A face, be it human, or otherwise, tells us a story, short or long. What is it about faces which seem to get in our hearts so quickly?
Numbers 6:25-26 , “The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
There’s the face of a building, face of a corporation, the face of a book cover, a new product, movies, musical endeavors, the face of love, evil, battle, even our character presents a face to others. There is the face of a nation with many pictures representing a time frame in history. There are even false faces called facades, like a building or house has a facade, or the smile of betrayal.
To me, the sight of a face offers my mind something special, it identifies the person and reflects their attitudes, and passions. It is more than just features … it conveys emotions, intent, and identity of the whole individual… our faces even reflect how we lean in our heart towards God. That’s pretty incredible considering the whole of a person can, most of the time, be summed up in their face. i don’t think the same thing is true for our body though. Body language, or “cues” such as posture do indeed convey some social information, but the image of a body does not substitute for a face. God has built something very important into the face of everything with a face.
The face is also used to refer to the character of God, especially his favor towards his people. For God to turn his face to his people was to offer them his grace and help; for God to turn his face away from his people was to withhold his favor and blessing. And to seek the face of God is to seek his favor and blessing..
In Genesis 32:30, Jacob said, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” … because Jacob saw God face-to-face, he named the place Penuel (pen-oo-ale’ ), literally meaning, “the Face of God” which was a place not far from Succoth (soo-kohth’ ) the place of huts made with entwined branches, east of the Jordan River and north of the river Jabbok (yah-boke’ ) which means “to pour forth”.
To be in God’s presence, literally in Hebrew means, “an encounter with The Face”. What is it God has built into a face which communicates so, so much of ourselves to other people?
i’m adventuring to discuss what’s in a face, our own “face value”, and the face of God which changes our lives. As the eye is the port to the soul, the face, considered to be extraordinarily revealing, reflects the contents of the heart.
Our physical body, though absolutely important, helps us make sense of the face. Body posture supports facial expression. But our faces … ahhh, it’s such a big deal advertising companies are always looking for the “new face” to represent their product. And taking someone at their “face value” is more like believing what they say without needing proof. But then, the world is filled with dazzling visions, so much so, everyone seems so easily “lost in the dazzle”. Well … there it is, to be “lost in the dazzle”.
So much of everything in the media influences people to take things at their “face value”, meaning the superficial appearance or implication of something, especially when it’s less than the actual value. i’ve said this before but i felt it good to say again: We are constantly asked by the news media and our government to take everything we see as probably real, and we all seem to often be repetitively shocked to find out things were not as they were posed. Taking someone at their “face value” is more like believing what they say without needing proof, yet increasingly, more and more people are requiring proof of what is portrayed or declared.
At some point, we will see Jesus “face to face”, and for some that will be the greatest day ever, and for some, well … not so much.
1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
If we say we’re going to see someone “face to face,” we may mean we’re going to have a meeting with that person, or it could also mean to have a confrontation with them. We might say we’re going to say something “to their face,” we would have spoken openly in that person’s presence.
How about having a “long face” implying a sense of gloom, while a “shining face” speaks of a sense of happiness or contentment, like Solomon who pointed out that “a joyful heart makes a face cheerful”. If someone “puts on a bold face,” he attempts to appear confident and courageous. And having a “false face,” would be an attempt to hide our feelings or opinions. When i was little, my mother would reprimand me because i “made a face” at my sister, which would indicate my contempt.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, an “idiom” an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its words, and we use many idioms in our communications every day. Like to “face up” to a problem is to say we confront the problem in an effort to resolve the conflict. To “fly in the face” of some one’s opinion suggests we’ve taken action contrary to an accepted policy, or belief. And to “set our face against” someone would be an open defiance in opposition to that person, or like in Luke9:51, Jesus “set His face” to go to Jerusalem, like saying He was determined with all power to go there, doggedly determined, regardless of any opposition. Isaiah 50:7 speaks of Christ, who was to come, that He would “set His face like flint”, meaning when He was struck, sparks would fly, and the fire of restoration would be at hand.
