For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:9-12).
The best is yet to come. Our knowledge of God, while true, is incomplete. While we grow in knowing God, bit by bit, sermon by sermon, scripture by scripture; we do not know perfectly. But one day our partial limitation will pass away.
Our maturing in Christ admits of degrees. We are to grow in our knowledge and fear of God. 2 Peter 3:18, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” We grow from an infant to a child, to a young adult, to a mature adult – but we never reach perfection in this life.
Now we see in a glass, darkly. Picture a wavy, uneven piece of sheet metal, and use that as a mirror. Unclear, distorted – a true image, but a less than perfect image. That is how we see God, that is how we know Him here. But then, we shall see face to face. We shall see him clearly, as He is. This is called the Beatific Vision; seeing God as He really is; knowing Him even as we are known – in perfection.
One theologian put it this way, “To become one with God in face-to-face encounter is to receive a drenching in the diving toe that nurtures unqualified loving reciprocity.” Anthony Thiselton, p. 233. Or as the Apostle John puts it, “We know that when Christ appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:3).
When this perfect knowledge comes, when the revelation of our God shall be complete; partial knowledge and incomplete prophecy shall pass away in the full experience of who God is – we shall be awash in the being and character of God, deluged in the love of God. That is what v 8 and 13 proclaims “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away…. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
This table points us to that reality. The love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you know the love of God, truly, but only partially, come to this table for greater knowledge and experience of his love and grace – knowing that the best is yet to come. Knowledge of the full depth of the Love and character of God.
If you do not know the love of God, even in part; if you do not trust him, nor have faith in God; do not come to this table.
If you come, come to experience more of the love of God, knowing full well, that the best is yet to come, when you see God face to face.