They shall see his face
The end of all seeking
Near the very end of the Bible, John describes the deepest joy of the new creation in five simple words: they shall see his face. Of all the glories of the City — the gold, the jewels, the river of life, the absence of all sorrow — this is the summit: the redeemed will see the face of God himself, the unveiled, direct sight of God that no one in the long story had been able to bear.
This is the fulfillment of the longing that has run through the entire journey. Far back, the soul learned to answer God's invitation: when you said, Seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, Lord, will I seek. The whole pilgrimage has been a seeking of the face of God — and here, at the end, the seeking gives way to finding, the longing to fulfillment. They shall see his face. What was sought through a lifetime is granted forever.
And John adds that there will be no more curse, and his name will be on their foreheads, and his servants will serve him. The curse that has marred everything since the fall is gone; we belong wholly and visibly to him; and we serve him in unclouded joy. But the crown of it all is the face. The journey that began with seeking God's face ends with seeing it, unveiled, forever. Everything in the whole pilgrimage of formation has been leading to this single, breathtaking fulfillment: they shall see his face.
“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”
— John, of the new creation — Revelation 22:4 (WEB)
Long for the summit of all the new creation's glory — to see the face of God himself — the fulfillment of the seeking that has run through your whole journey.
“There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve him.”
We can let the lesser glories of heaven eclipse its summit, missing that the deepest joy is to see the face of God himself. The interior work is to recognize that beholding God's unveiled face is the climax of the new creation and the fulfillment of the whole pilgrimage — the seeking of his face that the journey began with, now given way to seeing — so that the vision of God becomes the center of our hope.
This week, let the seeking of God's face that has shaped your whole journey lift toward its fulfillment: long for the day you see his face unveiled, and let that longing deepen your present seeking of him.
A thousand lesser glories crowd the heart's attention, and even our hope can keep the face of God dim and far off while nearer sights shine brighter. But the summit of heaven is told in five words — they shall see his face — and the soul that longs for that above all else is fixed on a joy nothing in this world can offer or withhold.
Of all the glories of the new creation — the gold, the jewels, the river of life, the end of all sorrow — John names the summit in five words: they shall see his face. The redeemed will behold the unveiled face of God himself, the direct sight that no one in the long story could bear. This is the deepest joy of heaven, beside which all its other splendors are merely the setting.
And it is the fulfillment of the longing that has run through the entire journey. Long ago the soul learned to answer God's call — when you said, Seek my face, my heart said, your face, Lord, will I seek — and the whole pilgrimage has been a seeking of his face. Here, at the end, the seeking gives way to seeing, the longing to fulfillment, forever. The journey that began with seeking God's face ends with beholding it, unveiled. Whatever you have sought and not yet found of God in this life, hold the promise toward which it all leads: they shall see his face.
- Do lesser glories eclipse the summit — seeing God's face — in my hope?
- Has my whole journey been, at root, a seeking of his face?
- How does it move me that the seeking will give way to seeing, forever?
Lord, long ago you said, Seek my face, and my heart answered, your face I will seek. The whole journey has been that seeking. At the last, they shall see your face. Let the longing to behold you unveiled be the center of my hope, until seeking gives way to seeing, forever. Amen.