PSALM 27 VERSE 8 COMMENTARY Written and edited by Glenn Pease

INTRODUCTION

In this study I have included much material that I have written in other places. I

have done this because it all revolves around the key theme of the face of God. I

have put all I have on that theme in one place to give as much insight into the topic

as I have studied over the years.

8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"

Your face, LORD, I will seek.

1. It is surprising how many references there are in the Bible to seeking the face of

God, or having his face shine on you. Let me give you a quick reading of the many

text to give you an impression of how common it was to speak of the face of their

invisible God of Spirit.

* Psa 4:6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" Let the light of your

face shine upon us, O LORD.

* Psa 11:7 For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his

face.

* Psa 17:15 And I -- in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be

satisfied with seeing your likeness.

* Psa 22:24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one;

he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

* Psa 24:6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O

God of Jacob.

* Psa 31:16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.

* Psa 34:16 the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the

memory of them from the earth.

* Psa 44:3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm

bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for

you loved them.

* Psa 51:9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

* Psa 67:1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon

us.

* Psa 80:3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be

saved.

* Psa 80:7 Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we

may be saved.

* Psa 80:19 Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us,

that we may be saved.

* Psa 104:15 wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and

bread that sustains his heart.

* Psa 105:4 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

* Psa 119:58 I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me

according to your promise.

* Psa 119:135 Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your

decrees.

1B. His heart talks to his head and says, "Seek his face," And the head then talks to

the will, and the will says, "I will do it. I will seek God's face." Here we see how an

emotion can motivate a person to action. What you feel can lead to determining

what you do. Spurgeon said, "Note the promptness of the response--no sooner said

than done; as soon as God said "seek, "the heart said, "I will seek." Oh, for more of

this holy readiness! Would to God that we were more plastic to the divine hand,

more sensitive of the touch of God's Spirit." Maclaren stresses the same point,

"Thecompleteness and swiftness of his answer could not be more vividly expressed.

To hear was to obey: as soon as God's merciful call sounded, the Psalmist's heart

responded, like a harp-string thrilled into music by the vibration of another tuned

to the same note. Without hesitation, and in entire correspondence with the call, was

his response. So swiftly, completely, resolutely should we respond to God's voice,

and our ready 'I will' should answer His commandment, as the man at the wheel

repeats the captain's orders whilst he carries them out. Upon such acceptance of

such an invitation we, too, may build the prayer, 'Hide not Thy face far from me.'"

It is the Spirit of God that puts the impulse in the heart to seek God's face, and then

we have a choice to respond by doing so, or rejecting that impulse. Proverbs 1:20-23

reveals the consequences of not giving heed to the call of God. In this text the call is

that of wisdom, which is the same as the Spirit of God.

20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street,

she raises her voice in the public squares;

21 at the head of the noisy streets [c] she cries out,

in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:

22 "How long will you simple ones [d] love your simple ways?

How long will mockers delight in mockery

and fools hate knowledge?

23 If you had responded to my rebuke,

I would have poured out my heart to you

and made my thoughts known to you.

24 But since you rejected me when I called

and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,

25 since you ignored all my advice

and would not accept my rebuke,

26 I in turn will laugh at your disaster;

I will mock when calamity overtakes you-

27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,

when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,

when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

28 "Then they will call to me but I will not answer;

they will look for me but will not find me.

29 Since they hated knowledge

and did not choose to fear the LORD,

30 since they would not accept my advice

and spurned my rebuke,

31 they will eat the fruit of their ways

and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,

and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety

and be at ease, without fear of harm."

2. Every impulse that men receive to seek the face of God is a call of God to them to

turn to him and strive to know him and his will. Every impulse to do the right thing

is the call of God to seek his face, and this becomes a way by which God judges the

people of the world. Masses have not heard the Gospel of Christ, but they have

heard many messages of right and wrong, or wisdom and folly, and which way they

respond determines how God judges them. There are many pagans in history that

have heard the call of wisdom and have chosen to seek God's face and do what the

Spirit of God gives them the impulse to do. They are what I call holy pagans, and

they play an important role in God's plan. God uses them because they are open to

follow the Spirit of wisdom, and in that way they are seeking the face of God. We

won't study this at this point, but go on to see what it means for fully committed

believers to seek the face of God.

3. The more we gaze on God, the more we will come to know him and adore him.

The angels who gaze on his face at all times adore him most of all. God desires to be

known and adored, and so he welcomes those who want to see his glory by gazing on

his face. Jesus stands at the door knocking, for he wants to enter and be seen by

those within. He wants a face to face conversation with his people. The whole idea

here is the intimacy that is possible between God and man. Fallen man is, by the

grace of God, allowed to be so intimate with the Creator of all that he can stand

before him face to face.

Face to face with Christ, my Savior,

Face to face--what will it be?

When with rapture I behold Him,

Jesus Christ who died for me.

Face to face I shall behold Him,

Far beyond the starry sky;

Face to face in all His glory,

I shall see Him by and by!

Only faintly now, I see Him,

With the darkling veil between,

But a blessed day is coming,

When His glory shall be seen.

What rejoicing in His presence,

When are banished grief and pain;

When the crooked ways are straightened,

And the dark things shall be plain.

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.

4. That is the blessed hope of all believers, but David is not here talking about

eternity, but of his desire in time to gaze on the face of his God. It is a present

experience in time. Spurgeon saw this as a time of prayer and meditation, and he

wrote, "As the Master Himself often retired for meditation and prayer to the

mountainside and the garden’s shade, that alone with his Father He might seek the

face of His God, so let us leave, awhile, the busy scenes of life and the haunts of

men to spend a still hour in quiet meditation over the works of God’s hands. And

then let us pour out our hearts into His ever-loving breast. How much we lose by not

noticing God in Nature and the Presence of our Father besetting us behind

and before! I wish we were more in prayer. I long for it for myself—I desire it for

you, also. I wish we were more in praise, too. Well would it be for us if the blessings

of God, poured out upon us so lavishly, excited in us true gratitude at all times.

Happy would that man be who responded to each touch of God’s beneficent hand

like a well-made instrument answers to the fingers of the player."

