| Face to Face Don Alexander Charles Gabriel wrote the beautiful lyrics to the spiritual song, "I Stand Amazed": "When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see. ‘Twill be my joy through the ages to sing of His love for me." The promise of Revelation 22:4 is that those who are faithful servants of God and have overcome will "see His face." But the question may arise, "What do we mean when we sing about seeing His face?" We know that we are to speak to one another in "psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19). We are also to "sing with the spirit and the understanding also" (I Corinthians 14:15). The worship of God in song is a wonderful privilege we have to praise the God of Heaven, yet we are finite creatures. The melody takes place in the heart, using words that pluck the heart, enliven the spirit, motivate the mind, instruct and edify the soul. But how can finite minds worship an infinite God? With what words can we express our praise? God has revealed Himself in the Bible, sometimes through the use of metaphors, word pictures by which we come to appreciate deity. Some of the figures of speech are "anthropomorphisms," "ascribing human form or attributes to a thing or a being not human as to a deity" (RANDOM HOUSE WEBSTER’S COLLEGE DICTIONARY, 2ND EDITION, 1998). God also uses the figure of "anthropopathism," ascribing human passions or emotions to God. Thus, God is said in the Bible to have "hands," "eyes," "heart," "face," "arms" and other attributes we can understand. These figures reveal to us something of what God is , but also when sung in lyrics and melody, they touch the heart of man enhancing the melody in the heart." How are the anthropomorphic terms used of God to be understood? Though they are clearly figurative in nature, they communicate such knowledge of God as the He is active, attentive even to the smallest details of man’s life, sympathetic with all his weaknesses, patient, kind and loving" (WYCLIFFE BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA, VOL. 1, PAGES 104-105). Does God have a "face"? Well, yes and no. A physical face He does not have, for God is spirit (John 4:23-24). However, "face" is used in the Bible as a way of attributing to Him certain characteristics we can understand. A right relationship with God is expressed by the figure of God "turning his face" toward His people, or being seen (Psalm 17:15;Num.6:22-27) His "face" is against those who do evil (Psalm 34:15;Rev.6:15-17; I Pet. 3:10-12). The righteous man will "see his face" (Psalm 11:7; Rev. 22:4). Notice the comments of D.F.Payne in NEW BIBLE DICTIONARY.
When the Psalmist asked in Psalm 139 "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" he was acknowledging certainly the omnipresence of God, but also His "face" represented by "thy presence." The faithful servants in Revelation are in the "presence" of God around His throne with God Himself providing them light (Revelation 22:4ff). When Jesus returns in the Judgment those ". . .who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. . ." (II Thessalonians 1:8) will be punished ". . .with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. . ." (II Thess. 1:9). The everlasting fire will be severe enough but imagine being banished from the "presence" of the Lord, never to see His face receive His blessings. Human beings cannot now meet God "face to face," that is in direct and full experience of Him (Exodus 33:20) but the "Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). To this John adds, "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (John 1:18). In Jesus, we come face to face with God in His glory (John 14:9) and understand more about His nature and deity. In Jesus, our lives of faithful obedience take on His glory as Paul stated in II Corinthians 3:18: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Finally, it has been said that when a man fell on his face to make a request, his superior would raise the man’s head as a sign that the request would be granted. To "lift someone’s face" came to mean primarily to grant a favor (Gen. 19:21) and then to make the man a favorite (Deut. 10:17). Thus the Greek "prosopoleptes" ("respecter of persons"), literally "face-taker," and "prosopolepsia" the abstract noun makes Peter’s statement of Acts 10:34 come to life for us. God will not just lift the face of one person, granting him favor and making him God’s favorite, on the basis of prejudicial judgment based on human considerations. "But in every nation, he who feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." Let us all live faithfully before God, knowing that He sees and hears us, looks down upon us while we are here on earth. Then when life is over, may we have lived so as to be in His presence for eternity where He can "make His face shine upon us; lift His countenance upon us and give us peace" (Numbers 6:25-26).
—Don Alexander, 1998 |