The Vision of Visions
J. A. Macdonald. Psalm 17:15 As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness. The mind of man is invisible, yet its workings are often evident in the changes of the countenance. Thus the playful smile indicates pleasure; the clouded brow, wrath. In like manner, though the mind of God is invisible, yet are His attributes variously manifested. I. THE FACE OF GOD IS ANY EXPRESSION OF HIS CHARACTER. 1. The Shekinah, therefore, is styled His face. (1) Thus Moses is said to have entreated the face of Jehovah when he interceded for Israel amid the storm and flame in which God descended upon Sinai (Exodus 32:11, marg; see also Exodus 33:11). (2) So Aaron, after gazing upon those awful involutions of the glory between the cherubim, came forth and blessed the people, invoking for them the spiritual reality of what he had seen in symbol (Numbers 6:24-26). (3) The invocations, "Lift up Thy countenance," "Cause Thy face to shine," and such like, of frequent occurrence, allude to the cloud of glory. 2. Christ is preeminently the face of Jehovah. (1) Within the cloud there was a radiant human form which is distinguished as the "Similitude of the Lord" (Numbers 12:8; Ezekiel 1:26). This adumbrated the taking up of the manhood into the Godhead in the Incarnation. (2) Christ is anticipated in prophecy as the "Glory of the Lord to be revealed," and in the fulfilment He is described as the "Face of the Lord" (Isaiah 40:1-3; Luke 1:76). (3) Christ is preeminently the face or expression of the character of God as His most perfect Revealer (John 14:9; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). II. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OUR QUALIFICATION FOR BEHOLDING THE FACE OF GOD. 1. God requires in us this qualification. No wonder, seeing the mire of worldliness clings to us, that we fail to experience as we might the spiritual manifestations of the Son of God (John 14:21; Ephesians 1:17, 18). Divine manifestations are terrible to the unrighteous. When God "looked out" from the cloud upon the Egyptians, that was the signal for their destruction. "The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment" (Psalm 1:4-6; Revelation 6:16, 17). 2. Righteousness is attainable through faith. (1) Of this we have a notable illustration in the history of the first filmily. Cain laments his excommunication from the place of the Presence — "From Thy face shall I be hid" (Genesis 3:24; Genesis 4:3-14). (2) The history of Jacob wrestling is an example no less appropriate (Genesis 32:24-30). He called the place of his triumph Peniel, or the Face of God. III. FRUITION WILL BE PERFECTED IN HEAVEN. 1. The soul cannot be satisfied on earth. 2. Satisfaction is promised in the resurrection. (J. A. Macdonald.) Parallel Verses KJV: As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. WEB: As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form. For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said,