Face-to-Face …
Virtual funerals, church services, conferences, FaceTime, and other such means of meeting have become common for various reasons.
Connecting with friends or family who are at distance can be a wonderful way for seeing the development of children or grandchildren or catching up on friendships which have diverged due to geographical relocation.
Other realities have been foisted on us by circumstances beyond our control or liking. There is something missing in attending church services via some form of media. What has been lost?
We have been forced from participating together, to being mere observers of what is going on in some remote location which could be down the street or across the continents!
The pastor may be the same, the songs sung may be the same, the Scriptures read be the familiar ones, but we are not present - something is missing.
This was powerfully brought home to me recently when I received a note after our Sunday gathering with the comment, “It was so good to be together and talk with each other again!” Certainly we can talk over the phone but speaking, discussing, arguing, seeing the other person present is somehow powerfully different.
One of the best loved chapters in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13 – the love chapter, as we say. Often read at weddings or the topic of sermonic series. Near the close of that chapter we read, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” Most translations contain the idiom, “face-to-face”.
How are we to locate Paul’s “then” in terms of history? I need to make a confession that I believe that all of the NT books were written in the period between the ascension and the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Most if not all, NT writings have a sense of urgency about an impending situation which is very contemporary.
Does Paul have an OT context on which he is basing his concept of “face-to-face”? I would posit that he uses Exodus 33 for the background. Verses 7-11a are one of the grandest depictions of man meeting with God - allow the drama of the scene to envelope you, as you read slowly!
“Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”
What a wonderful insight of how a man, who had murdered, who spent 40 years following sheep across the arid Midian desert, who had deflected God’s calling, who would disobey God’s clear commands - yet God spoke with him - “face-to-face, as a man speaks with a friend”!
There’s hope for me!
Paul’s verse shared above is alternatively rendered, “There was a time of suspense, when everything we saw was mirrored in the prophetic word, like an enigma; but then (when I became an adult in the revelation of Christ) I gaze face-to-face that I may know me, even as I have always been known.”
Before we leave this topic, let’s see what else there is in this phrase or idiom.
This idiom, “face-to-face” occurs 17 times in the ESV Scriptures and the majority of these come from the Hebrew context. Such linguistic expressions are often mere short forms for something much grander in scale. In Hebrew this is especially significant. Its language and portrayals are often understated.
Within Middle East contexts, personal privacy is something which is still very much valued, particularly among women. Two facets of this are a person’s name and a view of their face, as we have seen in discussions here in Canada over clothing which is of Middle Eastern origins. This modesty is something which challenges our cultural values in many ways.
“Face-to-face” is a relational idiom in Hebraic writing so we need to be careful how we understand this in context. We assume that this phrase means a direct visual, where we see each other. Moses asks to see the “glory of God” and is told that His face will not be seen.
This idiom is about friendship of the most intimate form. See: Exodus 33:7-11. Later in the same chapter we read in verses 18-23 Moses asks to see the glory of God. Didn’t he already have a face-to-face relationship with God? Don’t we often assume that seeing God face-to-face would be seeing his glory? The face of God is synonymous for The glory of God.
This idiom appears within the context of Israel listening to God, but only through the mediator Moses – Deuteronomy 5:1-5. People want to be on good terms with God – to have his blessing rather than his judgment. This was true of Israel as well, but their hearts were not prepared to engage directly with Him.
Recall the early biblical story of Cain and Abel with the first example of fratricide!
“And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. … Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” …Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” Genesis 4:10-16 excerpts.
Here we see that to be cursed was to be hidden from the face of God.
Then the High Priestly Benediction in Numbers 6:22-27.
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance.face upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”” Numbers 6:22-27.
Here we see the blessing and peace of God are associated with the face of God.
What Moses enjoyed during his periodic visits, is our reality in Christ!