The Face of God

Background to passage: Last chapter of Revelation. Christ has come back, physical resurrection of physical bodies on the physical New Heaven and Earth has come. We have laid the foundation of biblical teaching on heaven, trying to eliminate misconceptions, generalizations, and minimizing of its gravity over the past few weeks. Two aspects remaining, the most important of which we will take on today.

Revelation 22:1–5 ESV

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Opening illustration: Every year at Easter we sing He Lives. In that song the chorus goes, “He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.” As this song accurately testifies, we have a living, active, personal relationship with Christ now by faith. However, where we will spend eternity forever in the New Jerusalem with Christ, He will also live with us in an active, personal way, but by sight.

Main thought: This morning we will consider what it will be like to be with and actually see God.

1) What does it mean to see God’s face? (Psa 27:4)

Psalm 27:4 ESV

4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

1) What does it mean to see God’s face? (Psa 27:4)

Explanation: God does not have a face as such. The closest you will come to a face is that of the resurrected Lord Jesus. Resurrected, glorified eyes see what previously was not able to be seen. It also means that God will be with us in presence. It means he will live with us and us with him.

Exodus 33:18–20 ESV

18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

Job 19:25–27 ESV

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

Ezekiel 37:27 ESV

27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

2 Corinthians 6:16 (ESV)

16 ...God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Revelation 21:3 ESV

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

Illustration: Augustine addresses whether we will see God with physical eyes—or only with spiritual eyes—in our resurrection bodies: “It is possible, it is indeed most probable, that we shall then see the physical bodies of the new heaven and the new earth in such a fashion as to observe God in utter clarity and distinctness...”

Application: Our Father by faith will become our Father in presence. He has prepared a place for you, and now you will go enjoy a city of perfection whose light is the One True and Living God. You will see him as he really is, and how he has always wanted you to see him.

2) What is the importance of seeing the face of God (v. )

Psalm 16:11 ESV

11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

2) What is the importance of seeing the face of God (v. )

Explanation: Two things: The importance of seeing the face of God is the sheer and complete joy and satisfaction that it will bring - “to look into God’s eyes will be to see what we’ve always longed to see: the person who made us for his own good pleasure.” -Alcorn. It also means that God is fulfilling his will and plan to unity all things in Christ.

Psalm 36:8–9 ESV

8 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. 9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

Ephesians 1:10 ESV

10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Illustration: To go to heaven fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows. But the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.” -Jonathan Edwards

The presence of God is the essence of heaven (just like the absence of God is the essence of hell)...Going to Heaven without God would be like a bride going on her honeymoon without her groom. A Heaven without God would be like a palace without a king. If there’s no king, there’s no palace. -Alcorn

Application: The highest joy that we can experience on this earth is in the greatest and most highest treasure. Any other earthly joy is a miserable, feeble substitute for satisfaction in him. He is the treasure in the field, the pearl of great price, worth selling out for, worth forsaking all things, worth counting all things loss for the joy of knowing Christ. BUT when we step into the presence of God, see his “face,” absent of the possibility of any idolatry or distraction or lesser joy, words cannot describe the joy, bliss, euphoria, exhilaration, ecstasy that we will feel. Our minds will explode should they not be enabled to take it in.

3) What will come from seeing the face of God? (2 Cor 3:18)

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

3) What will come from seeing the face of God? (2 Cor 3:18)

Explanation: We will be changed from one level of glory to another for all eternity. This is another testimony that Heaven is not static. You will be constantly being expanded and deepened in our knowledge of God.

Argumentation:

Illustration:

Theologian Sam Storms writes, “We will constantly be more amazed with God, more in love with God, and thus ever more relishing his presence and our relationship with him. Our experience of God will never reach its consummation.

We will never finally arrive, as if upon reaching a peak we discover there is nothing beyond. Our experience of God will never become stale. It will deepen and develop, intensify and amplify, unfold and increase, broaden and balloon.”

“The vision of God has a transforming power,” writes Boudreau. “Thus the soul, because she only sees God as He is, is filled to overflowing with all knowledge; she becomes beautiful with the beauty of God, rich with His wealth, holy with His holiness, and happy with His unutterable happiness.”

Application: We’ll worship Jesus as the Almighty and bow to him in reverence, yet we’ll never sense his disapproval—because we’ll never disappoint him. He’ll never be unhappy with us. We’ll be able to relax in Heaven. The other shoe will never drop. No skeletons will fall out of our closets. Christ bore every one of our sins. He paid the ultimate price so that we would be forever free from sin—and the fear of sin. All barriers between us and him will be forever gone. -Alcorn.

Closing illustration: In The Happiness of Heaven, published in 1871, Father J. Boudreau tells of a kindhearted king who finds a blind, destitute orphan boy while hunting in a forest. The king takes the boy to his palace, adopts him as his son, and provides for his care. He sees that the boy receives the finest education. The boy is extremely grateful, and he loves the king, his new father, with all his heart. When the boy turns twenty, a surgeon performs an operation on his eyes, and for the first time he is able to see.

This boy, once a starving orphan, has for some years been a royal prince, at home in the king’s palace. But something wonderful has happened, something far greater than the magnificent food, gardens, libraries, music, and wonders of the palace. The boy is finally able to see the father he loves. Boudreau writes, “I will not attempt to describe the joys that will overwhelm the soul of this fortunate young man when he first sees that king, of whose manly beauty, goodness, power, and magnificence he has heard so much. Nor will I attempt to describe the other joys which fill his soul when he beholds his own personal beauty, and the magnificence of his princely garments whereof he had also heard so much heretofore. Much less will I attempt to picture his exquisite and unspeakable happiness when he sees himself adopted into the royal family, honored and loved by all, together with all the pleasures of life within his reach. . . . All this taken together is a beatific vision for him.”

Recap