Jesus Christ is my God!
Issued 10.02.2009
Godīs Face
God has revealed His Face in Jesus Christ so that we can meet His look, although we have offended against Him.
Human face
Human face reflects the being of the soul. When we look at the faces of each others we look at the face of our inward man. If we want nobody to look at our inmost heart, we force another expression on our face than what is on the face of our soul. In that way we put a mask over our face which hides our real being.
If we feel that we have done wrong we don't want people to see our guilty face. Much less then we want God to look at us. However He always sees our true faces, although we would try to hide ourselves from Him. On the other hand He partly turns His face away from us so that our guilt would not be greater than we can bear.
The purity and the goodness of God's face would crush our guilty hearts, if we were allowed to see His face. Moses wanted to see God's face, but He replied: "You cannot see my face; for no man shall see me, and live." Ex.33:20
When God once will judge the world, He will show His face to the whole world: "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them." Re.20:11
However because of His great love for us God has shown to us His face in the way we can endure, which leads us to salvation, if we take away our mask and agree to look at His face in Jesus Christ. You can look at the glory of God with unveiled face!
See His suffering face on the cross! God was in Christ and suffered the punishment of your guilt. You get the salvation from His face: "It is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2Co.4:6
Behold, Jesus didn't defende himself, though He was free from guilt. He was silent, because He suffered voluntarily your judgment. Watch the face of God in the event of Golgotha. "Let the light of God's face shine out of darkness of the judgment of Golgotha to your heart!"
Human face reflects the being of the soul. When we look at the faces of each others we look at the face of our inward man. If we want nobody to look at our inmost heart, we force another expression on our face than what is on the face of our soul. In that way we put a mask over our face which hides our real being.
If we feel that we have done wrong we don't want people to see our guilty face. Much less then we want God to look at us. However He always sees our true faces, although we would try to hide ourselves from Him. On the other hand He partly turns His face away from us so that our guilt would not be greater than we can bear.
The purity and the goodness of God's face would crush our guilty hearts, if we were allowed to see His face. Moses wanted to see God's face, but He replied: "You cannot see my face; for no man shall see me, and live." Ex.33:20
When God once will judge the world, He will show His face to the whole world: "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them." Re.20:11
However because of His great love for us God has shown to us His face in the way we can endure, which leads us to salvation, if we take away our mask and agree to look at His face in Jesus Christ. You can look at the glory of God with unveiled face!
See His suffering face on the cross! God was in Christ and suffered the punishment of your guilt. You get the salvation from His face: "It is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2Co.4:6
Behold, Jesus didn't defende himself, though He was free from guilt. He was silent, because He suffered voluntarily your judgment. Watch the face of God in the event of Golgotha. "Let the light of God's face shine out of darkness of the judgment of Golgotha to your heart!"
God without a face
Many believe God exists, but they don't seek God's face. They don't want to face God as a person. God is regarded as a faceless power by many, because such God doesn't rebuke them for their iniquities. Guilty hearts want to serve an impersonal God. To know a person means knowing the real face of the person. Even the word person originates from the word face.
We all are watching the faces of each other to see how they react in different situations. If someone reacts always in the same way keeping a straight face, we don't learn to know him. He remains an emotionally distant person to us. Many have worked hard to present God's face as monotonous and solemn. People are gathered together in a church service watching a solemn presentation. They say they have come before God's face when they are inside the church. Actually they come before the mask that presents God.
God doesn't give presentations to us, but He reveals Himself to us. Woe to this, when one presents prayers, then a choir performs a piece of music and finally a pastor gives a sermon. All this performing hides God's face from those present. A genuine Christian meeting is revelations and not performances. Let faces of souls appear from behind Christian masks so that the meeting would be the real meeting of faces.
The faces of the guilty darken before the face of God. Do they seek atonement for their sins and a consolation from God's face? Many don't seek but avoid the presence of God's face in many ways. They lighten their feelings by joking or by singing songs. There are many methods of making the physical face shine with joy, although the heart is crying. Only God can brighten the face of your soul.
You do want to see the glad face of God, don't you? If you repent your evilness, it is possible for you. If you confess your sins to God and turn to Him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you will get the salvation from His face. "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence (face) of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before." Ac.3:19-20
An evildoer would have no reason to cover up his inner face, if he considered his deeds right. Guilt appears in the behaviour of people in all the cultures irrespective of religions. That is so because God's invisible presence rebukes everybody. Through the ages some people have had enough of reprimand of God's face and therefore expressed their open rebellion against Him by stopping all hiding and so declaring that they think they have done right in the very case for which God has rebuked them.
"Their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves." Isa.3:8-9
Loving of bad lusts has been made into a virtue in our time. Woe to many who bring evil upon themselves by rejoicing over their evil deeds!
Many believe God exists, but they don't seek God's face. They don't want to face God as a person. God is regarded as a faceless power by many, because such God doesn't rebuke them for their iniquities. Guilty hearts want to serve an impersonal God. To know a person means knowing the real face of the person. Even the word person originates from the word face.