5. Spurgeon goes on, "It is the long-lost blessedness of Eden restored to us with

greater sweetness added to it. In Paradise God came and talked with Adam as a

man talks with his friend. Our first parents had communion with God which they

lost by sin, but it is now more than restored to us in Divine Grace. Heaven will be

the place of perfect fellowship but we may foretaste much of the bliss of the future

world, and eat of the grapes of Eshcol before we ever tread the green fields of the

better land. Yes, it means lost blessings restored, and future ones realized when we

can set ourselves face to face with God, and hold blessed communion with Him." Let

your hearts ever cry—

“Lord, let me see Your beauteous face!

It yields a Heaven below;

And angels round the Throne will say,

‘Tis all the Heaven they know.

A glimpse—a single glimpse of You,

Would more delight my soul

Than this vain world, with all its joys,

Could I possess the whole.”

5B. Seeking God's face is basically going to him in prayer. It is coming before God

and seeking his wisdom and guidance. We see it in II Sam. 21:1, " 1 During the

reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the

face of the LORD." We seek God's face when we need his help, and he is the only

source that can help us. When you need help to fix your car, you seek the face of a

mechanic. When you need help to watch your child you may seek the face of mom,

or grandma, or a friend. When you need help to overcome a sickness you seek the

face of a doctor. But when you need help that no human can provide, you seek the

face of God. Going to the house of God is seeking his face. 2Chron. 7:121-16 says,

"Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your

prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 "When I

shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or

send pestilence among My people, 14 "if My people who are called by My name will

humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,

then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 "Now

My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 "For

now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever;

and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.”

5C. T. De Witt Talmage wrote, "...you must seek the Lord through Bible study. The

Bible is the newest book in the world. "Oh," you say, "it was made hundreds of

years ago, and the learned men of King James translated it hundreds of years ago."

I confute that idea by telling you it is not five minutes old, when God, by His blessed

Spirit, retranslates it into the heart. If you will, in the seeking of the way of life

through Scripture study, implore God's light to fall upon the page, you will find that

these promises are not one second old, and that they drop straight from the throne

of God into your heart."

6. So the question is, does God actually have a face that can be seen? And the

answer to that question I have put if poetic form.

GOD HAS A FACE

BY Glenn Pease

We cannot see God the Father;

The Holy Spirit leaves no trace.

These facts our faith need not bother,

For in Jesus God has a face.

God has a face that we can see

In both time and eternity.

He joined the human race just so

His heavenly Father we could know.

The eyes of man are so finite

There’s much of God in shades so dim,

But Jesus came to give the light

That we might get a glimpse of Him

You cannot see and live to tell

If God’s glory comes your way,

But Jesus came and bore our hell

And by it tore the veil away.

He let the light of heaven shine

On this dark world of sin and shame.

He took away your sin and mine,

To show love was his aim.

He came to show to our blind eyes

What can be found no other place.

He made it clear as sunny skies,

That God has a loving face.

God has a face and we can see it

If we in his light will run.

God has a place and we can find it

If we say “Thy will be done.”

God has a grace and we can feel it

If all evil ways we shun.

God has a space and we can fill it

If we make Him number one.

God has a face and we can see it

In the person of His Son.

2 Cor 4:6 For 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.

THE FACE OF CHRIST Based on II Cor. 4:1-6

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Dr. Rosenow, a man who devoted his life to medical research, was asked, what led

him to this as his life's task, and he told this story. He grew up on an isolated farm in

Northern Wisconsin, and as a boy he had an unforgettable experience when his

brother became dangerously ill. The nearest doctor was sent for, and when he came

to the house, Dr. Rosenow, then only a boy, followed the doctor into his brothers

room, and hid behind a sofa to observe. What he saw determined his career. The

doctor poured out medicine to give to the patient, and then he turned and said to his

parents, "Have no fear, he is going to get well." The light that came into his parents

faces was wonderful to behold, and so deeply impressed him that then and there the

boy behind the sofa determined that he would do something that would cause light

to appear in people's faces.

We cannot begin to measure the powerful influence of shining faces in history.

Longfellow said of one-

The light upon her face

Shines from the windows of another world.

Saints only have such faces.

When Adoniram Judson, the great missionary, was home on furlough, he passed

through Stonington, Conn. Where a young boy saw his face glowing with the love of

Christ. He was so deeply impressed that one of the chapters of the book he wrote

when he became a pastor was entitled, "What A Boy Saw In The Face Of Adoniram

Judson." This boy became Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull, a great soul winner. Now you

may not know Dr. Trumbull or Dr. Rosenow, or the million others whose lives have

been changed by beholding faces, but all of you know the man in this third

illustration of the powerful influence of a shining face.

He was not a boy as the other two, but was a grown man who had already

determined his profession. He was engaged in duties that would make his face bitter

and fearful. By his own confession he says, he was in an angry rage when suddenly

at midday he saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, and with that vision

his whole character and career was changed. Paul had seen the light, not just a light,

but the light, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus

Christ. In spite of the fact that he was persecuting Christ, the face he saw was not a

face of anger like his own, but a face of mercy and forgiveness, and from that time

one Paul followed only the light that came from his Savior's face.

To behold the face of Christ, and to reflect the light of His face was the constant goal

of the Apostle Paul. He was not a man of a thousand faces, but the man of one face-

the face of Christ. He renounced all underhanded and cunning methods, and walked

in the open light of the face of Christ. Paul could have written the words of the poet,

For this I strive, for this I pray,

For this all else resign:

Be like my Master everyday,

Set forth on earth the Christian way,

Reflect His face in mine.

Author unknown

In Margaret Deland's story, The Awakening Of Helina Ritchie, a small boy looking

at a picture of the baptism of Jesus in which the artist had a face looking out of the

clouds asked, "Is that a good photograph of God?" Dr. Lavendar, the pastor said,

"If it looks like a kind father, I think it is a good photograph of God." The Apostle

Paul would say, however, that the real authentic photograph of God is the Son of

God, who is the express image of God. Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the

Father." Paul says to the Corinthians here in verse 6, that the source of our

knowledge of God, in all His glory and beauty, is in the face of Jesus Christ. Back in

318 He lays it down as a spiritual principle, that only as we with open face gaze

upon the glory of the Lord Jesus, can we be changed by degrees, and become like

Him. Looking at the face of Jesus is not just poetry, it is an essential and practical

aspect of the Christian life, for those who desire to be Christlike in all their living.

