The Face of Jesus Christ

II Corinthians 4:6: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

It was well past midnight and little Ronnie who had been asleep for hours, suddenly awoke in the midst of a bad dream. Not knowing whether or not he was alone in the dark bedroom, he whispered in a trembling voice: “Daddy are you there?” From across the bedroom came the reassuring voice: Yes Ronnie, Daddy’s here. For a minute Ronnie lay silent, still not quite sure that his bad dream had not been real. Once more his little voice came across the room in a loud whisper: “Daddy, and is your face toward me?”

What a picture of a child of God and his relation to his Heavenly Father! How we need in this world for our Heavenly Father to be with us and His face be toward us. Did you ever notice that our blessed Lord in times of severe trial, seems to look steadfastly into the face of His Father? Never doubting that His Father’s face was turned toward Him.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, He looked into His Father’s face, on the cross Jesus looked into His Father’s face! Jesus believed in all those incidents that not only was His Father with Him, but that His Father’s face was toward Him. The truth is that you and I can know the same. In a sense, the chief purpose of Christ’s coming to earth was to tell us, to convince us, that His Fathers face was toward us.

This was what the Apostle Paul was trying to say to us in II Corinthians 4:6 that God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. This is why Psalms 139:12 that even the darkness shall not hide from you. Why? Because the face of Jesus is always toward you.

Maybe you are going through a really tough time, maybe even a time of depression. I once heard the great preacher Charles Spurgeon, who was called the prince of preacher, suffered from bouts of depression. But even in the depths of depression and darkness cannot hide you from your Heavenly Father. Why? Because His Face is always toward you.

Pastor Lee Cruse, this seems so simple and it is not. The reason is that you and I have a habit of taking our eyes off of Jesus and start looking at our problems and circumstances as if there is no hope. Do you think that Moses thought the same thing when Pharaoh’s army was pursuing them and then there was the Red Sea in front of them? The Bible says that God is not respecter of persons. So, maybe as you stand facing the Red Sea of your circumstances and Pharaoh’s Army is nipping at your heels, you will look into the face of Jesus and be willing to turn it over to Him as you hear Him say, “With men it is impossible but with God all things are possible” as you look into the face of the one who loves you more than anyone.