Good morning everyone. Please turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 46 and we will continue our sermons this morning in Genesis. Genesis chapter 46: 28- 23 uh 28 to 30 rather. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of the band Smashmouth. They had a famous song called I’m a Believer. I’m not going to sing.. the chorus goes like this:”and then I saw her face now I’m a believer; and not a trace of doubt in my mind, I’m in love ooh I’m a believer. I couldn’t leave her if I tried. That’s about a man seeing a woman; and upon seeing her, he became a believer. It reminds us of Genesis 46 about a man not seeing a woman but seeing his son. And indeed, he became a believer again upon seeing the face of his son. So if you are in your Bibles, let’s go to verses 28-30. I’m going to read from ESV. It says He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
The day has finally come when Israel or Jacob.. by the way in the sermon, I may use Israel or Jacob. You know they’re one person. The day has come when Israel sees his son Joseph. And we can see both their reactions in the passage that we read verse 29, Joseph fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.
See Joseph, after many years of suffering and now seeing his father who’s still alive during that time, I mean, those were… you can understand that these were tears of joy, right. Tears of joy coming from Joseph himself. Now but I want us to to focus in this sermon on the scriptures emphasis on Jacob seeing the face of his son. You know seeing the face of Joseph has been emphasised many times in the previous chapters. In fact, if you go back to the previous chapters, when Judah was speaking to his father Jacob about going to Egypt without bringing Benjamin along.. Genesis 43: 3 to 5 I’m just going to read them. Judas said to Jacob The man solemnly warned us, they don’t know it was Joseph pa during that times. The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you (Jacob or Israel) will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’” Again, there’s an emphasis of seeing the face of Joseph. For us, to understand now in. Genesis chapter 46, there’s something.
Else here. When Jacob saw Joseph, he saw the face of the one that he’s longing for, his son, his beloved son. And then if we go to chapter 48 (two chapters after), chapter 48:11 right before Jacob passes away, when he saw his grandchildren from Joseph, it says.. Israel said to Joseph: I never expected to see your face. Again, emphasised in these chapters. I never expected to see your face and behold God has let me see your offspring. Also, what’s with seeing the face of his son Joseph? I mean it’s one thing to hear about Joseph being alive. His sons told him that Joseph was alive, remember. That’s what happened. It’s another thing to actually see his face. Again, first, Jacob could have faith in what his sons said. His sons told him Jacob is alive. Second, most importantly, he went to… Jacob went to Beersheba, remember and he consulted God and God told him go to Goshen because God said Joseph will be the one who will close your eyes. He will be the last person that you’ll see before you die.. that’s God again emphasising seeing Joseph. So by faith, Israel or Jacob went to Goshen because God told him to, primarily, secondarily his sons told him, good testimonies probably. And now, Genesis chapter 46, his faith in what was told him in a sense turned to sight. Because now, he’s seeing the face of his son. Now we have been mentioning how the story of Joseph took place because it is showing something greater that will happen in their future. That there will be a greater Joseph; we have been emphasising this in the previous sermons for many, many months already. There’s a greater Joseph that is patterned in these stories, in these narratives that we are reading in Genesis. And this greater Joseph as mentioned before, is none other than Jesus Christ. And in our time, he has already come.
God has come and assumed a human body and soul. Jesus Christ is God and man. He became man to dwell with men. And just as seeing the face of Joseph was was the climax of Jacob’s story, we can say. Most importantly the scriptures speak heavily of another end, of another ultimate end which is seeing the face of God. Psalm 11:7 which we have read a while ago, it says For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face. Jacob who was a faithful man of God, saw the face of his son, and by faith will also see the face of the Son of God. And if Jacob was able to see the face of Joseph, what more.. what will his reaction be if he sees the face of God? I mean we can see his reaction here. He said: “now let me die, I’m good. I’m content. I’m ready! Of course again, this is not a death wish like he wants to die because you know he just wants to end his life. No. He’s saying this because he’s saying: “I’m content, I’m satisfied. That was just seeing the face of another human being which was his son. Now, compare that to a greater being, and this greater being tells us: you will see my face. What will his reaction be? Same question applies to you and I who like Jacob are sinners saved by grace, saved by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What will be our reaction be when we see the face of our God?