This means, of course, that the face of Christ is not His literal face, but is the whole

character and conduct of Jesus as it is recorded in the Gospels. The face, however, is

the part of the body the most expressive of one's life and emotions. If you wish to

know if a man is happy and glad, or sour and mad, you look, not at his hair, hands,

back, or feet, but at his face. The face is the index of the heart and mind. When

Shakespeare said, "You have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm, of

cloudiness," it is not hard to guess the mood of the one he refers to. As Lewis Evans

said, "Your face doth testify but you be inwardly." The eyes in the face take in light

from without, while the face itself is the organ by which we express the light, or lack

of it, within. Abraham Coles wrote,

Contending passions jostle and displace,

And tilt and tourney mostly in the face.

Unmatched by art, upon this wondrous scroll,

Portrayed our all the secrets of the soul.

This was true for Jesus, as for all men. The life of Christ can be portrayed by a

series of portraits showing the expressions of His face. The album would begin with

the baby face of Jesus in the manger, and then would come the studious face of

boyhood, when he debated with the scholars in the temple. Then comes His

delightful happy face as he healed and taught. Then on the mount of transfiguration

His face shown as the Sun. Then comes His determined face when He steadfastly set

His face to go to Jerusalem to face the cross. Then comes His face of anguish and

tears in the garden of Gethsemane. On the cross we see His disfigured face from the

crown of thorns, and finally His conquering joyful face manifested in the happy

days following His resurrection. We can't begin to look at the whole album, but we

can focus our eyes on a couple of these pictures of the face of Christ which should

challenge us to seek more often to meditate on Him until we literally see Him face to

face. First of all let's look at-

I. HIS DELIGHTFUL FACE.

All of this emphasis of Paul on glory in the face of Christ implies a face of beauty

and delightful joy. The middle ages lost sight of this face of Christ. It was an age of

ascetics. Men were going off to monasteries where they fasted and cut themselves off

from the normal life of man. They forgot that Jesus never did this. The artists began

to picture Jesus only as He appeared in those last hours of His suffering. The only

text they could see to paint by was that of Isaiah 53:3, "A man of sorrows, and

acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised,

and we esteemed him not." This was a true picture of Christ in His suffering. The

deformed face of Christ was real, and for us who know the love behind that

agonizing face, even it contains beauty. Christina Rossetti put it so well in poetry.

Is this the face that thrills with awe,

Seraphs who veil their face above?

Is this the face without a flaw,

The face that is the face of love?

Yeah, this defaced, - this lifeless clod,

Hath all creation's love sufficed,

Hath satisfied the love of God,

This face, the face of Jesus Christ.

Keep in mind that Jesus was the spotless Lamb offered in sacrifice, and so even

though He was made ugly by the sin of man, He was in His own perfection the most

beautiful of all men. We ought never to lose the picture of His suffering face, but to

suppress all others with it, and to impose this gruesome image on the whole life of

Christ is a great perversion. Some who have looked so long and often at the face of

sorrow have concluded that Jesus never smiled or laughed. This baseless tradition,

with nothing but silence for a foundation, began as early as the forth century, and

still has its effects yet today, for it is all too seldom that Christians consider the

delightful smiling face of Jesus. The evidence for this portrait is abundant, even

though there is no specific text that says Jesus smiled, as it says He wept.

One half-positive poet suggests that He might have smiled when He blest the little

children. "A Man on earth He wondered once, all meek and undefiled, and those

who loved Him said-He wept, none ever said He smiled. Yet there might have been a

smile unseen, when He bowed His holy face I ween, to bless that happy child." Such

a half-hearted defense of the smiling face of Christ is a witness to how strongly men

have been influenced by the sad face of Christ on the cross. It is almost as if it was

irreverent to think of Christ as a person enjoying life. It would be extremely

abnormal for a person with very little to be happy about to go all through life

without a smile or laughter. It is inconceivable that He who came that we might

have abundant life should do so. Unless we are convinced that joy, laughter, and

smiling is of the devil, rather than the gift of God, we must accept the reality of His

delightful face.

Just try and imagine Jesus as a special guest at the wedding of Cana where He

added to the joy of the occasion by His miracle of changing water into wine. Can

you imagine Him all the while expressing no smile or emotion of delight, but keeping

His face as solemn as if He was fasting? I can hardly conceive of Jesus being stuck

with such a dead pan face even during the 40 days of fasting and temptation in the

wilderness. Certainly one who said so often to others in time of trial, "Be of good

cheer." Must have had a spring of joy in His own heart to fill His face with light,

even while facing the ruler of darkness. Jesus was the light of the world, and in Him

was no darkness at all.

Jesus told His disciples to keep their faces clean and to look happy and healthy when

they fasted. They were not to display a sad face in search of sympathy, or to be

praised for being so sacrificially religious. This alone, without all of His words of joy

and rejoicing, is positive proof that we fly in the face of the facts when we picture

Jesus with the face of an ascetic. The very record of His weeping shows it was

unique and rare for Him to do so because He was generally so happy. Those who

deny to Christ the universal pleasure of laughter, and paint Him as a perpetual man

of sorrows have an uncanny ability to draw conclusions in total disregard to the

facts. Jesus was not only a friend of children, but of publicans and sinners. He was

frequently at the banquet table, and I have never seen a banquet where people were

not smiling and laughing.

The Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples did not fast, and Jesus answered in

Matt. 9:15, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with

them?" Jesus was the leader of a delightfully happy band of men, and fasting just

did not fit into their life style at this point. People by the hundreds were being

healed, and they were shouting and praising God as their loved ones were restored

to health. In such a constant atmosphere of praise and joy, who could fast and be

sad? Most of all, how could the Savior, the Bridegroom Himself, the author of all

this joy, have anything but a face of delight? More Biblical is the poet who paints

the delightful face of Christ without apology.

The men who met Him rounded on their heels,

And wandered after Him because His face

Shown like the countenance of a priest of old

Against the flame about a sacrifice

Kindled by fire from heaven, so glad was He.

