through Jesus Christ, in Him also we have obtained an inerrantess, being predestined. Who's we? The whole of mankind is predestined.

That is the purpose why I created, why you and I are born. Predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. So, He has predestined us. And look at verse 4, where we came in and look just as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world. God chose mankind through Christ. And some are being called now, others will be called later. But each one, every one will have an opportunity in their own time. And He's decided that before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

That's what God wants. That's what, as we heard in the sermon, God wants to impute upon us God's righteousness, to be blameless without blame. Turn now to Matthew 25 verse 34. Matthew 25 verse 34, talking about the judgment to come. And He says, Then the king shall say to those on his right hand, Come, you, blessed are my father, inherit the kingdom. So God wants all of mankind to be there, regrettably, some will choose not to obey, some will choose not to do what's pleasing to God in His sight. Some will choose to rebel and will not repent of that rebellious attitude.

But that's not God's will. God's will is that we all will repent and He wants to give us that gracious gift. But He says, Come, blessed are my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. From before when the physical world was created, God had already intended and prepared this plan for us. That is amazing. That is amazing. And therefore, when we look at Scriptures like Revelation 13, verse 8, where He's talking about the Lamb, and as we read from the note, the letter that Mr.

Cubic just sent out this past week, before Passover, and it says here in Revelation 13, verse 8, and it talks about Christ, and it says that the people who dwell on earth are going to worship the beast, those people that do not have the name written in the Book of Life, the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

So, Christ knew before the foundation of the world that He would have to be slain. He knew it. That was part of the plan, part of the purpose. Why? Because the purpose He wants to give us graciously to be in His family, to be sons and daughters.

But for that plan to be executed, as we have, as we understand through the major milestones of God's Holy Days, it required to allow us to learn the bitter lesson of experience, and to change and realize that His way is better through experience.

Because, after all, experience is the best teacher, albeit the most expensive teacher. But it is the best teacher. And so, it's best to require the very death of the being that God delegated the responsibility to execute this plan, which is the Word, which is not Christ. And so, He was slain from the foundation of the world. And therein it shows the love, the concern, the kindness, the grace that God has for us.

And look at that, going back to Ephesians, where we were a little while ago. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 11. It says, According to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, this purpose, this goal has been eternal. It's been what God has had in His mind all the way from eternity.

And what is it? For you and I to be sons of God and a family of God, and to be glorified, if we suffer with Him, which shall be glorified like Him, to be, in other words, to have divine nature. That's the plan. And it's being accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is the eternal purpose that God has for us. Now, turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9.

It's talking again, breaking into the chapter. It says, We have saved us, have been born and called us with a high calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

You see, God calls us. Now, it is easy for us to kind of just say, well, it's just, it only applies to you and I. But you know, God will call everyone in their time. And so it applies to all of mankind in their time. So, it's called us mankind, because people in the world tomorrow will be looking at these same scriptures and will say, God has called us. And people in the Great White Throne Judgment, in the Second Resurrection, will be looking at the description and says, God has called us. So, it's all of mankind, but each one at their own time. It says, as high calling, not according to our works. Forever, we don't deserve it. We don't deserve it. As you know, sometimes we walk down the street and you see somebody and it's so, I think it's a thing that we should say is, there go I. There go I, but for God's grace. That's what it is. I'm not any better. We're not any better. God has planned all this well ahead of time.

He, God, is in the process. It's like working process, God or working progress. God is in the process of carrying out His purpose. According to His gracious, loving kindness that He wants us. And so, why did it therefore create us first as matter, as physical dust? Why did He create us out of dust? You see, we human beings today are not in the same plane, in the same kind of beings as God is. We are physical. We are matter. We're not spiritual. We are physical matter. We have a physical nature. We have a dimension of physics. Whilst God has a different realm, He's got a different dimension, which is spiritual.

So, we are physical. And God created the physical realm, the physical environment for us to have an opportunity to learn some lessons through this realm. This is temporary. This is temporary. Reality is still to come. Look at Hebrews 2, Hebrews 2, verses 6-10. Hebrews 2, verses 6-10.

Yah is the quote. It says, you are quoting from Job and from Psalms and says, What is man that you are mindful of him or the Son of man that you take care of him? What are we? For you have made him, you've made man, a little lower than angels. And you have crowned him with glory and honor. And set him over the works of your hands. And you have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him. But now, now, we do not see all things put under him. But we do see Jesus was made a little lower than angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. We, you and I, ought to come to glory as well. Matter is temporary. But spirit can last forever. Matter does not last forever. So, let's continue reading in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 17 and 18.