The Bible says those who are His, those who have been declared righteous, those who are children of God, those who are pure in heart, they shall see God. They shall behold God’s face. Now don’t we need this hope today that one day we will in fact meet and see the face of our Maker? My message this morning is simply that only by God’s grace that the redeemed can see the face of God. It is only by God’s grace that Jacob went through all the years without his beloved son Joseph, and went through a lot of suffering, grieving all his life, and yet only by God’s grace that he was able to meet Joseph, not just Joseph but also his grandchildren. You can say the same thing only by God’s grace that the redeemed, those who are in Jesus Christ can see the face of God. Dahil lamang sa grasya ng Panginoon na ang Kaniyang mga iniligtas ay makikita ang Kaniyang mukha. Now, no one can see God. And it is only God who redeems and graciously grants us people to see Him. But what do we mean by seeing God?
That’s what we are going to talk about this morning. I have two points for you. First, See Him Now and the next point, last point is See Him In Glory.
Let us consider the first point, See Him Now. So again, Jacob or Israel who was lied to by his sons, who said when his sons lied to him, when he was looking for Joseph and when the sons went back to Jacob without Joseph, Genesis chapter 37:34, you don’t need to go there, I’m going to read the verse. Genesis 37:34 says what was the reaction of Jacob upon learning the quote and quote “death of Joseph.” He said… it says here, Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days, who again, in that same chapter in chapter 37 now verse 35 the next verse he, Jacob said I shall go down to Sheol. Ganito siya ka..ganito siya nagg-grieve, si Jacob. He’s saying I shall go to the realm of the dead, I shall go to.. “I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning.” Again, Sheol is where the dead lies, where the dead is, where the dead spirits are. And he said that he will go down there thinking that his son Joseph was also there ‘cause he believed that Joseph was dead. When he lost Joseph, Jacob obviously lived a life of grief. And adding to it, the fact that his sons lied to him for many years. He was living with his sons who basically deceived him for many years. Not one son came up to him and said in fact Joseph was alive. Walang umamin. So he lived a life of grief. It was a sad 20 plus years for Jacob not knowing that his son was alive, not knowing that Joseph was persecuted by his own brothers, by Jacob’s own sons, not knowing that Joseph was thrown into the pit, not knowing that Joseph was wrongly accused and was convicted of a crime he did not commit, not knowing that he went to prison and then he was what? Exalted to a high position in Egypt, amen. And now, in Genesis chapter 46, he meets his son who all along he thought was dead, and he wasn’t meeting his son as a shepherd but in fact as a governor of the land of Egypt. It was indeed by God’s grace that he now sees the face of his son. But still, that was 20 plus years of not having the privilege of seeing him. But you know, for us, for us here today, we can say what a privilege it is to not wait for years to actually see the greater Joseph, Jesus Christ. He is the greater Joseph indeed for He was persecuted also by His brothers, the Jewish people, for He was indeed thrown into the darkest pit of suffering, for he was indeed thrown also in prison wrongly accused, convicted of a crime He did not commit, accused and sentenced to death on the cross for the crimes of others. He is the greater Joseph because He went to prison to the realm of the dead, He proclaimed His victory there and then He rose from the dead, ascended into the heavens, exalted to the highest position ever. The King of kings who rules over heaven and on Earth. That is a greater Joseph and the Bible tells us in Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God.. invisible, you can’t see God. But He brings to us His image who is Jesus Christ. For you to see God, there’s the image Christ and Christ by knowing the person and work of Christ, you will see the invisible God, you will understand the invisible God, you have Christ. That’s what we have today. God is invisible because He is Spirit, He does not have a body like us, He doesn’t have eyes like us, He doesn’t have a material eye, nose, mouth, hands, feet. He is spirit and yet He sent Jesus to be the image of the invisible Triune God. To see God is to see Christ. To see Christ is to see God. But like I said, you don’t have to wait long. You can see Christ, you can see Christ. You can behold His glory. That’s what Paul said in 2 Corinthians Chapter 3 Verse 18 and I’m going to read the passage to you. Paul said: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Paul was saying that through Jesus Christ our faces have been unveiled. Now we can with open faces, now