Someone may not want to “show their face” somewhere, meaning they don’t want to allow themselves to be seen, lest they either “lose face” or “save face”, which are idioms meaning to take shame to themselves or to keep what honor they possess. Covering our face may indicate grief or shame, or as Elijah covered his face in the presence of the Lord in 1 King 19:13. In Ezekiel 38:18, the Lord says when Gog comes against Israel His, “fury will show” in His face.
Our faces are powerful and express attitudes or emotions behind our actions. Even the earth and moon are said to have a face like when Cain was forced out and complained that God was “driving him from the “face of the land,”, or the “man in the moon” who’s face on the moon can be seen with a little imagination.
Again, our faces are powerful to righteousness and truth, or deceit and lies. Our faces can tell our stories if seen with discerning and wise eyes.
The world is filled with dazzling visions, so much so, many are easily “lost in the dazzle”. It seems, underneath the “face value” of the world around us, many things are blatantly self-promoting, promoting their own values, their own satisfaction, their own passions where, in the end, their opinion becomes the rule, with the hope of financial gain and self-advancement are hidden in a subtle undercurrent.
But then, what if we couldn’t see someone’s face? We would be far less inclined to be swayed by what our eyes take in. Through our eye comes what we see, and part of the dilemma is how we interpret that vision … what we think we see, imagine we see, wish we see, what we perceive we see, hope to see, conjure to see, or even psychotically see … maybe we even project ourselves into what we see.
Advertising has become such incredible psychology: we are led to believe we have the attention of what we are looking at, but that is an illusion, what we are looking at has us and we just buy into the face value of it all. Pornography for example. Viewers believe the person they are looking at is giving them their full, individual attention. We read that attention into movies, photographs, advertisements, etc. Why? Even when we know what we are looking at isn’t real, and the person in the picture/video doesn’t know us from anyone … and isn’t interested in knowing us … why do we project like that? Is it because, underneath it all we are looking for favor, recognition, validation, to somehow feel included? Maybe so. i believe many people generally feel somewhat excluded. Maybe it’s a point of having imagined power.
We are called to live as God’s sons and daughters able to see not only with our natural eyes but in the spiritual realm.
Maria Vadia, in her book “Victory In The Eye Gate”, wrote, “As a prophetic people, we are to walk by revelation so that we can be “light” in the midst of darkness, our faces bright with His presence. We have been empowered to carry on the works of Jesus and we are not alone in this; we partner with the Holy Spirit!”
Being “in God’s presence” means … what to you? When i imagine “being in God’s presence”, i see myself in a dark room with a flashlight. The light that came out of the flash light not only shone on the floor but actually lit up the room. The light went all over the room, not just on the floor, and i thought, “… is this what Your Presence is like Lord?” Noticing the light from the flashlight and my being in it was more than just a casual observation, it was a purposeful looking.
A Hebrew perspective of “God’s presence” means “an encounter with The Face”, and the face reveals the person. Jesus said if we have seen Him, then we have seen the Father. There is even a “Philosophy of The Face”, or “Theology of The Face”.
The “face of things” is a big deal, but above all big deals is the Face Of God. With Him the precedent is set, and in His face is all the abundance of life. He is self-evident, self-revelational, self-inspirational, self-sustaining, self-disclosing, He is ever-living and ever-lasting, the only person who is self-aware, totally self-assertive, and totally moral, The One who causes everything to be because He Is, and He calls Himself “I AM.” In His face the precedent was set for redemption from the beginning and He no longer hides His face from us.
Job 26:9, “He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it.” If God hides the “face” of His Throne, it cannot be known and is not open and disclosed. Jesus came and gave us His face, for the first time, if we have looked Jesus in the eyes we have looked God in the eyes for the Lord is not hidden from us but has gotten eye level and face to face.
