Psalm 17:15 As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness. I. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THIS LIKENESS TO GOD? It is a spiritual likeness, an enstamping the Divine image upon the soul a moulding the soul rote the Divine similitude. The likeness of which the Psalmist speaks is a conformity of soul to God. In order to this we must undergo a great change. That likeness to God of which the righteous shall partake will consist in a similarity between the qualities of their souls and the attributes of the Divine nature. But some of the Divine attributes are incommunicable. The likeness will consist — 1. In knowledge. Our knowledge must ever be derived and dependent. The righteous may resemble God in the certainty of their knowledge, and in its clearness and distinctness. The knowledge of glorified saints, compared with what they flow possess, may very properly be said to resemble the Divine knowledge in extent. Doubtless the powers of the soul will greatly expand. 2. The future likeness of the saints to God will consist in holiness. The moral image of God is defaced and destroyed in apostate man. But in Christ Jesus the glory of our nature is restored. The restoration is only partial in this present life. But the whole body of believers shall, ere long, be made perfect in holiness. In the immediate presence of the blessed God, faith and hope shall attain perfection. 3. The righteous shall be like God in blessedness. This necessarily results from the two last. And the blessedness will be, like God's, eternal. II. THE FEELINGS OF THE BLESSED, WHEN THEY ENTER UPON THIS PORTION. They will feel that all their most enlarged desires have been fulfilled. It will satisfy the pious soul by filling up its capacities and wishes. Let afflicted Christians learn patience and find consolation. (W. J. Armstrong, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. |
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