For our light affliction brethren, sometimes our trials seem to be too overbearing. Sometimes our difficulties in trials are so difficult that we can just say, well, you know, it's just, you know, and some of us sometimes go through trials and says, why me? And why this trial? But you know what Paul says here in Corinthians? He says, for our light affliction. So, what Paul is saying, this affliction we have is light, which is, but for a moment. Oh, well, it feels like, well, it's for 10 years or 20 years or 30 years or how long we live for some of the trials, while a person lives. But it's for a moment because time, you know, a day is like a year, you know, and, you know, it's just for God, eternity, this time we live physically is nothing, is a moment. Because God is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight.

Weight. You see, the trial is a light affliction. The glory has a greater weight. You see, our trial, which to you and I and to some of us is huge.

But God is working for you, for your trial, which is huge, is working a greater and far exceeding, eternal, not momentarily, for 10, 20, 30, 50 years, 70 years.

Eternal and far greater weight in glory. Wow!

So this physical is only temporary, but what God's got for us is greater in weight than the affliction that we now have. And that we need to think about that because we can get despondent. When we go through our trials, we can become discouraged. And those trials can become like a catch-22 vortex that becomes bigger and bigger if we allow. We have to break out of that, and it's not easy. I'm not saying it's easy, but we have to break out of that. So that's why God made us dust because dust is only temporary. But even though we made out of dust, we are made in the image of God.

Look at Genesis 1, verse 26. Genesis 1, verse 26. You know the scripture pretty well, probably. So it says, God said, let us, God Elohim said, in other words, the Father and the Son said, the Word then, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion, power over physical things. You and I are made as physical human beings, albeit in dust, albeit out of physical matter. Our substance, our composition, our essence of what we are is dust. But we are made to look like God with arms and legs and head and eyes that looks like God. And not only physically that, but with minds and emotions that are God-like, with feelings. We're not made to look like, and I don't mean it disrespectfully by no means, but you and I are not made to look like a lion or a tiger or a deer or a cat or a dog. Those probably represent some angelic beings in the image of some, but we are made in the image and likeness of God.

Look at Genesis chapter 5 verse 1. It's important to see this chapter as well, because quite often we don't read when it says we are made in the likeness of God. We need to read that also in conjunction with Genesis 5 verse 1 and 2 and 3. And it says, this is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made Him in the likeness of God.

You and I are made in the likeness, in the resemblance, as we saw in the image, in the likeness of God.

He created man, in other words mankind, male and female, and blessed them and called them mankind, that's man, mankind. In the day that we are created, yes, man and woman, but they are in the likeness of God. In other words, they got arms, eyes, legs like God has, and they got a mind and emotions like God has. But look at verse 3. This is important. And Adam lived 130 years and then begot a son. Look at the terms that he uses in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. So, therefore, did Seth look like a dog or a cat or a lion or a tiger? No! He looked like Adam. Was he identical? Was he a clone, completely identical? No! He has a different face, different, you know, like, you know, if you look at a picture of one person and another person, they are like, but they're not identical photocopies, but they are like. And so Seth was in the likeness of Adam.

Right? So, it's very clear to see that Seth looked like Adam. Therefore, when it says Adam was made in the likeness of God, we can easily draw the conclusion that Adam was made like God is, because there is Seth was made like Adam and Adam was made like God. So, yeah, we have that our children are made in our likeness. Our children look like us. And therefore, this verse explains very clearly what it means to be made in the likeness and in the image of God. It's very plain. And look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let's now look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Starting in verse 45 through verse 49. 1 Corinthians 15 starting in verse 45 through 49. And so it's written, the first man Adam became a living being. Yeah, the first human being was Adam and became a living being. You start living it, right? The last Adam, which is Christ, a life-giving spirit. In other words, he's a spirit being that is going to give us life as spirit beings. So, through Adam, you and I have physical life, you know, through the descendants, you know, that the children are born and so on. And therefore, becoming living beings. But through Christ, the last Adam, we ought to become spirit beings.

