Biblical Text: Psalm 80:1-7 and Numbers 6:24-26
Psalm 80:1-7
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. [2] Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. [3] Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. [4] O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? [5] Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. [6] Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. [7] Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: [25] The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: [26] The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
The world was waiting for a Savior.
The Israelites, God’s chosen people, had been ordained to keep God’s Law, but they had veered so far off course, due in part to their disobedient co-mingling with heathen cultures, that God had spewed them out of His mouth and turned His face from them.
They had dishonored God and caused Him to turn away. They were now in captivity…a nation possessed. Indeed, the WORLD was in captivity…we lay captive to SIN. Our exodus FROM God had been a long and painful journey, from Adam to Malachi, seared by many historically recorded acts of disobedience. And now the world had hit rock bottom.
ROCK BOTTOM is a painful experience. It’s a separation that leaves you feeling so completely alone that you feel abandoned, separated…detached. If any one individual’s rock-bottom experience is painful, imagine the anguish of an entire nation that had hit rock bottom in their relationship with God!
The world was in complete turmoil, though they knew it not. Even the successive kings of God’s chosen people didn’t know how to get God’s people to refocus their attention on their Creator, even though He had been their Way-maker and their Battleaxe. We hear the utter despair in the song of Asaph, one of king David’s three chief musicians who presided over the sacred choral worship services. Asaph was charged to write a hymn of celebration and praise for the people while they were enslaved. But how do you celebrate a nation in captivity? How do you celebrate a nation held captive to sin?
Asaph, discouraged over the plight of his world, writes: thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth… come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Can’t you hear the desperation in Asaph’s song of praise. Shine, Lord! Let your face shine forth. Please, let your face shine on us! Asaph knew his people were held captive by more than their neighboring nation…they were held captive by sin…sin so great that it had provoked God, and caused Him to turn away.
Such was the plight of all humanity. And our only solution for our condemned predicament would have to come from God. So Asaph cries for God to turn toward them and let them see His shining face once more.
Asaph’s chosen words were not new. For centuries, at the close of every worship service, the Levite priests had uttered a solemn benediction that called for God’s shining face. They would pray, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee, The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Three times they would repeat the name "Lord" or "Jehovah", unknowingly expressing the great mystery of the Godhead—three persons, and yet one God. And for centuries they would make the same three requests of God…"bless and keep us"; be "gracious to us"; and "give us peace." They wanted to see God’s shining face.
God’s shining face…
Hadn’t God shone them His shining face when He set them free from their Egyptian captives?
Hadn’t God shone them His shining face when He fed them with manna from heaven?
Hadn’t they seen His shining face in every battle’s victory, from the Canaanites and Amorites all the way to Sennacherib?
And still they sinned.
God knew that another victory would, at best, render short-lived obedience once again. The world was in a dilemma. The cycle of sin had to be broken. But how?
So, on His mercy seat God sits, the Good Shepherd of a wayward people. We could neither expect the comfort of his love, nor the protection of his arm, because mankind was separated by sin and disobedience from God. How then could we partake of his converting and saving grace?
When God is displeased with his people, He must turn His face from them. We cannot blame God for our tears and our enemy’s triumph over us. Yet, Asaph knew that there would be no salvation apart from God’s favor; and no conversion apart from God’s grace. So he leads the people in a song of repentance, crying, “Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
God hears the cries of His people.
His love and mercy would not allow Him to turn away from them forever.
He knew the world needed a Savior who could be the turning point for sin. God had given them the Word in writing…and they had failed to keep it. But now God would turn His Shining Face toward them and give them the Word in the Flesh. God had answered the Levite prayer of benediction and KEPT them, but it would be Jesus, the manifestation of God in the flesh, who would be GRACIOUS unto them and usher in the Holy Spirit’s countenance of peace.
The pre-ordained dispensation of God’s unmerited favor would soon be unleashed in the shining face of a small baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger,
A baby who would face a foe too fearful for us to conquer;
A baby who would bear sorrows too deep for us to endure;
A baby who would fight a battle too hot for us to win.
A baby whose sole purpose would be to save man.
God’s shining face, donned in a robe of human flesh, more radiant than the sun, more splendid than the stars, was expressed to earth in the smallest of packages…a baby. And wrapped in that baby was all the goodness of God, all the grace of God, all the love of God, all the faithfulness of God, and all the salvation God would ever offer from sin.
The dew may sparkle with its glory,
The flowers may bloom in their glory,
The sky may gleam in its glory,
The mountains may tower in their glory,
But none can compare to the glory of God’s shining face in the embodiment of the Christ child on Christmas morning.
Jesus Christ – God’s shining face!
The doctrines that He taught declare His glory!
The miracles that He performs manifest His glory!
The assurance that He imparts bespeaks His glory!
The church that He is still expanding emphasizes His glory!
And the joy that He bestows justifies His glory!
Jesus Christ – God’s shining face!
He covers our sin with His salvation.
He soothes our grief with His gladness.
He calms our anxiety with His assurance.
He brightens our darkness with His light!
Jesus Christ…not just God’s shining face, but God’s shining hour!
Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.
