Jesus said we will be like the angels, but there is more in store for us. In 1 Jn 3:2, John declared:

“beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

I am just reading this for the first time, for real. Now are we sons of God, but we shall be like Him when He appears. The last phrase says that we shall be like Him when we see Him. This is both a present and future state since we are transformed into His image from glory to glory when we receive the Theophany or personal revelation of the Lord, even as Saul (ditch,death) was transformed to Paul (small, little) the Apostle when he saw the Lord (Acts 9: 1-9).

His new name implies that he had become a humble man and had put away the fleshly traditions of the elders to serve the exalted Son of God. The scriptures clearly teach that Jesus is not an angel (who are the sons of God) but the Son of God, since He was before all things and by Him all things consist (Col 1:17).

  • Furthermore, He has preminence in all things as the firstbegotten of the dead (Rev 1:5).  He is  referred to as the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:15) since He was the only one to die never to die again.
  • He is the firstborn of every creature (Col 1:15)  since He is God the Creator amd this is equivalent to Him being the firstborn among many brethren (Rom 8: 29).
  • He is the firstbegotten into the world (Heb 1:6) the first to appear in the scene – in the beginning God created! In Ps 89: 27 God says that He will make the son “firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth”. In other words, He will make Him the only “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”. This was confirmed by Prophet John who in Jn 1: 30 says that “is preferred before me: for he was before me” and confirmed this by decreasing in his ministry so that Christ must increase (Jn 3:30).

These verses encapsulate the Lord’s teaching about the Law of Firsts which means that Jesus is the One whose is Highly exalted, the One who is the head of His church, the One whose enemies are under His feet, principalities and powers being subject to Him. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the first in all things and will not give His attention and worship to another. He is the only begotten Son of God (Jn 3:16) by whom we inferit salvation and eternal life.