We all are watching the faces of each other to see how they react in different situations. If someone reacts always in the same way keeping a straight face, we don't learn to know him. He remains an emotionally distant person to us. Many have worked hard to present God's face as monotonous and solemn. People are gathered together in a church service watching a solemn presentation. They say they have come before God's face when they are inside the church. Actually they come before the mask that presents God.
God doesn't give presentations to us, but He reveals Himself to us. Woe to this, when one presents prayers, then a choir performs a piece of music and finally a pastor gives a sermon. All this performing hides God's face from those present. A genuine Christian meeting is revelations and not performances. Let faces of souls appear from behind Christian masks so that the meeting would be the real meeting of faces.
The faces of the guilty darken before the face of God. Do they seek atonement for their sins and a consolation from God's face? Many don't seek but avoid the presence of God's face in many ways. They lighten their feelings by joking or by singing songs. There are many methods of making the physical face shine with joy, although the heart is crying. Only God can brighten the face of your soul.
You do want to see the glad face of God, don't you? If you repent your evilness, it is possible for you. If you confess your sins to God and turn to Him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you will get the salvation from His face. "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence (face) of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before." Ac.3:19-20
An evildoer would have no reason to cover up his inner face, if he considered his deeds right. Guilt appears in the behaviour of people in all the cultures irrespective of religions. That is so because God's invisible presence rebukes everybody. Through the ages some people have had enough of reprimand of God's face and therefore expressed their open rebellion against Him by stopping all hiding and so declaring that they think they have done right in the very case for which God has rebuked them.
"Their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves." Isa.3:8-9
Loving of bad lusts has been made into a virtue in our time. Woe to many who bring evil upon themselves by rejoicing over their evil deeds!
God's face changes us
Have you had enough of yourself? Do you want to be changed? An experience from God's face will transform your face. "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." 2Co.3:18
In this time we cannot look at God from face to face. It has been promised to us after our resurrection. Now we are allowed to see the face of Jesus as "a poor reflection in a mirror". However also that weak image is able to change us. It is meant that we would like to look at that image over and over again so that we would be changed from glory to glory.
Seeking the face of Jesus is like looking for a treasure. Have a look and your heart gains a heavenly treasure. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." 2Co.4:7
The Holy Spirit conveys the brightness of the face of Jesus to you. He has been sent into the all the earth to testify that the Man, Jesus Christ is God. He is present everywhere and not only where Christians are. He doesn't go with evangelists but the messengers of God go with Him. If you in your earnest seek the face of Jesus, He certainly notices you, even though you would be in the bottom of a sea.
What does prevent you from seeking the face of Jesus? Obviously your soul already basks in brilliance of another light. Jesus says: "Take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness." Lu.11:35
Many opponents of Jesus enjoyed the light of Jewish religiousness. Any devout religiousness can give an inner experience, which may enchant our inner face. Although you would not be religious your soul may be charmed by human wisdom and so your face shines the light of reasoning.
"Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." 2Co.4:3-4
The god of this world has blinded also many who call themselves newborn Christians. God has not changed them, because they have not watched the face of Jesus in their spirit. Therefore they deny the power of godliness and maintain only a facade of Christianity. It is written about them: "They having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" 2Ti.3:5
Have you had enough of yourself? Do you want to be changed? An experience from God's face will transform your face. "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." 2Co.3:18
In this time we cannot look at God from face to face. It has been promised to us after our resurrection. Now we are allowed to see the face of Jesus as "a poor reflection in a mirror". However also that weak image is able to change us. It is meant that we would like to look at that image over and over again so that we would be changed from glory to glory.
Seeking the face of Jesus is like looking for a treasure. Have a look and your heart gains a heavenly treasure. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." 2Co.4:7
The Holy Spirit conveys the brightness of the face of Jesus to you. He has been sent into the all the earth to testify that the Man, Jesus Christ is God. He is present everywhere and not only where Christians are. He doesn't go with evangelists but the messengers of God go with Him. If you in your earnest seek the face of Jesus, He certainly notices you, even though you would be in the bottom of a sea.
What does prevent you from seeking the face of Jesus? Obviously your soul already basks in brilliance of another light. Jesus says: "Take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness." Lu.11:35
Many opponents of Jesus enjoyed the light of Jewish religiousness. Any devout religiousness can give an inner experience, which may enchant our inner face. Although you would not be religious your soul may be charmed by human wisdom and so your face shines the light of reasoning.
"Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." 2Co.4:3-4
The god of this world has blinded also many who call themselves newborn Christians. God has not changed them, because they have not watched the face of Jesus in their spirit. Therefore they deny the power of godliness and maintain only a facade of Christianity. It is written about them: "They having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!" 2Ti.3:5
Live in light of God's face
We see something pure in the face of a baby. Jesus says: "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." Mt.18:10
Angels of God convey light of God's face to the inner faces of little children. Therefore also their physical faces twinkle to us something of the pure face of God. So it is natural that guilty hearts can despise little children, because they feel God's face reprimanding in a little pure face.