Verse 46, however, the spiritual being is not first, but the natural. It was the physical, his first and then the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust. Before the title of my sermon, From Dust. That's how we start, From Dust. The first Adam was of the earth, made of dust. The second man, which is Christ, second Adam, is the Lord from heaven. And we are going to be like him, divine, spirit beings, glorified like he is. As for the first man of dust, souls are those who are made of dust. Just like Adam is made dust, we offer dust. And as the heavenly man, that's Christ, his heavenly, his spirit being, so are those who are heavenly. Those who are of Christ have that ultimate potential at the resurrection.

49. And as we've been born the image of the man of dust, physically speaking, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man, the glory, that divinity, that divine nature.

So, what we have here, brethren, is a very clear explanation about our composition today. Our composition today, we are composed, we are made of dust, matter, physical matter. Our essence, our material, now the word material applies obviously to matter, right? So, I use the word essence because that's what we are made out of, is matter, it's dust. The first Adam is natural, he's out of matter. But then comes the spiritual, which is not made of matter, is not made of dust, which is not composed of dust, is made of a different matter, but it's not matter because it's not material, so it's of a different essence, which is spirit. So, its composition is from dust to spirit. That's what we are going to be changed. But you and I are not yet of that spiritual essence. We're not yet of the same essence that God, the God family, is to be made of. We're not yet. So, what is God doing with us today? What is He creating in us now so that we can be working towards that path? And look at Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22.

It says, put off concerning the former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man. So, we have to put on the new man, which was created according to God, into righteousness and holiness. And that we put in through Christ, through Christ's power, as we'll see in a moment. We have to put on the new man. We're both in Colossians, a parallel scripture. Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 through 10.

Therefore, put to death your members, which are of the earth, fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry, because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of obedience. I beg your pardon, Mr. Obidius. Verse 7, But you've repented, you've been baptized, now you don't walk in there anymore. Right? We've changed. But now, now, yes, you baptized, now you're in the church, now you're not doing those things, but now we still have other things to change, even though now we're in the church. You see, we're not walking in those other things, or fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, etc. But now, even though we are in the church, we still need to be changing, because it says, now you yourselves have to put off these. What are the things that now that we have to put on? These are things, more of the mind, and of the tongue, and of attitudes, of what we are that we're going to change. In other words, anger, wrath, malice, because things are not done your way or the way you want it, you give that little malicious push. You say things that you shouldn't say, blasphemy. That language is not right, a folk language that comes out of our mouth. And, oh, we say a little lie, yah and nay. We say a little truth, an untruth. So, do not lie to one another, since you put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Our mind, our thinking needs to be renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. What do you mean? We need to be renewed in knowledge according to the image of him, who is the image of him, the image of God. We need to be renewed in the image of God, and who is the image of God's Christ. We need to be renewed in the image of God, who created us, created man. God created man. You and I need to be renewed in the image of God, which is Christ, who created mankind. And so, we need to have the image of God. We need, you and I need to be Christ-like in our behaviour, in our conduct, in our Christian life. Look at Colossians chapter 1, verse 26-28. It says, What is the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles? So, what is the glory of this mystery of even amongst the Gentiles? In other words, not just the Jews, but the whole of mankind in each one his own time, which is Christ in us, our hope of glory. Through Christ, that's our hope to be glorified.

So, it's from dust to glory, from dust to divine nature. Continue verse 28. Him we preach, Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we might present every man perfect in Christ. We need to be working and being perfected with Christ's help. And we need to put it to the saint of labour, striving according to his working, which works in the mighty. So, that's what we need to do. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Verse 18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Well, they say so much and it's so packed, yeah, in one verse and it says so much. So, let us unpack this, unpack this statement, powerful statement. So, first we are beholding, it says, yeah, beholding as in a mirror. So, you know a mirror, you all maybe look at a mirror and you look at yourself, yeah, when you look at a mirror, you look at yourself, typically. And you see, well, I need to change, you know.

So, we are beholding as in a mirror. But it says, beholding in a mirror, what? The glory of the Lord. So, you and I, when we look in a mirror, we should see the glory of Christ living in us. We should see the new man, the new woman, the new person, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. And then it says, and then it says, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. We are being transformed into the same image from glory that's Christ in us, the glory that we see as in a mirror, Christ in us, from this limited glory that we have, which is pretty faint.

When I look at myself, I say, well, it's a long way, but it's a little bit. We have grown a little bit, but we've got to glory to the final glorification. And we are being transformed. So, what is transformation? The word in Greek, after I'm transformed, is metamorphogou, which is a word like metamorphosis.

