Worshipping Face To Face

I have entitled our sermon/Bible study for this evening, “Worshipping Face to Face. I once preached a sermon entitled “Worshipping Face Down,” in which I discussed how people in the Bible often fell face down in worship in response to the glorious presence of both God the Father and the Son. In that message, I stated that the key thing we should remember is that “face-to-face equals face down” – that we must see the Lord “face-to-face” before we will ever be overwhelmed to the point that we will fall face down before Him in worship. So, what does the expression “face-to-face” mean?

In Genesis 32:30 Jacob said, “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Exodus 33:11 states, “So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” In Ezekiel 20:35-36 the Lord said, “I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt.” Here, we read that the Lord spoke with these particular individuals “face-to-face.” But we have to question what this means when we recall verses like John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12 which both declare, “No one has seen God at any time.” Also, Paul says that we will not see the Lord “face-to-face” until we enter heaven, for he states in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” When the Bible tells us that people saw God “face-to-face,” does it really mean that they saw God’s actual face? This is the question we will try to answer.

God “Appears” to People

Before we look at some more verses that mention God speaking “face-to-face” with people, let’s examine some passages that refer to God appearing before people and see if this will help add to our understanding of what “face-to-face” might mean. First of all, in Genesis 12:7, 17:1, 26:2, and 26:23-24, we read that “the Lord appeared to Abram.” When the Lord appeared, he gave a personal message to Abraham. So, when God “appeared” to a person in the Scripture, did that individual see the Lord’s face? Let’s look at three passages that will help us understand what a person actually saw in such a situation.

Genesis 18:1-3 – Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.” We read that “the Lord appeared to him,” and this is in reference to Abraham. In what form did the Lord appear to Abraham? In the form of “three men” (v. 2).

Exodus 3:1-2 – Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. If we look on down in verse 4 we read, “So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush.” We are all so familiar with the account of Moses and the burning bush that we might just assume that no form was seen at all. Perhaps it was just a voice. In what form does verse 2 tell us that God appeared to Moses? It says that He appeared by the “angel of the Lord.”

Judges 13:18-22 – And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?” So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on – it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar – the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” Here we read some of the account surrounding the birth of Samson. In verse 22, Samson’s father said, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” It appears that Manoah believed he had seen God “face-to-face,” but in what form did the Lord appear? By “the angel of the Lord” (vv. 18, 20, 21).