As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. Psalm 17:15 (ESV)
To behold His face! To see Him face to face, look into his eyes as he looks into mine! This is, to me, the most wonderful promise of all. To see God. There are so many verses in the Old and New Testaments that look forward to seeing his face. Here are some of them.
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! Job 19:25-27
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar. Isaiah 33:17
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Revelation 22:4
We will behold his face in His righteousness, because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We will know deep soul-satisfaction as we gaze into his eyes, the end of the journey, finally home. Some of us are nearer to that day than others. For some, it looms ever closer. But we can know as firmly as Job, as confidently as Paul, that if we are in Christ Jesus, being absent from the body means being gloriously present with the Lord.
In any event, as Douglas Taylor wrote, "we are all terminal cases." Douglas was Assistant Editor at the Banner of Truth Trust in Edinburgh for fourteen years. In the spring of 2011, he was given the diagnosis of inoperable liver cancer. From June 2011 until May 2014 he kept a wonderful blog, Works Worth Declaring, which was later published in book form, I Shall Not Die, But Live. I would like to close this blog with one of his posts.
Looking Forward to the Morning (Posted 14th September 2012 by Douglas Taylor)
'Until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts' (2 Peter 1:19).
One of the features of my illness (liver cancer) is that I generally feel much better in the morning. That is the only time that I really feel like eating, and generally feel quite well. For the rest of the day, it is all downhill, with perhaps a slight lift in the evening. At night, I often find myself looking forward to the morning. I say to myself, on the basis of more than a year's experience, 'I shall feel better in the morning.'
I cannot say that I am like those in Psalm 130 who watch for the morning, because in the Lord's good providence I generally sleep pretty well. But it occurred to me that this looking forward to the morning has a spiritual counterpart. I can say, not on the basis of experience, but on the basis of the Word of God, that I shall be better in the morning.
This life is like a long night; but 'the night is far spent, the day is at hand' (Romans 13:12). The life to come is as much better than this life as the day is better than the night. We shall be better in the morning. We shall awake with our Saviour's likeness. We shall see him as he is. We shall see everything as it really is. This life will seem like a bad dream when one awakes in the light of glory. 'As a dream when one awaketh', so shall we despise the image of the things that seemed so dominant and overwhelming during this troublous life.
Brethren, we are all terminal cases. It is only a matter of time. Let us stick as close as we possibly can to the One who has gone this way before us, until the day break, and the shadows flee away (Song of Solomon 4:6).
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
Henry Francis Lyte
... when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
Photo by Sheila Bair
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