They Shall See His Face

“And they shall see his face” (Re. 22:4). Under the law, Moses was not allowed to see God’s face (Ex. 33:20), but the redeemed saints in the New Jerusalem will see it. The face they will see is the face of Jesus. The knowledge of the glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Co. 4:6). Jesus is the express image of His person (Heb. 1:3). Christ’s face is the face of the Creator God, the face of pure holiness, the face of unfathomable love, the face of infinite wisdom, the face of prudence and witty inventions (Pr. 8:12), the face of almighty power, the face of the one “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Mic. 5:2), the face of the Ancient of days (Da. 7:9, 13, 22). The human face is an amazing creation. It is the face of the individual soul. Even “identical twins” are not identical. Martin Schoeller, a portrait photographer who has photographed more than 100 identical twins, says, “Once you see them side by side in the same light and the same camera angle, you come to realize how different most twins look” (“Why identical twins look different,” The Globe and Mail, Apr. 30, 2018). The face reflects the individual’s intelligence and character and feelings. It has been called “the organ of emotions.” Knowledge of the face (“reading people’s faces”) is an important law enforcement tool. The face has a set of about 20 flat muscles, called the mimetic muscles, that enable it to reflect the full range of human emotion. They are controlled by the facial nerve which is in turn controlled by the mind and spirit. They are the only muscles that insert into the skin. A study by electrical and computer engineer Aleix Martinez found that the face makes 21 emotional expressions that differ according to the muscles involved (“Human Faces Can Express at Least 21 Distinct Emotions,” Time magazine, Mar. 31, 2014). The saints know God in Christ and long to see His face. The hymn “Face to Face” says, “Face to face with Christ, my Saviour, face to face—what will it be, when with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me? … Face to face! O blissful moment! Face to face—to see and know; face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ who loves me so.”

(Friday Church News Notes, August 23, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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