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Monday, January 15, 2007


We Shall Behold Him
I took today's photo at Raystown Lake
in the mountains of central Pennsylvania this last summer.
Click on the photo to enlarge and read the Scripture verse.

Click here to listen to this message on your audio player.
Today's background song is "We Shall Behold Him."

"We Shall Behold Him!"

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).

Brooksyne gave me a book for Christmas that I am really enjoying. It's a novel about the apostle John who is the last of the New Testament writers.  In the providence of God and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote the Gospel and letters that bear his name late in the first century, some 30 years after Peter and Paul had been martyred for their faith.  Most scholars believe John penned his writings about 90-100 AD.

John is to the New Testament much like Malachi is to the Old.  Although God surely continued to work among His people between Malachi's death and the dawn of the New Testament age there was no  prophetic work written during that time that is in our Holy Scriptures.  Likewise, surely God has continued to work among His people these last nineteen hundred years since John wrote, but his writings are the final record in the Scriptures.

Thus I find a particular portion of today's passage very interesting.  Notice the very candid admission by John in the middle of the verse; "What we will be has not yet been made known."  God has revealed so much but there is still a vast amount of information that He has not yet revealed. 

We are eager to know more and many have written books that seek to fill in the blanks, though they can do no more than speculate.  John forthrightly tells us, as the final writer of the inspired Scripture, that what we will be has not yet been made known.

God has always called His people to a life of faith where trusting Him is foundational to our relationship with Him. As we face the days ahead let's rejoice in the five truths that we do know outlined in the passage of 1 John 3:1-3: 
  1. The Father has bestowed on us His great love.
  2. We are the children of God.
  3. He shall appear.
  4. We shall be like Him.
  5. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Let us rejoice and act in obedience to the truths that have been revealed to us.  May we always trust our ever-loving, ever-dependable Father in regard to what has not yet been revealed!


Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, we who are of the faith, are privileged to be members of Your family.  You call us Your children, and that is what we are, because of Your overflowing and sacrifical love toward Your creation.  Though there is much yet to be revealed concerning Your plan for our lives, we've been entrusted with a lifetime of inspired Scripture that guides us each day in our wilderness journey.   Of first importance we have the plan of salvation explained throughout the Scriptures and entrusted to us; that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day, and that He appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve and other key persons. Though Christ did not appear to us in the flesh, He appeared to us through His saving grace when we repented of our sins and received Him as our personal Savior.  Because of this wondrous act of salvation we shall see Christ, our Lord and Savior, as He really is when the future appointed time is to be revealed.  Amen.



Here is information about the book I referred to in today's message:

John's Story, The Jesus Chronicles Series #1John's Story, The Jesus Chronicles Series #1
By Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins / Penguin Group (usa) Inc.   John's story becomes vividly real as Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye team up once again to take you on the pivotal journey of John as he witnesses Jesus' miracles and messages. John is called upon by God to document Jesus’ life. Even though John experiences his own persecution and torment, he perseveres to record his eyewitness account of Jesus, the life that changes the course of history even two thousand years later.

John's Story Audiobook on CD, The Jesus Chronicles #1John's Story Audiobook on CD, The Jesus Chronicles #1
By Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins/Strang Communications

11 Hours. 9 CDs. Unabridged. Read by Robertson Dean



Today's suggested song is "We Shall Behold Him"
Choir version (Grace Baptist Church, Hiram Georgia, USA)
Violin version (artist unknown)


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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."

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