“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NIV).

From the very first verses of the creation account, we’re overwhelmed by how close our Maker desires to be to us. He speaks to, forms, breathes into, blesses and walks with us (Genesis 1:28–3:8). He likes us enough to offer His face — a deeply intimate way of relating to us. Unsurprisingly, when fellowship with Him was broken, Adam and Eve had to hide their faces. They rejected His presence. From there, the Lord desires to restore a face-to-face relationship. He welcomes each of us into the glory of His presence.

The grandeur of the biblical story is emphasized by this relentless divine desire to readmit us into an intimacy with our Maker, our Deliverer, our Holy Love. Jacob wrestles all night with one whom he, the “heel grabber,” recognizes as God — the face of God (Genesis 32:30). Jacob’s grasping spirit is changed by that close encounter. Moses refuses to take one step without the promise of Yahweh’s face going with Israel (Exodus 33:15). And as the Lord re-educates Israel on His desire for intimate fellowship, He requires a tabernacle that is a statement of His heart for union with them. In the Holy Place was a table of loaves named “the Bread of His Face” (Exodus 25:30). Just within the Holy of Holies was an ark upon which a mercy seat was placed, the acknowledgment that God’s holy presence was at the center of Israel’s life. No wonder that the climax of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt finally occurs when this tent in the middle of the desert is filled with the glory of the presence of God (Exodus 40:34).

Israel knew how dangerous it was to claim a proximity to the face of God without a pure heart (Exodus 33:20), but a radical shift occurs in the Psalms. Worshippers are encouraged to seek His face (Psalm 24:6); for to dwell in His presence is better than physical life itself (Psalm 63:2–3)! Solomon’s Temple is not complete until the fiery glory of God descends in explosive self-revelation (1 Kings 8). But the tragedy of continual refusal of the actual presence of God in both the Northern and Southern kingdoms results in God removing His glory. Ezekiel watches in horror as the effulgent radiance of God’s holiness lifts off the Temple Mount and rests upon the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 10:18). Once Israel is brought from death to life and willingly submits to Yahweh’s offered heart-cleansing, then He returns in a brilliant restoration of His glorious presence (Ezekiel 43:4). The God of Israel will not settle for a partial relationship. The One who offers all of Himself desires a full-faced relationship of love.

I have often wondered why we don’t have any clear descriptions of the face of Jesus. When He arrives, John must use concepts of presence borrowed from the Old Testament: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling (tabernacled) among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, parentheses mine). What they saw was the very face of God revealed in Jesus Christ: fully God and fully man.

It comes as no surprise then that the reality toward which the Cross of Christ redeemed us was the full presence of God made possible by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost — a room of believers who were transformed by the fire of saving, purifying glory (Acts 2:4). And that profound face-to-face intimacy propelled believers into “faceless” communities across the world to offer the face of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Isn’t it wonderful that we can know the full presence of God every moment? The beauty of that reality from Eden to the New Jerusalem breaks out upon us from time to time. In reminding a wayward church what God’s full intentions were for them, Paul says, “Don’t you see? You are God’s Temple! God’s Spirit lives in you! God’s Temple is holy, you see, and that is precisely what you are” (1 Corinthians 3:17 Kingdom New Testament). 

Questions

1. Do you find the idea of complete transparency with God uncomfortable? Do you struggle with sharing with Him everything in face-to-face relationship?
2. What changes when we understand that God wants to know each of us fully and to give us His full presence?

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