we can behold the glory of the Lord, and now we are being transformed into the same image, into the likeness of Christ. When Paul said we are being transformed, this is something that is happening now… now. And yet he’s also saying that we are beholding the face of the glory of the Lord this is also now. How are we beholding the glory of the Lord then? How are we being transformed into the likeness of the Lord Christ? To be conformed into the into His Image? The answer is through the word of God. Think of it like this: let’s say a man of God, let’s say a man of God, a man mature man of God here in our church approached me and said pastor I’m seeing someone here in our church. I mean of course I won’t respond like I’m not going to say what do you mean seeing someone? You’re seeing all of us here. Because I know what he meant was oh he’s considering someone in the church. Oh he’s trying to get to know someone more deeper. He’s probably considering someone to be his wife in the church, wants to know someone better. This is also the same concept when the Bible talks about seeing God now. Seeing God is knowing God in a deeper way now through His word. And if you can behold your God in His word, what is the avenue that He has instituted for His word to be given to all? Where does He make the eyes your eyes? Where does He enable your eyes to see Christ as Your Lord and Saviour? Saan niya ine-enable ang iyong mga mata at paunti- unti, binabago ang iyong puso? It is through the preaching of the word of God in His church every Lord’s Day worship. You can say oh you can, you can definitely know God by your private reading yes, amen! That is right! Pero hindi pwedeng isipin mong sapat na ito because clearly, God has instituted something, an avenue where Christ will be explained to you. And when Christ is explained to you really well, it has an effect in your heart. That you, in fact, while listening to the word of God preach to you, you are beholding the face.. you are beholding the glory of the Lord. And while you are beholding the glory of the Lord as you listen, as you’re worshiping.. by the way, worship is listening. You’re worshiping now as you are listening. And as you are hearing the word of God preached to you, you are being transformed into the same image Paul said. So my challenge, first challenge for everyone here is to Come Then And Behold Your God Every Lord’s Day. For some, you may be coming to the Lord’s Day worship not really beholding His glory, not really seeing Christ despite the many times Christ has been proclaimed to you, maybe because we’re holding our sins so dearly and we can’t let go of them, whatever those sins are. Maybe your sin of pride, envy, jealousy, anger, sins of the tongue. We think that we’re happier having these sins in our lives. Let me remind you that your sins will be the reason for a life of despair now. And your sins will also be the reason for an eternity of despair. Your sins are the reason why your face is veiled my friend. The Bible calls you to repent of your sins and come to faith in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
There’s no other way! And what He does is that He’ll remove that veil for you to see Christ in the word. Of course we’re not saying that when as soon as you read the word oh, naiintindihan mo na kaagad lahat-lahat, no. This is why God has instituted the preaching of the word to you that it is Himself who explains to you His word. So that it will have its effect in your heart and in your soul. See Him brethren, see Him preach to you every Lord’s day. See Christ in the sacrament, see Christ in the Lord’s Supper. See His loving care through the love of His body. The questions are: are you beholding the face of God in Christ through His word or are you more enchanted by the world or by sin? And the lesser we worship every Lord’s Day, the lesser we see Christ. That’s the truth. And the more we gaze upon, the lesser we are here, the more we’re actually gazing upon the darkness of sin. That’s the danger here, that’s the danger here. So when a brother or sister in Christ approach you and asks you kumusta ka na? Ang tagal na kitang hindi nakikita, look at it as a labour of love coming from your brother or sister in Christ who’s worried about you. The more we gaze upon the darkness of sin and the more we are tricked into thinking that sin is better. And the opposite of that is true as well: the more we worship the Lord, the more we are seeing Christ. And the more we are seeing our need of Him because of our sin, the more that Christ becomes more.. He becomes more beautiful in our eyes. And we’re becoming more disgusted with sin. The more we hear about His goodness to us despite our continuous sin, you know when you hear the word of God preached to you, you are reminded of who you are in Him. Despite of the many days you have been probably doubting the work of Christ.. here’s my sin again, am I really saved?
