God's Face to Shine Upon Us

Thinking on the subject of seeing the King in His Beauty, our mind recalls the Aaronic blessing that God commanded upon HIs people: "the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you."

This is a promise that God will bless His people by being kindly disposed toward them, as evidenced by His countenance, exhibiting a warmth toward us, and giving to us good things in His grace towards us.

There is a three-fold fulfillment of this blessing. First, God blessed His people Israel with temporal blessings, until they rebelled against Him and turned away from Him.

The Psalmist calls upon God in Psalm 80 to "turn us again unto thee, O God," and rescue poor Israel, which is under God's hand of judgment. In the midst of his plea, he acknowledges that it will be the strong arm of Messiah, "the man of thy right hand," Who will be the key to ensuring that God's people do not turn away from Him anymore. Then will come salvation, when God's face shines upon them again.

In Isaiah, promises are made that Messiah will come as a great light unto His people, to overcome the gross darkness.

This second fulfillment of the blessing of God's face shining upon us comes in the glorious light of Christ's Gospel! It is a shining that penetrates the darkness of poor sinners' hearts and makes them alive unto salvation!

Paul makes this more explicit, when he describes the gospel glory that the saints see in the face of Jesus - not a physical brightness, but His glory as our Redeemer, the Lamb's glory displayed in the Gospel to us!

In Jesus' sacrificial work we see that face that displays God's brightness to us. In Jesus, God causes His face to shine upon us!