When the mention was made of theists looking in a mirror, this little article came to mind and, with a little thought, one can find out that we do look in a mirror but it goes much further than that.
What Does “Now, We See Through a Glass Darkly” Mean?
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now stays faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1 Corinthians 13: 12-13)"
"That is a frequent question that drives traffic to this blog. It is one of the perks of parking along a little piece of the information highway, to get a peek inside the anxieties and conversations taking place amongst the streams of humanity whizzing by. But I am not a mere voyeur, I do pray a blessing for you on your travels! And if this question is all that troubles you, be of good cheer — here is your explanation. The ‘glass’ the writer describes here is actually a mirror. The mirrors of the ancients were of polished metal, in many cases they were of brass and they required constant polishing, so that a sponge with pounded pumice-stone was generally attached to it. And it was the apostle Paul who wrote this famous passage from the Bible in a letter to a church in Corinth, which was famous for the manufacture of these kinds of mirrors. The images reflected in these brass mirrors were indistinct in comparison to our modern mirrors. They were seen Darkly. Which, literally translated from the original Greek language in which he wrote, means, “in a riddle or enigma…that the revelation appears indistinctly, imperfectly.” Paul is telling us that this is the state of our knowledge of divine things–imperfect and incomplete. “Now I know in part,” Paul mourns. There were limitations upon the knowledge even of Paul; only a part was seen. But wonderfully, it will not always be so. One glorious moment in the future every single human being on earth will suddenly face Him — Jesus! –without a veil, without obscurity, Face to Face!
Because, Then! When the murky image we are seeing is suddenly gone as we die, and the full revelation has come in the presence of Christ, what joy for those who believe and have proclaimed during their earthly lives that the name of Jesus is the Name above all Names! What dread and fear for those who never knew the power of that Name that could have saved them from their terrible moment. Because in our hearts we know that God is like a magnificent and dread Light that would extinguish any darkness approaching Him — we only have to look at the awesome Universe He created! We only need to examine the intricate workings of our own human eye that observes the worlds surrounding us–we need only study the micro-universe of our own human brains. All of these things were created to inspire awe, and to trouble us, and motivate us to seek the maker of these mysteries. And perhaps dear fellow traveler along the information highway — perhaps I have deeply troubled you, who innocently came here with a little bitty question about glass and darkness. Now you have bigger questions, and you are trembling inside, because you know you are not ready to die yet. You are filled with fear because of all the darkness of all of all the wrong things you have ever done, what the Bible calls sin. You know you are a sinner, and you are not ready for that dreadful moment of face to face.'