And you know what a metamorphosis is? It's like a little warm going through a metamorphosis and it becomes a butterfly. And so, inside that warm, there's a change inside, and then ultimately comes outside and then it's a butterfly. It starts from inside to the outside. So, you and I are being transformed. You are being metamorphosed from a little bit of Christ's glory in us, as we are putting on the new man. And we are being transformed from this glory, which is very limited and very fine, to the ultimate glory that God has for us.

But we see this with unvailed face. But we all with unvailed face. What does he mean? You see, Moses, as you read in the context, the people in Moses, the people, the Israelites, had a veiled face. Their face was veiled. They could not see themselves. In fact, Moses, when he came down from the Mount, his face was shining, reflecting God's glory. So, his face reflected the glory. Our faces need to reflect the same glory from inside.

It needs to come from inside. Moses was reflecting because he had been near God, was reflecting. But in our case, as we look into a mirror, it must come from inside of us. And it must come along through how we talk to people, how we behave, how we, under pressure, how we are not discouraging to others, how we are not malicious, how we just put on the new man.

That is something that we need to change. That is a metamorphosis from inside, from this limited glory that we are now, that we can look in the mirror, to the ultimate glory that will become. So, basically, what we have is a change of our minds, of our hearts, of our attitudes, of our thinking, which is inside. And that, then, needs to be reflected outside in how we treat others, in our relationship with others, in our actions, in our obedience, in our service, in how we present ourselves. So, but the changes come from inside. It's a metamorphosis from inside. And that means that we will be, that ultimate glory, will be like the Father, have His image.

So, it's not our physical appearance that is being changed presently, because probably you and I are looking a little older from yesterday or a few years back. But internally, hopefully, we are being transformed into a new man, into a new man.

Our inner being is being changed. And so, we have here a kind of comparison of different images. We are to look like God in the image of God having Christ in us. In other words, that's the from glory. But we are to aim to a target of a spiritual image of God, which is the to glory. So, from glory to to glory.

We are to move from the image of man, which is a composition of man, which is of dust, which is physical matter, and that the resurrection will then become in the image of God of a composition of spirit, of spiritual essence. So, yeah, there's two changes. Right? We see that one is internal, this metamorphosis that we need to be going through. The other one is the one that will happen at the resurrection. So, and therefore then, we, you and I need to be putting on the fullness of Christ now. We need to become more Christ-like. You and I are in the process of God dwelling more fully in us today, individually and collectively. Look at Colossians chapter 2 verse 9. Colossians chapter 2 verse 9.

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That is, in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The fullness is play-roma. Play-roma means the fullness. That which is being fulled. For instance, if you have a car, say for instance, you're going to the feast, you've got a large family, you know, and you load this car. It's really overloaded, you know, you've got things in the trunk and maybe you have a trailer and you pack it up. It's loaded as you're going to the feast with all your little meager possessions that you need to the feast. I don't know if you've experienced that. We've experienced enough family going to the feast. We had these trailers. The trailer wasn't big enough. We had to put a second level of the trailer and it was loaded. That's the fullness. We need to be loaded with that fullness. Play-roma. We need to be loaded with the fullness of Christ. That's what it says there in Colossians 2 verse 9. That's what we need to have. And then look at it in verse 10. Verse 10 says, And you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power. The word complete is from a similar word, which is play-ru, which means to render full, to be complete, to be perfected. In other words, to render perfect. To render perfect. And so we have the fullness, which is being filled with the presence and the power and the agency and the reachers of God and Christ, and being complete, which is being perfected, having rendered perfect. It says, yeah. And you are complete. You are rendered perfect. So let's go back a little bit to Colossians chapter 1 verse 19. Colossians chapter 1 verse 19. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell. It pleased the Father that in Christ all the fullness, everything, all the presence, the power, the reachers of God are in Christ. It pleased the Father that Christ has a role in that from that point of view. But look at verse 22 in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is the body, the fullness of him who falls all in all. For the fullness of him was the play-roamer that is being followed, overloaded, followed with all the presence, the power. So it pleased God, the fullness of him who falls all in all. In other words, play-roof falls all in all. In other words, perfects us, makes us perfect, makes us completely perfect.

So, how does God make us then perfect? Because he makes it perfect. And that obviously is because of his gracious kindness towards us. But how does he do that? And that is explaining 2 Peter chapter 2. I beg your pardon, 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Let's start in verse 3. As his divine power has given to us, what is God's divine power? God's Holy Spirit has given to us all things, all the things that we need that pertain to life, in other words, eternal life.

