e169 The Face of Christ (the knowledge of God’s glory… Mary saw it first) 

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 3 Episode 169  The Face of Christ (the knowledge of God’s glory… Mary saw it first)   

Here’s the gist, human. Mary was the first person to see the face of Jesus on earth. This tells the whole story, doesn’t it? That a God who breathed life into a man in the garden, then raised a nation through the patriarchs, the twelve tribes, the prophets, the kings, and ushered them through cloud and fire to the Promised Land… that God drew closer and closer.

Then, through the lineage of David, God came face to face with us. To say: “I am real, I am everything I say I am.” Join us to celebrate the face that came to shine among us, upon us, to save us. The birth of our Savior on that day.

E169. Thanks for listening.

Recently I listened to my four-year-old granddaughter sing Away in the Manger in her pajamas on her bed in our home. It was a sleepover. Her younger sister was asleep in the other room. We were reflecting on what had been a very big day for her. This was the song of songs reaching through her voice into my childhood. Then again on Sunday, in her plaid Christmas dress, bow intact, with other children in a packed church. I get lost in her countenance. Such a clear-skinned palette for the grace of God. A divine gift for this season, the kind of moment that you can’t share with others. So precious yet private, isolated. Internal tears that only God can spark. Her countenance echoed the words of Jesus “Let the little children come unto me.”

That I was that child, that she is now that child. That’s the gift.

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

2 Corinthians 4:6

 

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Countenance Matters

Countenance matters.

I could spend several episodes on God’s countenance and all the embedded meanings of God’s face. The warnings, the blessings, all the references to the face of God that run through the Old Testament.

The impossibility of seeing God’s face. That it leads to death. Until Christ walked the earth, of course.

Exodus 33:20: “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live”.

The requested blessings. For instance,

Numbers 6:24-26

 

24 “‘“The Lord bless you

    and keep you;

25 the Lord make his face shine on you

    and be gracious to you;

26 the Lord turn his face toward you

    and give you peace.”’

And how about David’s plea for God’s face to shine on him and his people.

Psalm 4:6: “Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”.

This is to ask God to manifest his power, his grace, his goodness, his revelation in our lives.

And his favor.

2 Corinthians 3:18

 

18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

 

Christ crossed the mortality boundary, the divine threshold when he came to live with us. I often ask this question, again and again:  What was God putting in place during the first twelve years of Jesus’ life? While he was growing, developing spiritually, and beginning to come into his purpose? Did Mary and Joseph see glimpses of God’s glory in that young face, the face that asked for food, asked to play, asked about life, asked to play with his friends, asked for a bedtime story, any number of things that come through his facial expressions? How was God bringing counsel to his parents, to others around Jesus as he grew? Was his face illuminated by his Heavenly Father’s light?

I am never going to know this. But such a worthy reflection. Thank you, Lord.

From the Manger to Manifest Glory

The apostle John shared the power of the divine baby in the manger. What it meant from the very beginning.

John 1:14: “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”

In the final chapter of Revelation, John describes Jesus upon his final return to claim God’s kingdom for eternity.

Revelation 1:12-16

 

12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

What does being redeemed by Christ’s blood really mean? That we will see his face. A brilliant countenance. And what will be on our foreheads?

Revelation 22:3-4

 

3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

What Does Our Countenance Show Others?

What does our countenance show others? Does our face reflect the glory of our Shepherd? Do we reflect the light of him living within us? This is not a cliché. This is based on scriptural truth.

We could start with King David, and Psalm 27:8 when he shares his heart:

Psalm 27:8: “My heart says, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek”.

We could say this in our morning prayer. Wouldn’t our face then reflect his glory? A deep, radiating light as we spiritually grow? Paul tells us what this process looks like.

2 Corinthians 3:18

 

18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

What comes with our growth into his image? An ever-increasing glory that comes from the baby who started his earthly life in a manger.

It is important, it matters that we seek the Lord through the face of others, to see what we see, and how we can lift up the countenance of someone God has put on our path.

During Christmas we are in that moment when we hold our breath just a little, when the baby is born. The gravity, the pregnant joy that we accept, we embrace in that first look.

There she was. Mary, a teenager who had just experienced childbirth. Her first child, her husband Joseph at her shoulder. Looking at the face of God’s Son. When the word became flesh.

This is for us right now. To celebrate a glorious truth: many people saw the face of Jesus during his 33 years. So we could believe. I celebrate this. It is what grabs hold of my soul and says, of all the things in this life we can get wrong, I got this right. I can see the countenance of Christ in my life. And I seek his face.

A Moment With Mary

In 2020 Phil Wickham released a Christmas album – The Acoustic Sessions, with a song titled Face of God. You can listen or download at the links in my show notes.

Apple: http://smarturl.it/PWChristmasAcousti…

Spotify: http://smarturl.it/PWChristmasAcousti…

Connect With Phil Wickham:

Website: http://smarturl.it/PW-Website

I want to leave us envisioning that moment with Mary. A moment that prepares us to celebrate God’s glory through the earthly birth of his Son from Mary’s womb. She labored to bring him to us. And God gave us, through Mary, that first look, that opened the heavens and God’s arms to us, human.

Face of God, Phil Wickham

Lyrics:

Underneath the starry sky

A mother holds a child tonight

All is calm and all is bright

She sings to Him a lullaby

Gloria

I hear the angels singing

Gloria

All of the heavens ringing

Gloria

The Savior of the world is in her arms

She’s staring at the face of God

The face of God

She looks upon the great I Am

The gift of Heaven in her hands

Born to save the sons of earth

He was born to give them second birth

Oh gloria

I hear the angels singing

Gloria

All of the heavens ringing

Gloria

The Savior of the world is in her arms

She’s staring at the face of God

The face of God

Staring at the face of God

Staring at the face of God