They say you can tell a lot about a person by the features of their face. There are of course the obvious things you can learn about a person like, gender, mood, and ethnicity. But there are some who say we can learn a great deal more about a person based on the features of their face. These people say the ratio of facial width to facial length is said to be an indicator of confidence. They say the horizontal distance between your eyes corelates to how tolerant you are. They say the length of your philtrum, which is the vertical grove between your nose and your upper lip, corresponds to your sense of humor. If you have a long philtrum you tend to be sarcastic. If you have a short philtrum, you tend to be sensitive. I am so thankful I serve a congregation of short philtrumed people. Sarcastic people are the worst! Am I right or am I right? (I hide my philtrum under a mustache so there is no way of knowing if I have a sarcastic sense of humor.)
I don’t know how accurate any of this is, I am just telling you what “they” say. But, in the context of our second lesson for today from Revelation 22:1-5, I think it is interesting to think about. In Revelation 22:4 we read, “They will see his face.” The “they” in Revelation 22:4 are the saints in heaven; all those who died believing in Jesus as their savior. They are our grandmas and grandpas, moms and dads, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors. From our own congregation we have added to their number this past year, most recently Kurt Koeplin and Rich Huddock joined the “they” who see His face.
There is a lot we can talk about in these five verses of Revelation 22. These verses form a fitting conclusion to the whole record of what God has done for the salvation of man. First came the fall into sin, then came the sending of the Son, at last we have the celebration of the saints. These verses tell us the celebration of the saints takes place beside a crystal “river” that flows from the throne of God reminding us that the source of salvation is not found in anything we have done but that the saints are sustained by a never-ending flow of God’s grace. These verses tell us the celebration of the saints takes place beneath a “tree” called life. We have heard of this tree before. One matching this same description was planted in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were banished form the garden before they could eat the fruit of this tree. But I don’t think Eden is the only place this tree has been planted. The Greek word for tree that is used here is the same word that describes a “tree” to which malefactors were fastened. I can’t help but ask, do you think there is a cross in heaven? I can’t think of a tree that is more appropriately called “life” than the tree upon which our savior died. These verses tell us the celebration of the saints will be around the shinning “throne of God and of the Lamb”. Both the devil (the instigator) and death (the instrument) of the curse have been defeated by the Ones who sit on the throne. Those who gather around this throne are bathed in the warm glow of God’s victory. These verses tell us this celebration of the saints lasts “for ever and ever”. Revelation is so often thought of as the book that talks about the end. However, these words remind us it is exactly the opposite of that. The book of Revelation talks about the beginning of forever.
There is so much comfort and assurance we can find in these verses about where our believing loved ones have gone and where we one day will go. Beautiful sermons about a crystal river, a tree of life, or shining throne could be preached from these five verses. But to me the greatest assurance and comfort that these verses can give are found in the words “they will see His face”.
When we speak of the face of God, it is not the ratio between length and width or the distance between His eye or the length of His philtrum that catches our attention. When we speak of the face of God, we speak of what the ancients called the כְּבֹ֣וד יְהוָ֔ה ; the glory of the LORD; a phrase that is heavy with meaning and significance and yet beyond articulation and understanding. All attempts to describe the face of God as a flashing lightening or burning torches are fantastic but fail to capture the true appearance of His face. The face of God is the essence of righteousness and perfection, holiness and purity. From the face of God flows mercy and forgiveness, grace and redemption, peace and salvation. We learn a great deal about our God from His face.
However, in order for me to explain why the words “they will see His face” are such an amazing assurance and comfort I need to briefly talk about the nature of hell. Hell is described in various ways throughout scripture. Most of the description depict a place of suffering and torment, a place where the flesh of the damned is continually burned with eternal fire and constantly eaten by unsatiated worms. I think most people assume this is what causes the weeping and gnashing of teeth we so often hear about. But I think the real agony of hell stems from the fact that hell is the place where the damned are sent when they are ordered to depart from God. Hell is the absence of God. I think that is why hell is described as the outer darkness; hell is away from God, who is light. In hell the damned are God forsaken; God has turned His face away from them. We get an idea of this torment when we hear our crucified Christ cry out in a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”[1] My God, my God, why have you turned your face away from me?