God threatened Israel in Deuteronomy 31:17, 18 and again in 32:20 that He would hide His face from them if they didn’t straighten up, in other words He would make Himself unfindable and unknowable. When Jesus came, everyone had then, and has now, the opportunity to know the Lord, and by looking into the eyes of the Son we are transformed from glory to glory.
2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
When we open our face to others, we are being open, disclosing, and receptive to change. Sadly, people have gotten good at hiding their wounds and secrets from being seen in their faces, but if we’ll take the time to just visit, the pain of life will become evident in the faces over time. i believe many, many people are in pain, on one level or another, and the only hope for relief is Jesus who lives the hearts of those who believe on His Name. We are those with a heart draped in the love of God which has a gentle, modest, faithful character, giving a light to our faces that can’t be duplicated by the best cosmetics and jewelry in the world, for a carefully groomed and well-decorated exterior is artificial and cold unless inner beauty is present. A garland is a decoration or a crown, often surrounding a window with a view. Our faces are like a window with a view, particularly our eyes, revealing the garland of grace on our hearts.
Speaking of having an open face and possessing depth of soul in our eyes, Hiram Powers, an American sculptor said, “The eye is the window of the soul, the mouth is the door. The intellect, the will, are seen in the eye; the emotions, sensibilities, and affections, in the mouth. The animals look for man’s intentions right into his eyes. Even a rat, when you hunt him and bring him to bay, looks you in the eye.” To look in the face of God is to be changed forever, transformed, and beautiful again, as we were in the beginning.
Job 41 speaks of dealings with Leviathan, what i believe to be some sort of terrifying sea creature possibly. No one seems to know precisely what “leviathan” was. Although its identity is shrouded in obscurity, we can possibly conclude it was some sort of aquatic creature of the ancient world. i found verse 14 most interesting where it says, “Who can open the doors of his face?” For years i didn’t understand what that could possibly mean, i even wrote myself a note to investigate and stuck it on the bulletin board as a reminder to not miss God’s wisdom in that … and i did search to understand from time to time, but came to no further explanation until the last six months or so.
To “open the doors of his face”. i think it means to open the person of Leviathan that he would be known, that we would see him as he is, that his intents and purposes are disclosed. To “hide my face” would mean to not allow myself to be known, to be closed and non-disclosing, and to “open my face” would be to let others in, being open and willing to disclose myself. We’ve all met people who have, what some would call, a closed face, meaning they are unreadable or they have a “poker face”, just like there are others who’s face often reveals their thoughts and feelings.
Being in God’s presence is an “encounter with The Face”, and by Jesus Christ, the Lord has opened His face to us. He is not hidden … He is findable and knowable. God “opened the doors of His face” to us so we would know the glorious, and abundant life and love He has given to us.
In Gen31:21 Jacob fled from Laban, his father-in-law, he “headed for (‘set his face toward’) the hill country of Gilead. The key phrase is “he set his face”, meaning with all power he was determined to go to Gilead. In John 4, my paraphrase here, Jesus “set His face” to go to Samaria, He was determined to do what was in front of Him to do. In 2Kings12:17, king Hazael “turned to attack (‘or set his face toward’) Jerusalem”. Num24:1, When Balaam “saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as at other times, but “set his face toward the wilderness”. In Dan9:3, the prophet Daniel, reports, “I turned my face to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and sackcloth and ashes”, meaning he went before the Lord with all his breathing, thinking, and feeling to plead the case of his people.
The following may be a bit adventurous to bring into this forum, because the concept may simply be too large to do it justice, but i’m going to present it anyway for the reason of giving us all an idea that the face of God comes with more than looking into the eyes of God Himself.
Here goes: In the New Testament, “Presence of God,” as used in 1Cor1:29 is a Greek word, “enōpion”, which is made up of two words, “en” and a derivative of the Greek word “optanomai”.
