THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST

Morning Meditations 1/1/16

2 Corinthians 4:6 was the verse that I looked at yesterday. Let's take another look at that verse. It says, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

What is it that we see when we look into the face of Jesus Christ? First it says, "The light of the knowledge of God." But it also says "the light of the knowledge of the GLORY of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Not only was God revealed in Christ (John 14:9) but the "Glory of God" is also revealed as we behold the "face of Jesus Christ." When we behold the face of Jesus we see a marred face, one on which human spit is dripping, one that has been disfigured by the malice of men. Isaiah 52:14: "As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:" This verse pictures Him as one who was so disfigured that He was unrecognizable.

Man would never look at a person like this and say this man is glorified. This is the glory of that man. Jesus said in John 12:23: "And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified." Then in verse 32 of this same passage He said: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." So the glory of Christ is not Him sitting on a throne but Him dying on a cross. The glory of the cross is that it allows a Holy God to give free forgiveness to a guilty sinner.

What do we see as be behold the face of Jesus? Eph 1:6 "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." We see the glory of His grace wherein he makes us acceptable in the beloved One.

Roy Hession said, "To see Jesus is to apprehend Him as the supply of our present needs, and believingly to lay hold on Him as such." Then he says again, "The Lord Jesus is always seen through the eye of need." And again, "Then, where there is acknowledged need, the Holy Spirit delights to show to the heart the Lord Jesus as the supply of just that need."

Jesus meets me on the low level of acknowledged need. I recognize my utter need of Him daily. Things always happen or come to mind, in my own personal experience, that remind me that if it were not for the grace of God, I would be helplessly lost. The glory of His grace has made me accepted in the Beloved. Amen, Praise God, Hallelujah!

In Christ

Earl White