The Face of Jesus

I was reading some verses in 2 Corinthians 4 as I prayed for an unbelieving friend who could be nearing death. I believe that God delights to show His children (us who are "in Christ") mysteries but sometimes it is like hide and seek. I believe God wants us to find the treasures but we must engage in relationship and the adventure. So as I was reading these verses I looked across the page and a phrase leaped off the page, "glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (vs. 6). I was struck by the words the face of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit began to reveal that face is where we most clearly see someones identity. I recently had a new client that I knew her face was vaguely familiar. At first I ignored my sense of familiarity but then we began to talk about where she came from (having recently moved) and one thing led to another only to discover she had worked under the youth pastor that I got saved through. Now that I look back I can remember meeting her at an earlier time when I was back in my hometown. My point is that it was her face (thus identity) that tipped me off. Under the Old Covenant there were very few people who interacted with God directly because the Israelite nation was afraid of dying if they saw God. Under the New Covenant Hebrews boldly says "all will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest of them." (8:11) The Greek word for know (Ginosko) is not to have logical information but to experience another person. Thus the invitation under the New Covenant is one of incredible intimacy, to even see the face of Jesus (which is the glory of God). If we were to do a study on the glory, we would find that Jesus was not glorified until He ascended to the right hand of the Father. Then the Word amazingly declares in Ephesians 2:6 that we are seated at the right hand of the Father "in Christ" in heavenly places. So Paul in Corinthians is giving us a key to seeing the glory of God by looking at the face of Jesus Christ. Christos is the Greek word for "the Anointed One and His Anointing", this is important when we understand the activity of the Spirit of Christ is to bring the Anointing which is how the yokes of bondage and burdens are lifted off of people. Since we have the Anointed One in us and we have His Anointing on us, then we can expect people to be set free through our prayers and the laying on of hands. Back to the face of Christ, it was Peter who was asked by Jesus who He was and answered that He was the Messiah. Jesus immediately told it was not flesh and blood who revealed this to him but the Father who is up above. Jesus identity was central for those who ending up responding to Him. Not just what does Scripture teach about Jesus, but how much of who Scripture says He is have we experienced. Christ is the fulfillment of all 7 covenant names of God. For example do we know Him as Jehovah-Rapha, the Healer, to know Him in this way is to actually see people who we pray for experience healing. It is the intimate co-laboring with the Holy Spirit to actually see what the Bible says lay hands on the sick and see them recover. Not just hope they get a little better. I see the face of Jesus when I see a person in terrible inner bondage and then see Jesus set them free. There is definitely glory when I have seen this happen. Glory is the manifest presence of God. I know there is still more to this that I am not seeing and I trust the Holy Spirit to show me more. I do believe that the question Jesus asked Peter is relevant for us today but remember Peter had been with Jesus for 2-3 years. This was not some textbook question but a penetrating question to someone who was close to the Messiah. It was Peter who I believe saw the face of Jesus but it would also be Peter who would deny that he ever knew Jesus. I am so grateful for the powerful Grace of God that redeemed Peter and set him as a rock for the church. I believe it was because Peter was first to see the face of Jesus (who He was) that Satan demanded later to sift Peter like wheat. Satan was not wanted to remove the bad stuff from Peter but I believe destroys Peter's faith in the Messiah who he knew. I heard one person say that the greatest experience every person has is glimpsing God, then they constantly are looking to repeat that experience. The problem is they don't know it was God, so they get wrapped up in so many other things. I am so thankful for what Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 3:18 "And all of us, as with unveiled face, continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; from the Lord the Spirit." How amazing that the person, Moses, who represented the Old Covenant met with God face to face for 40 days but then veiled his face because he was afraid the Israelites would see the glory fading from his face (he thought it was because of him), this is a foreshadowing of we under the New Covenant get to experience. We can continually be looking to the Lord because under the New Covenant sin has been done away with, our old sin nature has been taken care of on the cross, condemnation has been wiped out because we have died to the Law (Romans 7), and we have ascended with Christ. God has removed every reason for us to hide our faces in shame like our ancestors Adam and Eve. We can now come to Him openly and He will transfigure us. I believe there is much more to this that Holy Spirit hasn't revealed but I look forward to receiving more.

In His Grace,
Bret

Acting as if?

As I was reading Malcolm Smith's book "The Power of the Blood Covenant", he has a chapter on walking in the Spirit. In this chapter he talks about "acting as if" what God says is true even though this doesn't feel true. God's Word makes incredible statements about us like, we are saints, the royal priesthood, we are in union with Christ, and righteous. There are many days where I don't feel these which leads me down one of two directions- feeling bad because I don't believe God or trying to make it true in my experience (so it is really true). In other words trying to earn what I already have by grace. I believe God's idea of a hypocrite is one who believes he is less than what God says because of how he acts. I don't believe it is being hypocritical to agree with God's Word even though it is not manifested in my life. It is actually true that right in the middle of our worst sin, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. The Old Covenant (Law) screams at us- if it walks like a duck it is a duck! The Law always points to what we do reveals who we are. This is not agreeing with God's Word but our judgements against ourselves and others. It is hard for us to imagine that God stays true to His nature and His Word even when we don't. I have an uncle who used to say "just fake like you know what you are doing", I used to frown at this like it wasn't being authentic. Yet God's idea of being authentic is agreeing with Him by faith, not by appearances or performance. It makes so much sense to why now Paul would exhort us to rejoice in the Lord always and give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Ephesians 5:20). Praise and thankfulness actually build faith because I agreeing with reality (according to God) rather than my own distorted perspective. Could it be true that God is as good as He says and we are truly blessed beyond our capacity to even bear it. Yet we still so often live as orphans because or our past experiences and family messages. So act as if today you are in union with Jesus Christ, totally loved and adored by the Father, and blessed beyond your ability to even handle. We are truly rich people, what joy to experience what God has so graciously given to us. This is the journey, to experience what has been stored up for us in heaven now.

In His Grace,
Bret