Jesus drew an analogy between His disciples and little children, because they both are the light of the world in the comparable way. Those who belong to Jesus don't need an angel as a supplier of light, but Jesus lives in us in the Holy Spirit. "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth." Eph.5:8-9
A believer who has a guilty heart, cannot be the light of the world. The light of the gospel cannot be held out only by giving information about Jesus. The faces of believers must reflect the feelings of God. "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil" and therefore also our face testify the same. We are sad due to sin and glad, when someone repents his evilness and turns away from it and allows himself to be reconciled to God. We rejoice at truth and at goodness and we don't allow contagious wrong joy to spread to our faces.
All those who love Jesus have a fight for the light of God so that our thoughts and deeds would live by it. Darkness playing the role of light has overtaken many hearts, because they don't want to be rebuked. The light of God's face causes good deeds in us and a dark light causes evilness. Examine your deeds so that you would not deceive yourself.
If our heart doesn't live now by the light of God, how we could come to His face after we died? John, the apostle reminds us about this issue: "And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." 1Jo.2:28
Take the steady course toward the brightness of God's face. He will purify you and change you so that you will once be able to stand before His face without a shame. "There shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever." Re.22:3-5
We see something pure in the face of a baby. Jesus says: "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." Mt.18:10
Angels of God convey light of God's face to the inner faces of little children. Therefore also their physical faces twinkle to us something of the pure face of God. So it is natural that guilty hearts can despise little children, because they feel God's face reprimanding in a little pure face.
Jesus drew an analogy between His disciples and little children, because they both are the light of the world in the comparable way. Those who belong to Jesus don't need an angel as a supplier of light, but Jesus lives in us in the Holy Spirit. "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth." Eph.5:8-9
A believer who has a guilty heart, cannot be the light of the world. The light of the gospel cannot be held out only by giving information about Jesus. The faces of believers must reflect the feelings of God. "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil" and therefore also our face testify the same. We are sad due to sin and glad, when someone repents his evilness and turns away from it and allows himself to be reconciled to God. We rejoice at truth and at goodness and we don't allow contagious wrong joy to spread to our faces.
All those who love Jesus have a fight for the light of God so that our thoughts and deeds would live by it. Darkness playing the role of light has overtaken many hearts, because they don't want to be rebuked. The light of God's face causes good deeds in us and a dark light causes evilness. Examine your deeds so that you would not deceive yourself.
If our heart doesn't live now by the light of God, how we could come to His face after we died? John, the apostle reminds us about this issue: "And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." 1Jo.2:28
Take the steady course toward the brightness of God's face. He will purify you and change you so that you will once be able to stand before His face without a shame. "There shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever." Re.22:3-5
He is an extremely lovely Person
When I dawdle on the way of God, there is an expectant look on His patient face. He understands me perfectly, better than I myself. I feel how His face is calling me to Him.
When I am frightened and I seek His protection, His smile encourages me. His presence gives the perfect peace. I know I am in a good safe, like I would peep the world from the pocket of God.
When I have fallen in sin, He has a suffering look on His face. Fire is flaming in His pain broken eyes and in that light I feel the truth about my evilness. He is self-sacrificing and tenderly and lovingly He is zealous for the truth.
When I have repented my sins, His glad face shines like the sun. In the light of His face I feel how pure thoughts fill my mind. I have the experience of how His presence lifts my soul from the mud of evilness up to the rock of His goodness.
When I don't know what to do in my practical things and I seek His face, He casts a helpful look on me and the wisdom from His face fastens my attention to the right thing. I feel how the wisdom beyond all human understanding guides me.
Some goodness I have seen also on human faces, but the little I have seen of the goodness of God's face, is much more than it. He is an extremely lovely Person. I press on towards the moment when I will meet His face in the Perfection.
When I dawdle on the way of God, there is an expectant look on His patient face. He understands me perfectly, better than I myself. I feel how His face is calling me to Him.
When I am frightened and I seek His protection, His smile encourages me. His presence gives the perfect peace. I know I am in a good safe, like I would peep the world from the pocket of God.
When I have fallen in sin, He has a suffering look on His face. Fire is flaming in His pain broken eyes and in that light I feel the truth about my evilness. He is self-sacrificing and tenderly and lovingly He is zealous for the truth.
When I have repented my sins, His glad face shines like the sun. In the light of His face I feel how pure thoughts fill my mind. I have the experience of how His presence lifts my soul from the mud of evilness up to the rock of His goodness.
When I don't know what to do in my practical things and I seek His face, He casts a helpful look on me and the wisdom from His face fastens my attention to the right thing. I feel how the wisdom beyond all human understanding guides me.
Some goodness I have seen also on human faces, but the little I have seen of the goodness of God's face, is much more than it. He is an extremely lovely Person. I press on towards the moment when I will meet His face in the Perfection.
The Bible version used in references is NKJV