And God in us, in other words, to be like God through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue. By which, that's God's Holy Spirit, have been given to us precious, great, exceedingly great and precious promises. Promises to be the sons of God in the kingdom of God. That through these, you may be partakers of the divine nature. Through these changes that we are going to do with these things that we have, all the power and divine power is given to us that pertain to all these things.

Through these, you may be partakers of the divine nature. So, through the power of God, you and I can ultimately be partakers of the divine nature, adding escape to corruption that is in the world through lust. How does God make us perfect? Through the power of God's Holy Spirit. Christ living in us through the power of God's Holy Spirit. And when we do that, then we can see, Yah, that in verse 5 through 8 says, you know, you put on giving diligence, make hard effort to fight that virtue and knowledge and self-control and perseverance and godliness, probably kindness and love.

And then it says there in verse 10 and 11, therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call an election sure. Make a diligent effort to make your call an election sure. For if you do these things, in other words, if you take faith and through ad virtue, you watch how you do things and be virtuous and using the knowledge that you read through Bible study and you exercise self-control and you control yourself and you work through perseverance and you stick to it and you keep working on it.

And then you become more and more in behavior and saying things like God and he's showing kindness to one another as broadly kindness and then you put on godly love. If you do these things, you will never leave the church. That's what it says. You'll never stumble. You'll never leave the church. So it really is holding on to the trunk of the tree. This is the trunk of the tree. And therefore, that way, verse 11, for self, in other words, for that way, an entrance, in other words, you will get in the kingdom of God. That way, you will be given an entrance, in other words, will be supplied to you abundantly into what?

The everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in other words, into the kingdom of God. So that's how we make it. And that is God's grace towards us. Yeah, there's nothing we can do while there is something we can do. We need to make this diligent effort. But you are not made righteous by your works. It's God with His grace and His Holy Spirit gives you the strength and the help that you now work hard in having virtues, in having self-control, being careful how you say things, being careful how you react to people, and work on these really important spiritual matters.

Therefore, that way, you will have an entrance, will be supplied to you, abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of God. So, what will be like then? This goal that you and I have? Well, we'll be like Him. We'll be living in a different dimension. Not matter, not physical, but in a spiritual dimension. Yes, we can appear as matter, but we can go back to Spirit. We'll have this ability like Christ had after His resurrection. He could appear in a room and He could disappear. He had that capability. Look at Psalm 17 verse 15. Psalm 17 verse 15. As for me, this is David saying, as for me, I will see your face in righteousness.

I shall be established when awake. That means when I resurrect in your likeness. It was when David understood God's Spirit allowed him to understand these things to some degree. That he said, when I resurrect, I'll be like you and I'll see you face to face in righteousness. And that is nothing different than what John says in 1 John 3.

Turn with me to 1 John 3 verse 2. 1 John 3 verse 2. Beloved, now we are the children of God. Yes, indeed, brethren, we are the children of God. Just like, brethren, your children, before they were born, they were already your children in the mother's womb, after you'd begotten them. They're not been born yet, but they're already your children.

We are not born yet as Spirit beings, but we're already the children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. You and I can't see exactly how your child is going to be, which is still in a mother's womb until the baby is born. Then you can actually see face to face what is like. So it has not yet been revealed what you and I will be until we are Spirit beings at the resurrection.

But we know that when He's revealed, in other words, we know that when Christ comes at the Second Coming, we shall be like Him. We will be of the same essence of the same matter, not matter of material, but not material, its essence, which is Spirit, will be of the same composition. For we shall see Him as He is. Now we cannot see Him as He is because it's too bright. We'll be blinded. But then the Spirit will be able to see Him as He is now.

And if you and I have this hope, verse 3, everyone who has this hope in Him, brethren, I know a lot of us, particularly before Passover, are going through serious, difficult, heart-pressing trials, which Paul, as we read, says, this light affliction. But anyway, we all go through serious trials. But we need to embed in our minds this hope. We need to engrave it. We need to really underline it into us.

And we have a hope to be like God, to be His children, to be in His image, to be real, that in real dimension, that real dimension. And so therefore, if we have this hope, we'll purify ourselves. If you and I are working with this and keeping this in mind, as you and I live in, and as we heard in the sermon, we can't really take all this living out. We can't. God will do it. But if we have this hope, we're going to do our best to purify ourselves inside the eye and inside the out, just as God is pure.