Author unknown

Luke 10:21 says Jesus rejoiced in the context of the 70 as they returned from their

successful mission. Jesus was seen powerful success everywhere, and He could not

help but rejoice as He saw the power of Satan being defeated. If we behold this

delightful face

of Christ often, we too can be filled with His joy. No wonder Paul said, "Rejoice in

the Lord often, and again I say rejoice." Paul was a happy man in spite of all his

trials because he beheld daily the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the

face of Jesus Christ. The second picture we want to look at is-

II. HIS DESIRABLE FACE.

His joy is only one of the values we want imparted to us. His face has many other

desirable characteristics. His face is a face of peace, a face of purity, and a face of

keen intelligence. Everything desirable is found in the face of Christ. If there is

anything lovely, think on it says Paul, and nothing can be more lovely than the face

of Him who is altogether lovely and the fairest of the fair. A child was afraid of the

dark and the mother said as she left the room, "God will be with you." "Yes, I

know," said the boy, "But I want somebody here with a face." He wanted a personal

God and not just a God of doctrine and theology. In the face of Christ all doctrine

becomes personal. The face of Christ does away with abstract speculation and

brings God near in everyday life. Jesus is God with a face.

Caryle said, "I would rather have one real glimpse of the young Jew face of Christ

than all the Raffaeles in the world." The face of Christ is so desirable just because

an example of perfection to gaze upon changes the gazers into its likeness. Paul is

saying this in 3:18, and life proves it to be so. Look at what is evil, corrupt, and

defiled and you will tend to become like that which you behold. Thoreau said, "We

are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and

bones-any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features; any meanness or

sensuality to imbrute them." Our face becomes an index of our values and reflects

that which we focus our face upon. That is why we are urged to set our affection on

things above so we can reflect the light from above.

Nathaniel Hawthorne in the story of The Great Stone Face, tells of a village in a

Swiss valley nestled beneath a great mountain. On it was craved a face that was

strong, calm, and loving. People said that one day a man with such a face would

come and lead them and help them. This impressed one boy so much that he studied

the face on the mountain and watched every stranger who came to town. He

compared their faces with the face on the rock. Always disappointed, he grew to be

a young man, and still was closely studying the face on the mount.

The time came when he attended a public meeting and the speaker suddenly pointed

to him saying, "There he is, the likeness of the great stone face." He had studied the

face so much that he himself reflected its likeness. This is fiction, but the principle is

not. It is fact, and Paul says look on the desirable face of Jesus for thereby you will

by degrees become like Him and reflect His glory. We have no picture of Christ, but

we have the mirror of the Word which reflects His glory into our face. Let us be

often than at this mirror-the beauty parlor of the soul, and let us sing, let the beauty

of Jesus be seen in me."

William Hillyer wrote,

No pictured likeness of my Lord have I;

He craved no record of His ministry on wood or stone.

He left no sculptured tomb or parchment dim,

But trusted for all memory of Him men's hearts alone

Who sees the face but sees in part; who reads

The spirit which it hides, sees all; He needs no more.

Thy grace-thy life in my life, Lord, give Thou to me;

And then, in truth, I may forever see

My Master's face.

When a great cathedral was being built the artistic work was entrusted only to the

most skilled artists, but an old man kept asking for a chance to carve, claiming he

was a sculptor. He was unknown so they refused, but he persisted to ask. In order to

get rid of him they gave him a block of stone in a dark corner. Day after day he

worked with infinite patience until his work was done. Now a special window has

been put in to let visitors see his glorious work. People pass by the carving on the

main part of the building to see the face of Christ carved by unknown genius in the

dark.

The face can convey inspiration. It is said of Oliver Cromwell, on the eve of a great

battle, when the odds were against him, that his soldiers would eagerly seek his face

before the bugle sounded the charge. "See," they would exclaim as he passed along

the line. "See, he has his battle face today." It was to his soldiers a sign of victory. So

also, we need to behold the victorious face of our risen Lord to be prepared to fight

the battles of life.

Would you like to know the secret

Of the sweetness of the Lord?

Go and hide beneath His shadow;

This shall then be your reward.

But when'er you leave the silence

Of that happy meeting place,

You must mind and bear the image

Of the Savior in your face.

Author unknown

There is a story of Leonardo da Vinci, and of how in the first painting of the "Last

Supper" he had put such pains and a such a wealth of detail into two cups standing

on the table that a friend, seeing them stared at them in open-mouthed amazement;

whereupon the artist seized a brush and with one sweep of his hand painted them

out of the picture, crying as he did it, "Not that! That isn't what I want you to see!

It's the face. Look at the face!" Fanny Crosby, the great hymn writer who wrote

"Saved By Grace," sang often these words from that song: "I shall see Him face to

face, and tell the story saved by grace." She said she was grateful to God that she

went through this life in darkness, for she said people who see have seen many

hundreds of faces, but the first face I will ever see is the face of Jesus.

Lord, let me see thy beauteous face!

It yields a heaven below;

And angels round the throne will say,

Tis all the heaven they know.

Norman Vincent Peale tells of the Belgian family whose father had been taken to the

prison in Breendonk by the Nazis. It was a death camp and they never saw him

again. How did they endure such torture and death he asked, and the son took him

to the cell and told him to get down on his knees and reach up under the bench to

the wall and feel the wall. It felt like the outline of a face, he said. "That is precisely

what it is," the son said. "One of the prisoners carved the face of the Savior under

this bench where the Nazis wouldn't find it. And in the night time he would run his

hand over this face." Other prisoners heard of it and asked if they could also run

their hand over the face. This is how they got comfort and assurance that Christ was

with them in their trials.

In a great church in Copenhagen, Denmark, the famous sculptor Thorwalden made

a statue of Christ. When you enter the church it looks like Jesus is looking at you,

but you can't see His face. If you go from side to side you the likeness of the Lord,

but still you can't see His face. It is only when you walk down the aisle and kneel

and look up that you can see His face. Only when bowed down looking up does the

face of Christ appear. These, and many other stories, motivated me to write a poem

on the face of Christ.

Of all the faces of the human race,

None shine so bright as the Savior's face.

Of all whom we love, of all whom we embrace,

There is none who can take the Master's place.

