Who Do You Resemble?

1 John 2:12-13 - I am writing to you, little children, since your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one.

In 1 John 2:12, John described the members of the community as those who had been forgiven on account of the name of Jesus. 

In 1 John 2:13, John characterizes them as those who have known the Father. 

These two characteristics, the forgiveness of sins and the knowledge of the Father, are complementary. They are necessary if someone is to be part of the people of God. 

And these two descriptions mirror two of the promises of the new covenant made in Jeremiah 31. 

Jeremiah 31:31-34 -“Look, the days are coming” —this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them” —this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.”

What do we see? Knowledge of God and forgiveness of sins. 

To know the Father is to be like the Father. 

Spiritual maturity moves us into a deeper and fuller knowledge of God with the result being likeness or resemblance. 

Children should resemble their Father, and John believes they will. 

Who do you resemble?