We need to do that. And we need to keep that mind, that in mind. So what will this glorified body be like? Because it's our hope, right? What will this glorified body be? It helps us to visualize a little bit. Well, look at Revelation chapter 4 verse 3. Revelation chapter 4 verse 3.

Revelation chapter 4 verse 3 tells you about what the father looks like. And he that sat there, that is on the throne, was like a jasper and a sargis stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like emerald, from a green top, wonderful set of colors. And you'll be reflected like a prism, a prism reflects all these colors, radiant light, which symbolizes not only the power that he has, but also his attitude and his mind, his grace, or what it is.

And Christ has that fullness, as we saw. He's got that fullness. Look at Revelation chapter 1 verse 13 through 16 when he's describing Christ. He says, and he in the midst of the seven, Revelation 1.13, and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, it was Christ, clothed for garment down to defeat, and girded about the chest of a golden band. His head and his ear were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire, that brilliance was coming out through him.

His feet were like fine brass, as is refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. So we can see the same degree of light shining from Christ because he is in the image of the Father. So we can see Jesus Christ, he had been described in his spiritual state, in his composition, in his essence, what sort of garments he wore, what sort of hair and how he looked like, his eyes, so he was like a human being.

Feet, so like a human being, he was going to shape like us. But his countenance, his appearance, was like the sun shining in strength. Look at Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 26. See, we're trying to see what this glorified body will be like. Look at Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 26 because we're going to be like that. Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 26. It says, through 28.

With brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. So was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This is the appearance of the glory of God. This is what it is. That's what they saw, but that's what it is. So we see that appearance. Look at Ezekiel chapter 10 verse 4. Then the glory of the eternal went up from the carob and paused over the threshold of the temple and the house was filled with the cloud and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory.

So we see that image of God is one of glory. And in fact, you read, for instance, the transfiguration. If you go and read about the transfiguration in Matthew 17, and it says, Jesus Christ was transfigured and His face shone like the sun.

Now the interesting is the word for transfigure there. Did you know? It's metamorphosis. It's the same word. Transfigured. It's very interesting. Look at Revelation 21. Revelation 21 verse 10 and 11. Talking about the New Jerusalem, which is where the bride will be. So that's why it says, and the bride is coming down, because that's in New Jerusalem, that's where the bride is.

And it says, Yah in verse 10. It says, And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and our mountain, and He showed me the great city, the Holy Jerusalem, the sending out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God, her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. So, yeah, we can see New Jerusalem having this glory of God. Its composition reflecting the glory of God. And since the New Jerusalem is the bride, then we, the church, God's family, will also reflect the same glory. Look at verse 22 and verse 23. It says, And I saw no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The city, the glory of God illuminated it. In other words, the city which is the first fruits, which is God's people, the family of God will be there, and they will illuminate the glory of God.

So, brethren, we know, for instance, even in Scriptures like Daniel 12, it says, we will shine as the stars. There are others, like, for instance, Christ referred to as, the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom. So, there are many Scriptures that discuss that. But the point is the following, brethren. We have this hope. We need to visualize it. We need to keep it clearly in our minds.

Because God wants to give that to us by His gracious kindness. God has called us, in other words, to develop His character in us, His holy, righteous, godly character in us. All humans, all mankind, will be given a chance to this salvation. That's what God has predestined for all of us since the beginning. God created the whole of mankind with this potential, this human potential. You and I bear the image of the physical, of dust today. You and I are physical dust.

When God gives us His Spirit, and He begins to develop in us the spiritual image of Christ in us through the power of His Spirit, we begin to take on that spiritual glory that we can look in the mirror and we can see, albeit faintly, we can see a little bit, we are a different man or a different woman. We are changing. But we need to become more and more like God in our thoughts and in our actions, in our character and in our mind.

At the resurrection, you and I will be changed from physical matter to spiritual, divine, celestial beings, from a natural body to a spiritual body. And we'll be given a glorified spiritual body. We will shine like the sun. In the resurrection, you and I will step into eternity. We'll have God through a process from dust to become divine. We'll become a part of the family of God, made immortal.

Brethren, by God's grace, God's divine nature, that His attributes, His approach will be in all of us. Like it says, that God may be all in all so that we may be perfect. So God has that purpose for you and I. Please keep it clear in your mind so that you can keep going through the days ahead because we are looking ahead in the future to some dark days. So keep that in mind always.