His light alone will lead us home;

His light above will lead in love;

His glory pure will ever endure,

Of His guiding light you can be sure.

If you would like to like Him be,

Both now and for eternity,

Be blind to all that is low and base

And gaze instead upon His face.

Be willing however great the price

To follow the light from the face of Christ.

7. A second poem I wrote stresses that Christmas was the time when God revealed

his face in the flesh for the first time.

THE FACE OF GOD

BY GLENN PEASE

CHRISTMAS IS GOD'S GREAT INVASION

OF THIS EARTH FROM BEYOND SPACE.

ON THIS MARVELOUS OCCASION

HE REVEALED TO MAN HIS FACE.

AT THE START HE WAS A STRANGER

JUST A BABY OUT OF PLACE.

EARTH'S CREATOR IN A MANGER

WAS NOT TO HIM A DISGRACE.

II

SHEPHERDS WATCHING THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT

HEARD THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD'S GRACE.

WHEN THE ANGELS HAD LEFT THEIR SIGHT

THEY LEFT TOO WITH HURRIED PACE.

THEY RAN TO BETHLEHEM'S STABLE

WHERE THE CHRIST CHILD THEY EMBRACE.

PRAISING GOD THAT THEY WERE ABLE

TO BEHOLD HIM FACE TO FACE.

III

WISE MEN SAW HIS STAR IN THE EAST

IT WAS RARE, NOT COMMONPLACE.

WHEN HEAVEN CELEBRATES A FEAST

THEY IT'S MEANING LONG TO TRACE.

NO JOURNEY COULD BE ON A PAR

NOTHING COULD THAT SIGHT ERASE.

THEY WOULD EVER FOLLOW THAT STAR

TILL THEY SAW CHRIST'S SHINING FACE.

IV

HE CAME HERE TO BE ONE OF US

TO STAND WITH US FACE TO FACE.

TAKING ON HIM THE NAME JESUS

SAVIOUR OF OUR FALLEN RACE..

TO THE HEAVENS HE'S ASCENDED

HE HAS RETURNED TO HIS BASE.

ALL THAT'S BROKEN WILL BE MENDED

AND ALL EVIL HE'LL REPLACE.

V

WHEN WE SEE THE FACE OF JESUS

WE BEHOLD THE FACE OF GOD.

MAY THIS AMAZING TRUTH SEIZE US

AS WE THROUGH THIS SEASON TROD.

WE LOOK UPON THE FACE OF GOD

WHEN THE FACE OF CHRIST WE SEE.

LET THIS CHRISTMAS SPIRIT YOU PROD

TO LOOK AND IN HIM BE FREE

8. Maclaren wrote, "But, most of all, He summons us to Himself by Him who is the

Angel of His Face, 'the effulgence of His glory, and the express image of His

person.' In the face of Jesus Christ, 'the light of the knowledge of the

glory of God' beams out upon us, as it never shone on this Psalmist of

old. He saw but a portion of that countenance, through a thick veil

which thinned as faith gazed, but was never wholly withdrawn. The voice

that he heard calling him was less penetrating and less laden with love

than the voice that calls us. He caught some tones of invitation

sounding in providences and prophecies, in ceremonies and in law; we

hear them more full and clear from the lips of a Brother. They sound to

us from the cradle and the cross, and they are wafted down to us from

the throne. God's merciful invitation to us poor men never has taken,

nor will, nor can, take a sweeter and more attractive form than in

Christ's version of it: 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy

laden, and I will give you rest.' Friend! that summons comes to us; may

we deal with it as the Psalmist did!"

9. The Old Testament saints often saw the face of God in the face of the Angel of the

Lord. Most Bible scholars agree that this being was Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate

state, and he was the one that made God visible to his people time and time again.

People actually saw the face of God just as Adam and Eve did when God walked

with them in the Garden. "God the Father called Him "the Angel in whom My

name is" (Yahweh). This same 'Angel of the Lord' appeared to Abraham, Jacob,

Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Daniel and several other important Old Testament leaders.

Jesus appeared at several integral times as the Angel of the Lord in the Old

Testament. Known by scholars as a 'theophany' or 'pre-incarnate manifestation',

Jesus IS Alpha & Omega (Begining and End), He who pre-existed and created

everything- everything that exists."

10. Angel of the Lord scripture study and insight. The Angel of the Lord is also

called the “Angel of His Face” and “the Angel of His Presence”. This Angel bears

the countenance of God’s presence. This Angel bears the Name of God Himself.

A. Genesis 16:9-14, "The Angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress,

and submit yourself under her hand."10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, "I

will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for

multitude."11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her: "Behold, you are with child,

And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has

heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every

man, And every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all

his brethren."

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-

Sees; for she said, "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?" 14 Therefore the well

was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

B. Genesis Chapter 18:1-5, "Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees

of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his

eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw

them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3

and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by

Your servant. 4 "Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest

yourselves under the tree. 5 "And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may

refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your

servant." They said, "Do as you have said."

C. Genesis 22:11-18, "But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said,

"Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." 12 And He said, "Do not lay your

hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you

have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." 13 Then Abraham lifted his

eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.

So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of

his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide

(Jehovah Jireh); as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The Lord it shall be

provided."

* 15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,

**16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this

thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son 17 "blessing I will bless you,

and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as

the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of

their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because

you have obeyed My voice."

D. John 8:53-50, "Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the

prophets are dead. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If

I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you

say that He is your God. 55 "Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if

I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep

His word.

56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen

Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham

was, I AM."

E. Genesis32:24-30, "Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until

the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He

touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He

wrestled with him. 26 And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I

will not let You go unless You bless me!" 27 So He said to him, "What is your

name?" He said, "Jacob." 28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called

Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have

prevailed." 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He

said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there. 30 And

Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my

life is preserved."

F. Judges 6:11-24 "Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree

which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon

threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the

Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, "The Lord is with you, you

mighty man of valor!" 13 Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the Lord is with us,

why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our

fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now

the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." 14

Then the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall

save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" 15 So he said to

Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in

Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." 16 And the Lord said to him,

"Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man." 17 Then

he said to Him, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it

is You who talk with me. 18 "Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You

and bring out my offering and set it before You." And He said, "I will wait until you

come back." 19 So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened

bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a

pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them.