And yet during the Lord’s day, you just sit down and hear affirmation and affirmation, assurance coming from the Lord through His gospel telling you, you are a child of God if you have faith in Christ. All you have to do is just… you can’t do anything to attain God’s acceptance. Oh Christ has already done that! You just rest in what Christ has done. The more we worship the Lord, the more we hear about the hope we have in Him.
This is a famous quote from JC Ryle. He said and I quote: “begin with not honouring God’s day, and you will soon not honour God’s house. Cease to honour God’s house, and you will cease to honour God’s book. Cease to honour God’s book and by this, you will give God no honour at all.” See the effect of not beholding our God every Lord’s day. There can be a danger of beholding the darkness of sin instead and thinking that it is more beautiful than the sight of Christ. Let us all be like David in Psalm chapter 27:4 who said One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. David understood while he was living under the old covenant law. He understood that it is in the temple of God where you can gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. And we understand this in the new covenant sense that when we are in the temple of the Lord, and when we say temple, we’re talking about the church. When the church is gathered, we are.. we have this great opportunity, great privilege to in fact gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Brother and sister in Christ, what excuses do we usually have to not see Christ? Are you seeing effects of not worshiping the Lord? Are you also seeing the blessings that it brings you? My prayer is that all of us would understand that as we approach the Lord in worship every Lord’s day, God in fact shows Himself to us. It’s not as if He’s hiding, no. It is our sins that hinder us. He wants to show Himself. Of course may kakulangan tayo. We are just mere human beings. Add to that, we are sinful and yet because of Christ that, yung malayong distansya, the great distance that we have has been removed. And we have been brought near to our God because of the blood of Christ. Now we can see. Now we can know, now we can understand God because of Christ as He has preached to us in His word. So brethren, come then and behold your God every Lord’s day.
You know this is, there is an already and not yet in seeing God. We can already see God as I’ve mentioned. And there is also a not yet to this.. and that is my last point, See Him In Glory. See Him in glory. Again, in verse 30, when Jacob finally saw Joseph, he said now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive. What does it mean? What, what does this mean? One of our baptist forefathers, John Gill, beautifully explains this to us. He said and I quote: “This Jacob said to express his great satisfaction at the sight of him that he could now be content to die, having all his heart could wish for.” Jacob’s words then were words of contentment. These were words of joy, these were words of fulfillment, these were words of satisfaction. It’s safe to say that this was Jacob’s ultimate happiness at the tail end of his life, in this earthly life. Remember, losing Joseph was the worst event that has happened to him. After going through years of sorrow and grief because of losing him, now, he see his son and he was the happiest man he has ever been! Again, this is the climax of Jacob’s story— seeing the face of Joseph. And may I tell you: this is also our end purpose: to see a better face and that is again of the greater Joseph that when the greater Joseph Jesus Christ returns, we will indeed behold the face of our Saviour! We will know how He looks like. That is the reason why we don’t have Idols or we don’t have books with pictures of Christ— because we believe that one day we will see Him, we will see the true Him. Because He is God man. He became flesh. Just as we are seeing our faces now, we can indeed see Christ because He is God and man when He returns. He became flesh. We will see Him with our resurrected end and glorified eyes. We will have glorified bodies. We will see Him. Yes, we will see the One who saved us. Just ponder on that. Dun pa lang, okay na tayo. Yes we will see the One who saved us, the One who prays for us now. We will see Him. Imagine, there’s someone else who’s praying to the Father for us now! And yet there will be be a time when we will see His face. The One who loves His bride, we will see His face. And brethren, again, like I said, that’s already enough, enough hope. That’s more than satisfactory and worth more than millions of stars combined in splendour… seeing the face of Christ.
