Thomas Torrance writes, “God is not one thing in Christ and another thing in himself. He has not shown us one face in Jesus Christ but kept his real face hidden from us”. In Jesus, the Lord himself makes his own face shine upon us; he lifts up his countenance upon us, and gives us peace.

Jesus really is the open face of God turned towards us. However, the god of this world has blinded our minds to keep us from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. And so, we cannot even begin to see the beauty of God’s glory in the face of his Son. Nevertheless, the God who said “let light shine out of darkness” has shone his light into our hearts by his Spirit so that we can now see the glory of God in the face of Jesus.

“That is the heart of my hopes by day and my dreams by night. To behold the face of Jesus seems to me the one thing to be desired” (George MacDonald). Sharing this desire, we gather together around Jesus to gaze on the glorious beauty of his face by his Spirit. As we do so, his Spirit transforms us into Jesus’ likeness together so that we become his beautiful community of joyful self-giving love. And we reflect his beauty to one another and to the world.

Thank you Father for showing us the beauty of your face in Jesus. May your Spirit continually transform us into the likeness of your own Son as we gaze on his beauty within your own community of joyful self-giving love.