20 The Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay

them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. 21 Then the Angel of the

Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the

unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the

unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

22 Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, "Alas,

O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face." 23 Then the Lord

said to him, "Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die." 24 So Gideon built

an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace. (Jehovah Shalom) To

this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites."

G. Jud. 13:1-25, "Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and

the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 2 Now there

was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was

Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the Angel of the Lord

appeared to the woman and said to her, "Indeed now, you are barren and have

borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 "Now therefore, please

be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5

"For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his

head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to

deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." 6 So the woman came and told her

husband, saying, "A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the

countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He

was from, and He did not tell me His name.

7 "And He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no

wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to

God from the womb to the day of his death.' " 8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord,

and said, "O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again

and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born." 9 And God listened to

the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was

sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 Then the woman

ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, "Look, the Man who came to

me the other day has just now appeared to me!" 11 So Manoah arose and followed

his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, "Are You the Man who spoke to

this woman?" And He said,

"I am." 12 Manoah said, "Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy's

rule of life, and his work?" 13 So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that

I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 "She may not eat anything that comes

from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean.

All that I commanded her let her observe." 15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the

Lord, "Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You." 16 And

the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Though you detain Me, I will not eat your

food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord." (For Manoah

did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.) 17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of

the Lord, "What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor

You?"

18 And the Angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is

wonderful?" 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered

it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his

wife looked on 20 it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar

the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife

saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 When the Angel of the Lord

appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the

Angel of the Lord.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!"

23 But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have

accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have

shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this

time."

24 So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and

the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at

Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol."

H. Daniel:3:23-28 "And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell

down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then King

Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his

counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They

answered and said to the king, "True, O king." 25 "Look!" he answered, "I see four

men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of

the fourth is like the Son of God."

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and

spoke, saying, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High

God, come out, and come here." Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came

from the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the

king's counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the

fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments

affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying,

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel

and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king's

word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god

except their own God!"

11. SEEKING GOD'S FACE Based on II Chron. 7:11-22

By Pastor Glenn Pease

I heard a pastor tell of his experience on a plane. The stewardess was

explaining that the parents were to be sure and put on their oxygen mask before

they put them on their children. This seemed so selfish, and there was a natural

resistance to the idea. It went against the grain of a mother's instinct to keep her

child in danger. The stewardess explained that if the parent delays and passes out

the child will be helpless to come to their aid, but if the child passes out there is no

danger because the parents have protected themselves and will be able to come to

the rescue of the child. The point is, there are situations where the most loving thing

you can do for another is to take care of yourself first.

If you haven't prepared yourself by learning to swim, you will not be able to

rescue someone who is drowning. If you haven't developed self-esteem by learning

to love yourself, you will have a hard time loving others as you ought. There are

many illustrations of how a self-centered focus is the key to being prepared for

meeting other people's needs. The doctor, the lawyer, teacher, pastor, or any other

professional person who does not develop their own knowledge and skills are not

going to be very helpful to the people they serve. The selfish person is not the

person who devotes a great deal of their time and energy to their own preparation.

The selfish person is one who does not bother to develop themselves and work

toward self-excellence because they don't care about other people enough to be

prepared to meet their needs.

It is people who care about others who strive for excellence that they might be

an instrument to be used for others. Jesus spent 30 years in preparation before He

began His public ministry of serving and teaching. God's requirements for us to be

prepared for revival are really quite self-centered. The first and last are clearly

focused on the self. Humble yourselves and turn from your sin. We would much

prefer to humble somebody else and crusade against their sin, but God demands

that we deal with ourselves first. Even when we pray, which seems God-centered,

we saw in our last message that a major part of prayer is to struggle with the self to

be prepared to receive what God wants to give. Even answered prayer, when you

are not ready, can be a problem. Like the 5 year old boy who let out with a whistle

while the pastor was praying. His mother was so embarrassed, but the little guy

explained later that he had been praying that God would help him to learn to

whistle, and that's when God answered his prayer.

F. W. Robertson, the great English preacher, told of the time he was taken with

9 other boys to be disciplined by the master of the school. He prayed to escape the

shame of it all, and to his surprise the master excused him, and he was not flogged

with the others. He says it was the most harmful answer to prayer he ever had, for

it lead him to think of prayer as a magic charm. He fancied that he had a secret

weapon he could whip out to get him through any jam. It made him proud and not

humble. It did not change his behavior, for why sin less when by prayer you can

escape the consequences?

This illustrates the really self-centered use of prayer. But this does not mean

proper prayer, which is acceptable to God, is not also focused on the self. Robertson

came to see the folly of his ways, and he learned to pray for himself to be an

instrument prepared to be useful for God's purpose. Prayer is not just asking God

for what He can do for us, but it is asking God to help us be prepared to do for Him

what He wills. Paul's first prayer to Christ was, "Lord, what will you have me to

do?" Prayer has a self focus, and so that leaves only one of the 4 requirements with

what seems to be a totally God-focused perspective, and that is the one we want to

examine. The third requirement, and the third big if is, "If my people will seek my

face."

The first thing I want to observe about this is that it is also a perpetual

preparation. Psa. 105:4 says, "Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face

always." David says in Psa. 27:8-9, "Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your

face from me." The implication is that God's face is not always easy to find, for it is

often hidden. Numerous are the texts which described the frustration of God hiding

His face so that it cannot be found. Psa. 30:7 says, "O Lord, when you favored me,

you made my mountain stand firm, but when you hid your face I was dismayed."

The heart of depression is when God's face is hidden, and the heart of joy is

when God's face is shining upon you. God Himself told Moses how to bless the

people of Israel by saying this benediction over them, as recorded in Num. 6:24-26:

"The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be

gracious to you. The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace." In a very

real sense the goal of the believer's life is to see the face of God. To have His face

shine on you is another way of being saved in the Old Testament. Psa. 31:16 says,

"Let your face shine on your servant. Save me in your unfailing love." All of God's

blessings are summed up in His face shining on you. Psa. 67:1 says, "May God be

gracious to us and bless us, and make His face shine upon us." One could answer

the question, what is the purpose of life by responding: To seek the face of God.

