“As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:49).
THE PURPOSE (ROM. 8:29)
Those called according to His purpose are conformed to the image of His Son. It was the purpose of God in eternity to conform us to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. A great change must be effected in those who are by nature and practice alienated in their hearts from Him; that such should be conformed to the image of His Son is a marvel of God’s grace. The ultimate purpose of God is to fill a renewed universe with people who have been transformed into the image of His Son. What a joy for God the Father to look out on a vast scene in which all are pleasurable to Him. Here God will find His rest in a new creation resulting from the work of the Son in whom He found all His delight.
THE PROCESS (2 COR. 3:18)
This work of transformation is proceeding now, the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of believers to produce Christ-likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). This transformation proceeds as we engage our minds and hearts with the perfections of Christ. We are being strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, for the indwelling of Christ by faith. In Romans 12, we are exhorted to yield our bodies as living sacrifices to God that He might work out His will through us. Our part is not to be conformed to the world but transformed in the renewing of our minds. While it is the Lord’s work to bring about this change, we have our responsibility to “put off the old man with his deeds . . . put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that created him” (Col. 3:9-10).
THE PERSON (PHIL. 3:21)
The One who will perfect this work is the Lord Himself: “Our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour . . . who shall change this body of humiliation and fashion it like unto His body of glory.” He who once bore the body of humiliation now has a body of glory. His purpose is to have all who are His, fashioned like Himself, that we may be suitable companions to Him, and that we may be at home in that place. It is “the same Jesus” who departed in the clouds of heaven who will come again in like manner. Then He will immediately effect that change.
THE PERIOD (1 COR. 15:51-52)
The time the Lord will occupy in perfecting the change is so infinitesimal as to be described by the Apostle Paul as an “atom.” Then, as though to split the atom, he says, “in the twinkling of an eye,” or as we might say, “a split second.” The Lord speaks of the second phase of His coming as being like the lightning flash coming out of the east and shining into the west, an indefinable measure of time. Only the Almighty could undertake to make so great a change in so great a number in so brief a time.
THE PERFECTED WORK (1 Jn. 3:2)
When the change is completed, both in the moral and spiritual aspect, then the physical change will complete the work which God has purposed for us in Christ before the world began (2 Tim. 1:9).
“To be conformed to the image of His Son” is the realization of the Christian’s highest ambition: “Beloved, now are we the children of God; it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He is manifested, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2). “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4). This is the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. We shall only be prepared to be with Him when we shall be changed to be like Him.