But let me clarify that when the Bible says we shall see God, it’s not just talking about seeing Jesus Christ in the flesh. Remember, God is Spirit and He doesn’t have a body like us. He’s a totally different being. In fact, in 1 John 4:12 it tells us no one has ever seen God. In 1 Timothy 6:16, God who alone has immortality, who dwells in an approachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. We will in fact not see God in His essence when we are in heaven. His essence is deity. He is God, our essence is humanity. We are material beings. He is not material. He is invisible. Even if our eyes have been glorified, we will not see God because we will remain creatures.. yes, glorified but creatures, time-bound creatures. We cannot see another being with a different essence who is God. He is different. And so what did Christ mean when He said in Matthew 5:8 remember the Beatitudes? He said blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What does he mean?
Thomas Aquinas beautifully explains this to us. He said that this doesn’t mean and I quote that God will be seen with the eye of the flesh. It doesn’t mean that this will be, that God will be seen with our own eyes whether that would be resurrected or glorified. What does this mean then? Now if you have your Bibles with you I’d like for you to go to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 16 to 18. If you are.. if you remember our sermons in Ephesians, this was the section in Ephesians chapter 1 when He was praying for the Ephesian Church. I’d like to read verse 15 first he said For this reason because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, so that was the reason why Paul is going to pray for them. He says in verse 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, So stop right there. Paul was saying, Paul was praying for the Ephesian church that the Holy Spirit would give them wisdom and that God would reveal Himself to them through the Holy Spirit. And then verse 18 He said having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, Now I would like to stop there. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened… I mean we are graduates of grade school and we understood that hearts do not have eyes. Paul wasn’t referring to physical eyes. He wasn’t referring to seeing God through our material eyes. Even that.. even if that’s a redeemed or glorified eye ,rather it is the eyes of the heart… seeing God in the heart. Seeing God in the intellect. According to Thomas Aquinas, seeing God in the mind is what it means. Meaning whatever we know of God now, there is the deepest kind of seeing and knowing of Him in the future. It is an incomparable apprehension of God. This is what we call the beatific vision. You’ve probably heard of it, the beatific vision. Beatific means blissfully happy, that’s what it means. Beatific is the same as the word Beatitudes which means blessed, right. Beatitudes, blessed are those who are pure in heart, those who are, who are meek. And blessed also means happy. So just like Jacob was content, just like Jacob was satisfied, just like Jacob was happy to see Joseph, we too, when Christ returns, we will in fact see God. And while seeing Christ bodily is in fact already overwhelming, there’s more to the beatific vision. We will know God in a way that we don’t know before, in a way that our finite minds cannot comprehend now. I can’t even explain it, well, no one can.
Jonathan Edwards said and I quote: “The beatific vision is not a sight with the eyes of the body, but the eyes of the soul.” Another reformer said, Peter Vermigli he said “In eternal life, the essence of God will be known by the blessed, not by the senses: mouth, eyes, nose or ears, but by the soul or the mind.” Again, he’s saying in eternal life, the essence of God will be known by the blessed not by the senses, but by the soul or the mind. Go back to what Paul said: “having the eyes of our hearts enlightened.” The beatific vision is the sight of God. Man’s ultimate end, man’s ultimate happiness that we will in fact see Him in our souls, in our intellect and mind. It’s not just seeing materially or physically Jesus Christ but increasing in our apprehension of God. We now better understand God when we see Him. Again, it’s not material. It’s seeing of the soul; it’s what would bring us ultimate joy, it is a time unhindered by sin, it is a time of eternal enjoyment.
