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“search the scriptures” John 5:39
Since our Lord told us that ‘God is Spirit’, John 4. 24 NKJV, it goes without saying that God does not have a body neither does He have a face. Before the incarnation of our Lord, the three members of the Trinity were spirit beings. We have no problem understanding this when it comes to the Holy Spirit, His very name implying that. Scripture tells us that we worship the invisible God, whom ‘no man hath seen, nor can see’, 1 Tim. 6. 16, and it goes on to say, ‘No man hath seen God at any time’, John 1. 18. Any attribution of body parts with reference to God pre-incarnation must, therefore, be figurative. The only member of the Godhead that will be visible to us one day in the glory will be the Son of God Himself, as He very evidently has a glorified human body. Yet God reveals Himself to us in terms which we can understand, and one of those ways is to speak figuratively of His face. The face of God, in this figurative sense, speaks of His communion with His people.
Moses talked with God, ‘face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend’, Exod. 33. 11. This figure of speech refers to total communion with God. God’s presence was in the cloud that covered the mountain, so it was not literally true that God was present bodily, but such was the close communion between the two that it was as though a man talked intimately with his friend. The result of this intimate communion with God was seen in the shining of Moses’ face when he came down from the mountain. Jacob, after wrestling with ‘a man’ all night, realized it was with God he had wrestled. He called the name of the place Peniel, ‘for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved’, Gen. 32. 30. In both of these experiences, there was close communion with God, even though Jacob was not comfortable with it.
The great high priestly blessing was, ‘The Lord make His face shine upon you’, Num. 6. 25 NKJV. This is echoed in several prayers in the book of the Psalms, ‘God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us’, Ps. 67. 1.1 It seems evident from these prayers that the people of God looked for God’s blessing on them and expressed this in the imagery of His approval with a shining face.
The opposite idea was that God’s disapproval of the rebellious nation was seen in His face turning away from them. So, God reveals to His prophet Ezekiel His judgement which would fall on His rebellious people, ‘Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations’. This is expressed as, ‘My face will I turn also from them’, Ezek. 7. 8, 22. Then again, He says, ‘I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them’, 15. 7. To the individual who rebels against God He says, ‘For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself: And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord’, 14. 7, 8. Hezekiah’s exhortations to the nation expressing the idea of God’s renewed blessings upon a repentant people were, ‘If ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him’, 2 Chr. 30. 9. The face of God, turned away figuratively from His people, indicated His disapproval of their behaviour.
The hidden face of God speaks of His intention to correct His people when they err or stray away from Him. ‘Thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities,’ Isa. 64. 7. In the last words God spoke to Moses before he died, God foretold the wickedness His people would do after Moses’ death. They, ‘will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods’, Deut. 31. 16-18. Moses declares this in his final song. ‘Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be’, Deut. 32. 18-20. Job laments, ‘How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin. Wherefore hidest thou thy face’, Job 13. 23, 24. The Psalmist writes after deliverance, ‘thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled’, Ps. 30. 7. Again, he says, ‘Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation’, 27. 9. ‘Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die’, 88. 14, 15, and, when he pleads with God not to enter into judgement with Him, he prays, ‘Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit’, 143. 7. When God hides His face, His people know they are being corrected.
Reference made to the face of God that is set against His people indicates retribution upon them. ‘I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood’, Lev. 17. 10. When forbidding child sacrifice among the people of Israel, God’s words are strong. He condemns the man who does so in no uncertain terms. ‘I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name’, 20. 3, and He goes on to condemn anyone who turns a blind eye to that man. ‘If the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off’, vv. 4, 5. In words of judgement for those of Judah who went down into Egypt against His will, God says to Jeremiah, ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah’, Jer. 44. 11. ‘The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth’, Ps. 34. 16, which passage is quoted by Peter in his first Epistle when giving practical guidance to believers, 1 Pet. 3. 12.
Thus far with reference to the face of God we have considered it in various aspects of His dealings with His people. But His great desire was that they should have full communion and fellowship with Him, that they should want Him and desire Him above all things. Here are His tender words to Solomon. ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land’, 2 Chr. 7. 14. And we are sure that the Psalmist delighted the Lord when he said, ‘When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek’, Ps. 27. 8.
Emphasis has been made on the truth that Father, Son and Spirit were, from before the foundation of the world, spirit beings without body parts. Any sight of ‘God’ seen by His people in Old Testament times - people such as Abraham when he interceded for Lot, Manoah and his wife in Judges chapter 13, Gideon and so on -were Theophanies, Christophanies rather, the appearance of the Son of God in a visible body that was not His. The incarnation changed all that. Suddenly, in breath-taking condescension, the Son of God became flesh and dwelt among us. In that body of His, He suffered, the just for the unjust to bring us to God. And when that body rose again from the dead it was and still is a visible body, one that bears the marks of the nails in His hands. That glorified body is now in heaven, at the right hand of the Father, Acts 7. 55. And it is His body that we shall one day see when we are also in glorified bodies. And the wonderful thought is this - that we read of His redeemed people, ‘they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads’, Rev. 22. 4. The first phrase implies final and eternal communion with Him, the latter total identification with Him. What a wonderful prospect for us all. In the meantime, though we know the promise is ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’, Heb. 13. 5 NKJV, communion with God can be lost by our sin, hardheartedness, coldness, rebellion, and disbelief. May it be true of us all that the face of God should shine upon us at all times in our service for Him. Some may feel that references to these Old Testament scriptures have nothing to do with us, but let us not forget Peter’s quoting of the Old Testament to present day believers, ‘the face of the Lord is [still] against them that do evil’, 1 Pet. 3. 12! May it never be so with us!
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