We’ve heard about the face of the moon, yet our earth has His face. God illuminated the face of the earth (the depths and the waters) with His Presence. Genesis 1 was a first Face… it taught us illumination. Without God illuminating the surface, all would be darkness, and so the theme of Light vs. darkness And Good vs Evil was laid out for us from the first face of the earth and the face (presence) of YHWH (God)
The contents of this blog are the words Face and Book. Maybe you’ll see Facebook differently.
I’ve discovered that the very word “face” is not recognized as significant in the Bible as words like faith, hope, peace, and even grace. But if I took a survey on significant words in the Bible; people might not ever say the word face.
FACE means HIS Presence, paneh/panim peniel from Hebrew Pĕniel, Pĕnuel, literally, the face of God. (Strong’s Hebrew# 6440).
But the word face Presence is profoundly significant because it’s a key theme that flows immensely through the Bible, from the beginning in Genesis, when we were exiled from God’s Presence (Face) in the Garden of Eden, to the very end in the Book of Revelation, when we become reunited again with God’s face Presence.
Face, Presence, Surface Front, Before, and Countenance.
Pĕniel, Pĕnuel, Panim/paneh is one of the most inexhaustible words in the Hebrew Bible. It shows up over 2100 times, and it is translated as face, but also as presence, surface, front, before, and countenance.
DICTIONARY OF BIBLE THEMES – 1255 Face of God.
380 meanings and references.
I encountered the Hebrew word face after we built the Church. We found out the small creek that ran across the east side of our building was called Peniel Run (Run-fast-flowing creek). Most individuals there had no clue about the name Pieniel, of course, because of its origin being Hebrew. And at that very moment when we all became aware of the significance of its name, it will forever be in my mind because at that moment I encountered God’s very Presence,
humbly as I stood holding the East door of the Sanctuary open, looking right towards that creek, and suddenly, the revelation of His Words was declared to my heart.
Face to face
Gen 32:30 – And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face H6440 and my life is preserved.
Peniel from Hebrew Pĕniel, Pĕnuel, literally, the face of God, a place on the Jabbok River in Jordan where Jacob wrestled with an Angel and received a blessing (Genesis 32: 30)
Yes, the word Face – was in the first sentences of the Bible:
Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface /the face: H6440] of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface /the face: H6440 of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.
Asked God to shine His face upon them; (who you’re praying for)
Psalm 119:135
Make Your face H6440 shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.
In Psalm 80, a psalm of Asaph, asking YHWH’s face to shine upon them was a repeating chorus:
Psalm 80:1-7, 14-19
Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth! Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power and come to save us!
O God, restore us and cause Your face H6440 to shine upon us, and we will be saved.
O YHWH God of hosts, how long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and You have made them to drink tears in large measure. You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.
O God of hosts, restore us and cause Your face H6440 to shine upon us, and we will be saved…
…O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You; look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine, even the shoot which Your right hand has planted, and on the Son whom You have strengthened for Yourself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance Your face: H6440
Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we shall not turn back from You; revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
O YHWH God of hosts, restore us; cause Your face H6440 to shine upon us, and we will be saved.
The most famous benediction, which called on YHWH (God) to shine His face on His people, was Aaron’s Prayer and the blessing.
Numbers 6:24-26
YHWH bless you, and keep you; YHWH make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; YHWH lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace [shalom].’
They Couldn’t Face Him because of Sin and shame, and some still couldn’t face Him now.
Genesis 3:8
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the Presence, H6440 of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Lied to His Face
Genesis 4:3-5
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to YHWH (God) of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And YHWH (God) had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance H6440 fell.
Sin grabs hold like a plague. Out of pride and jealousy, Cain was angry, and his face showed it. You can see self-destruction. Your face shows it.
Genesis 4:6 Amplified Bible
6 And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why do you look your face – your countenance H6440 has fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Genesis 4:8-16
8 And Cain said to his brother, Let us go out to the field. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother and killed him.
Cain talked with Abel, his brother (I think being face to face with his brother shows Cain committed premeditated murder and, therefore, clearly ignored God’s warning).
And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Then YHWH (God) said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
He said, of the ground; and from Your face H6440 of I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
(God sees everything He deals with each individual accordingly)
So YHWH (God) said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And YHWH appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him. Then Cain went out from the presence H6440 of of YHWH and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
John 1:18 it says,
“No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
1 Corinthians 13:12
12 ·It is the same with us [For…]. Now we see ·a dim reflection [obscurely; or indirectly], ·as if we were looking into a mirror [through a glass darkly], but then we shall see ·clearly [face to face]# G4383 Greek face is pros’-o-pon
Revelation 22:4 it says,
“They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.”
Psalms 34:5: “They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.”
Reflecting His light, we would undoubtedly be face to face because shame causes us to never look someone in the eye or right in the face.
Book
Would you like to hear some good news? Or read a good book?
My ears, like my stomach, get hungry for good news.
It’s not happenstance that the words of Jesus are called the gospel, meaning good news.