The damned do not see the face of God, but neither did the heroes of faith, at least not directly. After eating the forbidden fruit, the formerly perfect and freshly fallen Adam and Eve hid from God’s face.[2] Moses, the great lawgiver himself, was told he could not see the face of God and live. Moses was allowed to see God’s back side and the glory from God’s back side that reflected off Moses’ face was so awesome the Israelites were afraid to look at it.[3] Likewise, when Peter, James, and John saw the face of God concealed behind the transfigured flesh of Jesus, Peter started babbling about tents before all three of them fell facedown to the ground terrified.[4] There isn’t a single hero of faith that saw the face of God directly. Even when God spoke to the prophets, priests, and apostles he hid His face in the cloud that covered mount Sinai, or the smoke that filled the holy of holies, or behind the flesh of the virgin’s Son.
If the heroes of faith did not see the face of God, what chance do you think sinners like you and me have? Even if you imagine yourself better than most other people and by most other people, we of course mean the dysfunctional degenerates that make up the cast of the latest reality T.V. show, but even if you consider yourself better than most people surely you know that the number of times you have sinned against God is greater than the number of times Adam and Eve sinned against God before they were expelled from the garden of Eden. Even if you believe that you have kept most of the commandments, surely you know that you have not kept them as well as Moses who carved the commandments in stone with his own two hands. Even if you fancy yourself the most faithful of Jesus’ followers, surely you do not claim to have a closer relationship to Jesus than Peter, James, and John. What I am saying is, even if you don’t think you are that bad of a sinner (which if you really believe that we should probably talk after the service) but even if you do believe that, you know you are no more likely to see God’s face than the Heroes of faith.
The sad truth is you don’t want to see God’s face, it would be unbearable for sinners such as ourselves to see God’s face. Think of it this way, you know how when you walk into a dark room you can’t see anything, and you stumble around in the darkness stubbing your toe on every immoveable object in the room. Well, I am sure you have noticed the longer you spend in the dark, the more the pupils of your eyes dilate and adjust to the darkness. It doesn’t take long, and you are able to confidently navigate your way around the room. Sin is like that darkness. You were conceived in sin, born a sinner, and have spent every moment of your life in sin. The pupils of your soul have dilated so that you can navigate the darkness of sin. Conversely think about what happens when you have spent a night sleeping in a dark room and someone flicks on a light. It hurts. The light blinds you. You squint and cover your eyes and shout at the person to turn off the light. If that is how you react to the light from an LED imagine how it would feel to have the light of God’s face shinning on you. Eventually our eyes adjust to the light of an LED, but sadly, as long as we are in sin, our eyes will never adjust to the light of God’s face.
It doesn’t matter if you are a hero of faith or not, as sinners we cannot bear to look upon the face of God. But God wants you to see His face. He wants you to behold the essence of righteousness and perfection, holiness and purity. He wants you to bask in the mercy and forgiveness, grace and redemption, peace and salvation that radiate from His face. God wants you to see His face. So, God did what needed to be done. He turned His face away from His one and only Son and that one and only Son cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”[5] so that God could turn toward you and you could see Him not concealed behind clouds or smoke or flesh, but so that you could see His face.
Today we celebrate the fact that Rich and Kurt and all those who have died believing in Jesus as their savior see God’s face. And one day, because of Jesus, you will too. Because of Jesus you and the saints who have gone before you and the saints that will follow after you, will see His face. Amen.
[1] Psalm 22:1. Matthew 27:46
[2] Genesis 3:10
[3] Exodus 33
[4] Matthew 17:1-8
[5] Psalm 22:1. Matthew 27:46