Now, the second word is where it gets interesting. ‘Optanomai’, which is from the primary word “optomai” (where we get our word English word optometry and it’s variations from) implies a “seeing” and alternates with the word ‘horao’ – which is “to stare at or discern clearly.” And then there is an easily followed trail, that leads through degrees of “seeing” and “visionary” type experiences which i think to be quite a revelation. There is a passive seeing like knowing the floor is under your feet, nothing of special note but we are aware it is there; there is an active “seeing” like purposefully looking at something; and then there is the idea of “looking at something with eyes wide open in amazement”. Do the foot work, don’t take my word for it … go look for yourself. In fact, let me encourage you to try and not take someone’s doctrinal views at face value, even if they are a valuable, reliable resource … you do the work, and you go look for yourself to see what scripture says. It’s not like we don’t have a plethora of information to draw from. God is knowable and findable if we’ll go look for Him.
If the Hebrew perspective of “the presence of God” is an “encounter with the Face”, and the New Testament, “Presence of God,” reveals a visionary experience when we encounter His face, then i think we can add the two together to show that with an encounter with the face of God, there also comes a “seeing” where we see Him, He sees us, and we get a spiritual seeing imparted to us by being brave to look into God’s face. This is like saying if His Presence is always with me, then i am also having His “seeing” playing in me like a video. The problem is i’ve also got a mix of worldly vision playing in me, and as a result of a life of being “lost in the dazzle”. What God-vision i’ve got in my head and heart is often mingled with the world vision, so i, all too often, tend to throw the baby out with the bath water, discarding my spiritual vision in an attempt to dislodge the worldly images. Rather than set a path to divest myself of the dazzling world view constantly presented to me, i simply disregard it all.
Let us abandon our input of worldly vision to sanctify our God-vision that we would walk more circumspectly in the world we live in. i can’t help but think understanding this a little is another key to prophetic “seeing”.
Jesus carried the promise of Isaiah 50:6, “I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.” Jesus “opened His face” to us that we could open our face to the world.
As i awoke the other morning, i was thinking of all the refugee’s coming to this country. In the gray place between awake and asleep, the Lord spoke to me saying, “Let them in.” At first i thought to stop resisting the influx of people this country, but as the days followed, His meaning was not about them but about me. “Let them in” meaning that i should stop hiding my face from the world … let them see my fallibleness, and they will also see all the restoration and redemption in me too. It’s not to fear others will see my failures, but for glory of the Love of God in my heart.
The Lord promised us in Ezekiel 39:29, that from now on, He would no longer hide his face from us making Himself unfindable and unknowable, the He would make Himself open and disclosing … then the Son of God came and gave man the face of God for the first time in history. He is not hidden any longer and we should not hide our faces from the world either.
Friends, and i do mean friends, brothers and sisters of the cloth, let us be brave to deal with our hidden, secret things. Bring them into submission and obedience of the word of God, resolving those scary things of ourselves and let our light shine. Psalm 34:5, “Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” God gave us His presence, His face, and it has changed us forever. Think about it.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The closer God gets to all things, the more all things become like Him.
Just like Jesus did in Luke 9:51, we must “set our faces” with all power and determination to step into God’s appointments and provision which He has given to us. It does not have to be an unhappy thing either. Franz Delitzsch was so right when he wrote, “To behold the face of God is in itself impossible to mortals without dying. But when God reveals Himself in love, then He makes His countenance bearable to the creature. And to enjoy this vision of God softened by love is the highest honor God in His mercy can confer on a man; it is the blessedness itself that is reserved for the upright.”
Breathe on me, Breath of God, Fill me with life anew, That I may love what Thou dost love, And do what Thou wouldst do. Breathe on me, Breath of God, Till I am wholly Thine, Till all this earthly part of me, Glows with Thy fire divine.
Seek His face continually, for God has come to speak with us face-to-face that we would behold His face with rejoicing, gladness with a shout in the middle. He is the risen One, and the sorrowful crucified face of Jesus now gives way to the glorious resurrected face of Jesus. The face reveals and conceals the nature of a person, and as a result the face of Jesus, is the Face of God toward all humanity for redemption and healing from the wounds of sin, death, and the grave. For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son, that whom so ever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. Amen!