Face of God is Scripture’s way of speaking of
His nearness,
His favor,
and His unveiled presence.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
You have said, Seek My face.
My heart says to You,
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
No one has ever seen God;
the only God, who is at the Father’s side,
He has made Him known.
In the face of Jesus Christ the light of the knowledge of the glory of God has shone.
In Hebrew thought the face is the turned self—attention, pleasure, or wrath. When God’s face shines, there is blessing. When He hides His face, there is terror and drought.
- Moses asked to see His glory and was told, You cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live. He was hidden in the rock while the goodness of the Lord passed by.
- Jacob named a place Peniel: I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.
- The psalms plead, Hide not Your face. Restore us; let Your face shine, that we may be saved. Priests put that shine into a blessing over the people.
- Paul takes the same language to the gospel. The god of this world blinds minds. God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. We all, with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord and are transformed.
One day we shall see face to face, and know fully. Until then we seek His face, which means we seek Him—not an idea about Him, and not a glow we can manage.
- Face means personal presence, not a carved image.
- Shine and hide are the two directions the face can take toward a people.
- No one sees the essence of God and lives. The Son makes Him known.
- The Aaronic blessing is a prayer for that shine and that peace.
- Seeking His face is obedience to an invitation He spoke first.
- The glory of God is now seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Face to face is the end of knowing in part.
- Shining Face – Favor, grace, peace spoken over a people.
- Hidden Face – Judgment, distance, the cry of the psalms.
- Unseeable Glory – Moses in the cleft; no man sees and lives.
- Peniel – A man marked and spared.
- Seek My Face – His command; our answer.
- The Face of Christ – Knowledge of the glory given there.
- Unveiled – Beholding, becoming, then seeing face to face.
- Numbers 6:24-26 – “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
- Psalm 27:8-9 – “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’ Hide not your face from me.”
- Psalm 80:3, 7, 19 – “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!”
- Psalm 4:6 – “Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
- Psalm 13:1 – “How long will you hide your face from me?”
- Exodus 33:11, 18-23 – The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend… “Please show me your glory.”… “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
- Exodus 34:29-30 – Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
- Genesis 32:30 – “So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.’”
- Deuteronomy 31:17-18 – I will hide My face from them.
- Isaiah 59:2 – Your iniquities have made a separation… and your sins have hidden his face from you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 – The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers… For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 – When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed… And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image.
- John 1:18 – “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
- John 14:9 – “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
- 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.”
- Revelation 22:3-4 – “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”
- Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
- 1 John 3:2 – We shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
- Psalm 105:4 – Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually.
- Hebrews 9:24 – Christ entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
You have said, Seek My face. Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not Your face from me.
You cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.
I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.
The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed.
Now we see in a mirror dimly. Then face to face. They will see His face. Seek that Face now in the Son. Do not hunt a glow apart from Him.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.