Is reading and understanding that we are lost or sinner’s good? Yes, precisely because even though we are sinners, the Lord loves us because we are hopelessly separated from God, unable to save ourselves; Christ died for us to pay the penalty for our sins. So yes, we can be reconciled to the Father God and then receive every blessing, becoming a child of God.
The Bible: The Greatest Book Ever Written
Sixty-six books that can change your life. Why? Because they form the indestructible Word of God.
The Bible is God’s Word. It is the Book of Books—and it has been the wellspring of truth and accuracy for more than 3,500 years.
It is the good news that is written to us in the Bible. The Bible is the collection of 66 books (Genesis-Revelations), written over a long period by different authors from different backgrounds, yet revealing one unified message, and the Gospel is the message they tell.
No other book is like the Bible. It was written by 40 men from all walks of life—kings, priests, prophets, fishermen, and farmers—over 1,600 years (1500 BC to AD 100). Some writers were highly educated, like Moses and the apostle Paul, while others had no formal education. Yet, more than 3,000 times, these men claimed what they wrote came directly from God by the inspiration Of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus affirmed the inspiration, inerrancy, and accuracy of the Hebrew Scriptures and accepted the Pentateuch (Torah), the historical books, the “wisdom” books, and the prophets. as God’s Holy Word. He also confirmed and taught the authority, reliability, unity, clarity, sufficiency, historicity, inspiration, revelation, inerrancy, infallibility, and indestructibility of the Old Testament because He came to fulfill it.
It is written.
25 Old Testament Hebrew writers detailed the life and ministry of their future Messiah. (and yet many still are blinded by religion and pride)
The Messiah is the only person in history to have had His ancestry, birth, character, teaching, career, reception, rejection, death, burial, and resurrection prewritten at least 500 years before His birth.
The Bible is one book composed of two testaments. Comprised of thirty-nine books, the Old Testament is God’s unfolding promise to his covenant people, Israel. With twenty-seven books, the New Testament fulfills all the promises of the Old Testament in Christ Jesus.
The New Testament explains the person and work of Christ by showing how he fulfills the Old Testament. Together, these two testaments are a literary unity, progressively revealed.
Amazingly, we have information in every avenue to study God’s word from paper print books, audible books, and online apps.
God has a sense of humor.
Voltaire, the famous French philosopher once called the “prince of infidels,” reportedly said in 1776 that within 100 years, the Bible would be a forgotten relic found only in museums. Fifty-eight years after Voltaire’s death, his house was being used by the Evangelical Society of Geneva, which distributed Bibles throughout Europe. The printing presses on which he printed his lies of Christianity were now printing the Holy Scriptures, the truth.
Authenticity of Scripture
Second, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide evidence of this extraordinary preservation. For example, in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls (dating from 125 BC to 100 BC), the book of Isaiah was discovered in its entirety and contains the identical Isaiah text we read in our Bibles today.
The same can be said about the accuracy of the New Testament, which was written after Jesus ascended to heaven. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide the apostles in writing the content (John 14:25-26). The Holy Spirit superintended everything they wrote, providing the New Testament’s content and accuracy (2 Timothy 3:16) (2 Peter 1:21)
Even with all the translations and some very watered-down or not putting correct word translations.
“Wisdom begins with ·respect [fear; awe] for the Lord, and understanding begins with knowing the Holy One.” Proverbs 9:10-12
For a proper interpretation, we must compare Scripture with Scripture. This is why I research and compare the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
The Bible is its own best commentary. The author’s meaning is what is essential. In other words, the author—not the reader—determines what the text means.
Over the centuries, both the Old and New Testaments have undergone extensive microscopic analysis by renowned scholars who specialize in biblical history, literature, grammar, and archaeology.
To have 40 different authors over a span of 1,600 years write a unified book without error or contradiction is unique indeed in both ancient and modern history is a miracle in itself.
What about variant readings in the New Testament? There are more than 5,000 Greek manuscripts and 9,000 versions and translations. New Testament critics have evaluated and pronounced the text more than 99 percent pure. Not only has it survived in terms of a number of manuscripts, but it has survived in a purer form than any other great book of antiquity.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The phrase rightly dividing the word of truth means students of Scripture must handle the text truthfully, without falsifying it. Thus, we must read our Bibles using a literal, grammatical, and historical method of interpretation to discover the original intent of the text.
Boy, do I love that paragraph.
Literal means we employ the plain, ordinary, common, everyday usage of the words in the text.
We should look at sentence structure parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, definite articles, and prepositions) in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek to determine proper meaning that opens even more accountability. We should give each word its literal or customary usage when it was written.
Historical means we diligently study the when and where of Scripture: the historical setting and culture of the day when the words were written. Doing so opens grand vistas, helping us understand why an author used certain words, warnings, or customs. This method also safeguards us from misapplying words and misinterpreting Scripture.
Scripture also must be interpreted within the context in which it is written. A passage can have only one interpretation within the paragraph and cannot be interpreted accurately apart from the context in both the Old and New Testaments.
Jesus confirmed this fact when He said, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17), And Jesus said of His own words, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35). His Word is indestructible and will live forever.