Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also
have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12). In Paul’s day, mirrors were pieces of polished metal, which gave only a poor or dim reflection of one’s actual image. By way of comparison to this dim reflection, we cannot see or understand all that God is accomplishing through the sufferings and difficulties of our present life, because God requires of His people that we walk by faith and not by sight. It has been given to us to walk through this present life not by what we can see and understand, but by what God has said about Himself as revealed in His word (Isaiah 55:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:7).
From reading the Book of Job, we find that it was not revealed to Job the reason that all of his sufferings and losses had come upon him. In the same way, many of us as God’s people will never fully understand in this life what God was accomplishing through our sufferings until we are finally together with Him in Heaven. At that time, as Paul encouraged us: “then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known”.
As God’s people we have been chosen from before the creation of the world to be brought to faith in His Son Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:4-5). We are those who have been appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48), and it has been granted to us not only to believe in Christ, but also to share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death (Philippians 1:29, 3:10).
We share in the sufferings of Christ during our lives here on earth, and after this life is over we will receive the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls, and we will share in His glory in Heaven as the children of God. God began the work of salvation within us, and God Himself will carry this work through to completion (Philippians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
In Revelation 7:9-17, John described the comfort and joy of the great multitude in white robes, the saints of God, who come from “every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues”. Within this passage, John wrote: “… they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:15-17).
Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has it ever entered into the mind of man the things God that has prepared for those who love Him. Since all that we as God’s people are able to see and understand of Him in this present life is but a dim reflection of what we will one day see and know, we will end this work with God’s words, and not man’s.
From the Apostle John, our “brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus” (Revelation 1:9),
we have been given this vision of the risen Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. This is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whom we shall one day see face to face. Having shared in His sufferings according to the will of God for our lives, we will also one day share in His glory. In Revelation 1:12-16, John wrote:
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.