There is something about the shape of God’s face, the enchanting presence of God, and the beauty of His dwelling place. All these placed God above the ordinary. The face of God is awesome. The Bible describes him as the Ancient of Days. “He who was, who is, and who will always be.” Granted, God is ancient, yet he is ageless. God is ancient, yet he is modern. It is so amazing to imagine a face that is so cherubic, beautiful, brilliant, charming, smiling, and ever welcoming. His face does not grow old, wrinkled, rumpled, or get famished.
What is it about the shape of God’s face?
The Shape of God’s Face is forever lovely to behold. The luminous writer St. Augustine says about God: “0 Beauty, so ancient… How lately have I loved you”? Again, about the angels of little children, the Bible says they behold the face of God in heaven.
His presence is awe-inspiring. It is electric. It can be sensed. It can be felt. It can be touched. The scripture describes an incident in the life of the Patriarch Jacob. It centers on his run for his life from his brother Esau. That night, he had a dream in which the Lord spoke to him.
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the home of God. This is the gate of heaven”. From this passage, we notice that Jacob actually encountered the shape of God’s face, and he could also feel the endearing presence of God even in the desolate waste.
There is no denying the measure of courage, strength, and the sense of purpose that accrued from this encounter. In His presence, grace and anointing are multiplied and made available.
Prophet Isaiah Encountered The Shape Of Good’s Face
That place was called Bethel, the house of God, and the dwelling place of God. This place is overwhelming. It is holy. It is where the Most High dwells, and it cannot be shaken. The prophet Isaiah pictures it thus: I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six Wings: And they were calling to one another. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty…
At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresh holds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. In this place, God sits enthroned. In this place, Prayers are answered. In this place, many possibilities are made Possible for all who have faith. Therefore, however desires may come.
The blog post of Revelation tells us that the twenty-four elders, the four living Creatures, the angels, and the saints have taken their humble but proud place in the presence of God; they no longer imagine what the shape of God’s face could be, They now dwell in His holy place with him.
Before him, they sing, praise, and worship. The psalmist captures the glamour of this experience: “In his presence there is fullness of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures forever more (Ps 16:11).
The Joy Of Being In His Presence
Yes, in his presence, nothing goes unnoticed. In his presence, the testaments of possibilities are enacted and re-enacted – Jericho walls crumble, the Red Sea reveals a bed of solid ground, victory goes to David, Sarah and Hannah shed tears of joy, prison doors are thrown open, and weakness is transformed into strength.
Little wonder that countless numbers of men and women in every generation have deemed it right to come into the presence of God to stand and lift their hands either to praise him or to make intercessions. The testimonies of these men and women are recorded moments of possibilities to challenge us and to boost our faith.
Today, in this age, people still find solace in his presence. Truth be told, testimonies have never ceased to flow. Come to him because God is a father in his house. One thing you must know is that those Enduring moments of pain, confusion, impossibilities, and difficulties will be free whenever God steps in.
Always Remember that God:
- lives beyond the veil.
- Acts beyond the sensational
- Goes beyond the limit.
- Trespasses barriers.
- Measures beyond the tape.
- Connects the parallels.
OUR CLOUD OF WITNESSES
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” (Heb. 12:1-2).
This is the chronicle of men and women who have taken their place in history. At different times and in different locations, each of these people came into the presence of God. Some just stood up, some knelt, some were able to fall prostrate, and some just wept. But all appeared in his presence. They lifted their hands to his holy place, and impossibilities became possible.
They had faith that God was going to do something about their Situation, and he did. They were confident enough that He was going to see them through some difficult moments, and he did. So faith brought them to the “unmoved mover,” The uncatchable changer. He moved and changed their destinies.
What is faith?
In my definition of faith, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients commended. By faith, let us join their league, experience what they experienced, and lay claim to all the benefits they got. These ancient mirrors the heart of God and his willingness to be a father to all.
Abraham Encounters The Shape Of God’s Face
Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be horn to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (Gen. 17:15-17)
Abraham is indeed our faithful father, he stands in history as our father in faith, a friend of God, and the father of the nations. From the time Abraham heard the voice of God calling him to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household to an unknown land, he became a wandering Aramaean. But then, he never wandered away from the presence of God. He was seventy-five years old. God made great promises to Abraham:
- To make him unto a great nation
- Bless him
- To make his name great
- Give him and his offspring forever the land of Canaan
- To make his offspring as many as the dust of the
In all these, Abraham built an altar to the Lord called on the name of the Lord’ (Gen. 12:8; 13:18). An Altar represented the presence of God. Here, worshipped and lifted his hands. Here was the place of encounter. These promises took their time coming, more especially the promise of an offspring. But Abraham never wavered in faith. After all, God had decreed that Sarah would bear him a son.
The greater blessing was still to come, for tomorrow is known only to God alone. He has it in his storeroom. God, to prove to Abraham that impossibility is nothing, the Bible writes:
“He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them’ so shall your offspring” (Gen. 15:5).
Exactly twenty-five years later, our eyes and ears were opened to this moment of an impossibility made possible. Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age; at the very time, God.
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him in (6en.21: 1-3, 5).
Sarah, on her part, could not contain her joy. This is what she said:
God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age (21:6-7).
Summary
Yes! This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Come into his presence, lift up your hands in His holy place, and the God of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac will make things possible in your life; those who laughed at you will laugh with you because you will never encounter the shape of God’s face and still remain the same. Whenever you lift your hands, you are destined to laugh. As you already know that Isaac means “cause of joy and laughter. He was the cause of joy and laughter in his household. You, too, can laugh just like this couple.