Our ultimate good is the vision of God in the final glory, my brethren. If life is a race and it is according to Paul, the beatific vision of God is the finish line. But it is a finish line that has no end. It is in fact the beginning of ultimate eternal happiness. It is in fact a progressing kind of happiness. It is not static. That is what the beatific vision is. You will see God not just the face of Christ physically, but you will know, apprehend God even better. So my challenge that’s what will come for us brethren. Therefore, we must live now longing for it, longing for the beatific vision. Long for heaven, long not for heaven as a place, long not for the removal of the presence of sin although I mean that would be good, but long for the sight of God. This is also why Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 13: 12-13 he said For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, konti pa lang ang aking alam, sabi niya; then I shall know fully, You see, it’s not, it’s not just referring to sight physically; he’s referring to seeing in the mind and in the soul. He’s saying For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now for now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. There is no need of faith and hope there in heaven. You don’t need faith there. You don’t need hope there. You don’t need faith there, because your faith has become sight. You don’t need hope there, because we will see Christ bodily already. What will remain is love. In fact, seeing the face of God is seeing the face of love Himself for God is love. This is the reason why the Bible talks about our tears… that our tears will be wiped away. I mean not because of the absence of sin, but because of beholding the face of God. That’s the reason why. It trumps all negative effects of sin that you are encountering here on Earth. It even trumps all positive or happy, whatever happy thing that you have experienced on Earth. Those are nothing compared to this. Yes, you know God now, but there will be a time that you will know Him to such a greater degree, in such a greater way you can’t even comprehend, right now. And in this sense, in the seeing of the mind, you will be filled with unexplainable and inexpressible joy forever. It is an eternity of resting. You’re called now to rest in Christ when you get in heaven and behold the face of God. You are eternally resting and being overwhelmed at the same time. Entering your full rest In Christ by the Spirit. And again, it’s not static. It’s not like okay, that’s the end. That’s it, no. It is a progressing, beholding of the face of God. I mean when you die, it closes your eyes. And when you open your eyes, the first thing that you see is beholding Christ. And yes, when you open your eyes, it’s, it’s like you have attained apprehension of God already. But then it will progress and you know what? In eternity, it never ends. The joy progresses. That’s what the beatific vision is. I mean you can’t comprehend it now because, because we are just mere creatures; add to that, we are sinful. But then when we see God, that should be our ultimate happiness, our ultimate end when we must long for it now. And what are the effects of longing for it now while we are here on Earth? I mean you, you become more Christlike in whatever you do, and you depend more on the word of God. Now, because you understand that eternally, you will rest in Christ, now, you will rest in Christ. There is in fact, there is nothing above, there is nothing beyond the beatific vision of God. This is the ultimate pinnacle experience of human beings. Nothing’s above this! Wala nang mas tataas pa dito.
Isaac Watson calls this the heaven of of heavens. The heaven is heaven because we see the face of God. This is why the catechism says, right… to enjoy Him forever. That’s this means enjoying as you behold the face of God. There is no enjoyment without the face of God. Without the beatific vision, there is no enjoyment. This is what Augustine said. Remember what Augustine said. This is again, a famous quote from him. He said: “our souls are restless until we find rest in thee.” Because seeing the face of God in Christ is true rest and that will be an eternal rest, an eternal progressing rest.
So do you know what will hinder you from longing for this? It is always your sin. This is why it is important to go back to the gospel, brethren. Because the good news is that Christ was your Substitute. It is Jesus Christ who will lead you into that beatific vision, and you can’t… you can’t.. by your own works, you can’t!
Only Christ can lead you to it. You cannot see God, but He lets you see Him. Christ lets you see God. He lets you, He lets your heart see God. And He can lead you to that time of ever increasing joy in the sight of God. So what do you long for in life? Do you cling to things that you think would bring happiness? Maybe relationships, jobs, status in life, whatever that is. Those things are incomparable to what’s to come. So may I suggest “long for the sight of God and remember, you have been given that great privilege to see Him now through the Bible and then in the future experience, ultimate happiness in glory, for we shall behold God in the ever increasing beatific vision. May the word of God increase our knowledge of Him and may it stir us to live in light of these truths.
Let us pray. Our most high God and Heavenly Father, indeed You are our Sovereign God, our loving God. Thank You for giving us Jesus Christ. Thank You for opening our eyes to see Him in your word. Lord, there is no Christian growth without seeing Christ. And so Lord, we thank You that You continue to change us, transform us into that same image of Christ. It is our prayer that You would increase in our hearts. That appreciation and understanding of why we need to come and behold Your glory every Lord’s Day. Lord, it is also our prayer that may You remind us always of the cross. It reminds us Lord that Someone was our Substitute, Someone attained what we cannot attain and that is the reason why we can indeed see You. May we long for it Lord. May we live our lives here on Earth whether we are suffering, persecuted, may we live knowing that there will come a time when we will experience ultimate happiness… that is when we behold Your face. Lord, we praise You. We bring back all the glory to You in Jesus Christ’s Name, amen.