Man began his conscious existence in the presence of God face to face. God

talked with and walked with Adam and Eve. The fall led, not only to Adam and Eve

hiding from God, it led to God hiding His face from man. The sense of God's

absence is the primary consequence of sin. If man does not find a way to get back

into the presence of God to see His face, then man is lost forever. The everlasting

absence of God's face is hell. On the other hand, if man can get back into the

presence of God, that is what salvation is, and that is what heaven is. It is the

everlasting presence of God. Jesus died on the cross that we might have the right to

enter God's presence and see Him face to face.

In the last chapter of the Bible where the blessings of eternity are described, we

read in Rev. 22:4, "They will see His face." Man has reached his highest destiny

when he is face to face with God.

For God to require us to seek His face for revival makes sense, for seeking His

face is the key to everything. It is the key to every gift and blessing of which you can

conceive. What this means is that this, one of the 4 requirements that seems so God-

focused, is in reality also a very self-focused activity, just like the rest. In fact, being

humble, praying, and turning from sin are all directly involved in seeking God's

face. Psa. 24 makes it clear that self-preparation is vital to the success of seeking

God's face. Verses 2 thru 6 say, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may

stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who does not lift

up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the

Lord and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek

him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob." Seeking the face of God covers just

about everything you can imagine doing to prepare yourself for coming into God's

presence.

If I read a book with no thought of how the content of the book relates to God's

plan and purpose in life, then I read it for myself alone. If, however, I am conscious

of the presence of God, and in the awareness of His presence seek to wrestle with the

ideas of the book, and strive to get the mind of God, and know His application of

them, then I am seeking the face of God as I read. God consciousness and God

awareness is what we are talking about here. We can go for hours and never even

think of God and the relevance of His presence in our lives. That does not mean we

are being bad or out of His will. It just means that we are not seeking His face, and

by not seeking His face we are not being open to revival, nor any of the other

blessings He may be desiring to give us.

Seeking God's face is another way of saying that we are practicing the presence

of God. This is not limited to prayer and times of meditation. We are to seek God's

face in the marketplace, on the job, and in our going in and coming out, and in all of

our social activities. We are to do everything we do in the consciousness of God's

presence. This is hard, and it is terribly hard, and that is why it is another big if.

This explains why revival is so rare. None of the 4 requirements is easy. Just to

fulfill these 4 things takes a life of commitment far greater than most Christians

ever reach.

I remember Frank Laubach, who tried to be conscious of God at least once

every minute. That was really seeking the face of God. He worked at it hard, but

he still failed. I don't know of anyone else who has even tried. Fortunately, God

gives us a break here, and He does not demand that any of these 4 requirements be

absolute. He does not demand that we be as humble as can be; that we pray as

persistently as possible; turn from sin so absolutely as to be perfect, or that we seek

His face every minute or second before He will bless us. He just demands that we be

a people who are working on our consciousness of His presence.

This is the key to being available to God to accomplish His will. When we go

through life conscious only of ourselves and our own will we will miss opportunities

to do the will of God. They will stare us in the face and we will not see them, for we

are not seeking the face of God. If we were seeking His face, we would see that

which God wants us to see. All of these requirements are tied together, for the only

way to get to the place where we will seek God's face is to first of all humble

ourselves, pray that God will help us to keep self off the throne, and Christ on the

throne.

Luis Palou, the Billy Graham of Latin America, had to be humbled by God

before he could be used. But he also had to become aware of the presence of God

before he could be used. He tells of his own burning bush experience when Major

Ian Thomas was preaching on Moses at the burning bush. He said, "Any old bush

will do, as long as God is in the bush." That is what Moses needed to learn. He

made excuses to God for why he could not go back to Pharaoh. Moses needed to

learn that the power of God to get His will done is not in the beauty of the bush, or

the eloquence of the bush, but in God's presence in the bush. God said to Moses, "I

will be with you." It is God's presence that is the key. When Palou realized this, he

too was available, and God used him mightily.

It was not his gifts that God needed, but his awareness of God's presence. When he

sought the face of God the blessings of God were poured out through him.

The presence of God is the sunlight that brings forth the flowers and

fruitfulness in our lives. The fruits of the Spirit are just that. They are the fruits of

the Spirit, and not just the fruits of your labor and effort. You don't produce the

fruit. The Spirit does, and He does it when you allow His presence to dominate your

consciousness. The Prodigal was a great and foolish sinner, but what he had going

for him was his awareness of his father's presence. He longed to be back home

restored to that presence. The elder brother was already there, but he did not

treasure that presence. He missed what he already had, but the Prodigal gained

what he had lost. It all revolved around the value they placed on the father's

presence.

The shepherd goes after his sheep, but there is another side we seldom see. The

sheep are expected to seek the shepherd. The father didn't go after the Prodigal.

That son had to come home to his father on his own. God asks His people to seek

His face, and to pursue His presence. It is our responsibility and obligation. God

says that He is not always going to come after you. You have to come home on your

own and seek His face. Even when we do, however, we sometimes feel He is hidden,

and we cannot find Him. We cry out with Job, "Oh that I might know where I

might find Him!" Sometimes it is the sheep looking for the shepherd, and it is the

shepherd that seems to be lost. We are often like the fish and the birds in this poem,

and we are looking for and longing for that which is ever present.

Oh where is the sea, the fishes cried,

As they swam the crystal clearness through.

We have heard of old of the ocean's tide,

And we long to look on the water's blue.

The wise ones speak of the infinite sea,

Oh who can tell us if such there be?

The lark flew up on the morning bright,

And sang and balanced on sunny wings,

And this was its song: I see the light,

I look on the world of beautiful things,

But flying and searching everywhere

In vain have I sought to find the air.

Can it be that fish feel the absence of water, and birds feel the absence of air?

