The Face of God – Introduction
The Face of God – Introduction.
“And Jesus said, ‘Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9).
From invisible to visible, the unseen to the seen. When Jesus Messiah came to earth, everything changed. Believers could actually see God! The face of God! Throughout the centuries before His arrival, no one was allowed to see the face of God. The darkness of man’s sinfulness put up a veil, and we were not able to witness the burning light of Yahweh’s face. His brilliant glory could not be experienced on earth, except for special occasions, like Mt. Sinai. Nature itself could hardly contain Yahweh’s presence on the holy mountain. People were too combustible to approach God’s consuming fire. On the one hand, Lord, hide your face from my sinfulness so I don’t burn up altogether. On the other hand, Lord, I need your presence in my life, so please don’t abandon me. With both hands, Yahweh, I will continue to seek your face.
Yeshua came to earth, and people could actually gaze upon the face of Yahweh. Jesus was the very image of God, the complete expression of God in a human body. Yahweh is the Spirit, and Jesus is Yahweh with flesh on. He bore the very stamp of God’s nature and likeness. But He wasn’t a mere copy of the original. Jesus and Yahweh were one and the same. If an artist wanted to paint a portrait of Yahweh God, they could simply paint the face of Jesus Christ.
In the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), the word that was usually translated as “face” was “panim” (paw-neem). That Hebrew word was also translated as presence, front, surface, countenance, and before or in front of. Panim is recorded over 2,000 times in the O.T., and is a very significant idea all through Scripture. The root Hebrew word means to turn, to incline towards. The face of God in the Hebrew sense was of course literally impossible, because God is a spirit, doesn’t have a body, hence doesn’t have a face. The face of God in the Hebrew Bible, then, was a substitute word for the presence of God, the entire Person of God. But even that is a mystery, since God is everywhere in the universe. We couldn’t escape the presence of God even if we wanted to. It is simply impossible to be outside of God’s presence. So why should we seek God’s presence, His face, if He is already present?
It’s important to understand that the face of God points to intimacy with God. Being in the light of His presence with His face shining on us speaks to the level of intimacy we enjoy with the Lord. When we seek the face of God, we are saying that we earnestly want to be closer to Him. When we seek the face of God, we are asking for a more intimate sense of His presence. When God hides His face, He is in a sense turning His back and becoming less intimate in His relationship with us. But we will see later in this series that God doesn’t turn His back on us unless we first turn our back to Him. And even if God hides His face, He is still present. When God hides His face, He is, in His wisdom, deciding not to be as close as He could be. There is an eternal with-ness of God that is a part of His nature. He will not withdraw His presence, He will not hide His face, but he may withdraw His intimacy for a time if that is what is needed. As David said countless times in his psalms, seeking God’s face is practically a life-long quest for growing intimacy with the Lord God.