Why not? Man feels the absence of God even though it is in Him that we live and

move and have our being. Jesus said, "Low I am with you always." And, "I will

never leave you or forsake you." But the fact is, we can go through life and often be

more aware of His absence than of His presence. Sometimes we see through a glass

darkly, and sometimes we do not see at all. We are like the young man in the Old

Testament who could not see the vast host of God all around him. All he could see

was the enemy. So we are often more problem conscious and enemy conscious than

we are conscious of the presence of God. An unknown poet wrote,

I gaze aloof at the vaulted roof

Where time and space are warp and woof,

Which the King of kings, like a curtain, flings

O'er the dreadfulness of eternal things;

I should lightly hold this tissued fold

But if I could see, as indeed they be

The glories that encircle me

This marvelous curtain of blue and gold,

For soon the whole, like a parched scroll

Shall before my amazed eyes unroll,

And without a screen, at one burst be seen

The Presence in which I have always been.

We do not have to wear our shoes out looking for a holy place, for where you

are, you can take your shoes off, for the place you stand on is holy ground, and from

there you can see the face of God. "Earth is crammed with heaven, and every

common bush aflame with God." Jacob experienced the presence of God in the

wilderness, and Jacob's ladder, with angels ascending and descending, is a symbol of

the constant contact of heaven with earth. Where you seek God He can be found,

for He is ever present. The problem is not His absence, but our lack of

consciousness of His presence.

Back in 1952 a jeweler on 49th street in New York lost a one and a half caret

diamond, which he was mounting. It was very expensive and he had to pay the

company 60 dollars a week because he was responsible for losing it. About half a

year later a telephone repairman found the diamond instead the telephone on his

desk. Somehow it had shot from the vice on his bench into the tiny hole where the

cable went into the phone. There it lay for months right in his presence, but hidden.

Deity is ever close like that diamond, yet he is often hidden, and we sense his absence

more than his presence. We are like the little boy who prayed one Sunday after

going to church with his parents: "Dear Lord, we had a good time in church. I

wish you could have been there."

Adults are a little more sophisticated in their ignorance. They know God is

everywhere, but they still think they have to go somewhere to seek His face. They

have to go to the Holy Land and walk where Jesus walked. They have to go to a

crusade or a rally of some kind. They are constantly hoping for some high to bring

them into the presence of God. They ignore the good news of the New Testament

that God has come to dwell, not just with man, but within them so that we are the

dwelling place of God. We are the dwelling of deity, the guest house of God, the

sanctuary of the Spirit, the tabernacle of the Trinity, and the house of Him whom

the world cannot hold. You don't have to go anywhere to seek the face of God. You

need only to work at making Him subjectively present by seeking His face within.

The whole idea of revival is to get restored to an awareness of God's presence.

When Israel lost the sense of God's presence they began to worship other gods.

Whenever a Christian loses the sense of God's presence he will begin to backslide,

and other values besides the will of God will begin to dominate his life. The constant

call to get into the Word of God is to help prevent the loss of the sense of God's

presence. We are urged to pray without ceasing so that we do not lose that sense.

The life of faith is a constant struggle to keep aware of the presence of God.

Spurgeon said, "This we should pray for continually-the presence of God in the

midst of His people." This is seeking God's face. This is prayer that wants more

than something God can give-it wants God Himself. It is a longing for the peace and

power of His presence. The solution to every human problem begins with the

awareness of God's presence.

It is seeking God's face that enables us to fulfill the last requirement of turning

from our sin. The presence of God is the only power that can make sin unappealing.

We can feel free to speed, and even enjoy it, but when we see the presence of a patrol

car the pleasure fades and the desire to speed vanishes. We long for nothing better

than that the car will quickly return to the speed limit. Such is the power of

presence. The students can be throwing erasers and paper planes, and doing all

sorts of things not proper, but when the teacher enters the room her presence stifles

all of these rule-breaking urges. Young people have many temptations to indulge

their appetites, but the presence of chaperons helps them keep their drives under

control. Alone they fall, but in the presence of others they are able to stand. Adults

need it as well. Man a mate would not have taken the steps that led to their sin had

they kept their partner present with them. The presence of a mate or a friend will

protect you from many a temptation.

If all of these lesser presences can have such a power to protect us from sin and

folly, how much more can the presence of God do so? We can't always guarantee

the presence of others, but God is ever present, and so if we seek His face we have a

built in safety belt that will keep us from being thrown out of the will of God when

we are confronted with a head on temptation to do so. In Lloyd Douglas's novel The

Robe Justus is explaining to Marcellus that Jesus is alive and ever with us. He says,

"It keeps you honest...you have no temptation to cheat anyone, or lie to anyone, or

hurt anyone-when Jesus is standing beside you." Marcellus is not a Christian and

he says, "I'm afraid I should feel very uncomfortable being perpetually watched by

some invisible presence." Justus replies, "Not if that Presence helped you to defend

yourself against yourself, Marcellus. It is a great satisfaction to have someone

standing by to keep you at your best."

That is what seeking God's face is all about. It is so living in the presence of God

that you can be your best. Practicing the presence of God is the key to excellence in

all that we do. Practicing the absence of God is the cause of all our mediocrity and

failure in the Christian life. It is the wise who keep God before their eyes, for this

consciousness of God's presence will help win more battles than all the sermons you

will ever hear, and all the books you will ever read. So many of the negative things

we do are hard to practice when you are conscious of God's presence. In the light of

His face you feel a reverence and a fear that keeps you at your best.

D. L. Moody said that everything is changed in the presence of God, and that is

why it is the key to revival. His prayer was, "May He empty us of self and fill us

with His presence." To be in love is to long to be in the presence of the one you love.

To be revived is to long for the presence of God. The reason we know we are not in

a revival is that we can be perfectly comfortable in the absence of God. We do not

miss Him when we lose a consciousness of His presence. Many years ago Walter

Rauschenbusch wrote,

In the castle of my soul

Is a little postern gate,

Whereat, when I enter,

I am in the presence of God.

In a moment, in the turning of a thought

This is a fact.

When I enter into God

All life has meaning,

Without asking I know,

My desires are even now fulfilled.

My fear is gone

In the great quiet of God.

My troubles are but pebbles on the road,

My joys are like the everlasting hills.

So it is when my soul steps through the postern gate

Into the presence of God.

Big things become small, and small things become great.

This is what revival is all about, and this is what the victorious life is all about.

May God help us to be more than just impressed with this truth. May His Spirit

never let us rest until we include in our lives the conscious practice of seeking God's

face.