“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no night there; they will need neither lamp nor sun for light, for the Lord God gives them light. And they will reign forever” (Revelation 22:4,5).
Through Jesus Christ, God is making it possible for man to regain his knowledge that was lost in the fall. Contrary to what the tempter had promised, Adam and Eve discovered that asserting their independence from God’s will did not give them equal knowledge to God. Instead, they found themselves separated from the presence of God and cut off from the knowledge they had previously received. Soon they and their descendants had lost all but the faint memory of the face-to-face knowledge of God that Eden provided.
Although mankind plunged into spiritual and moral darkness as a result of the Fall, God almost immediately began to re-enlighten the world about Himself. Gradually, and in various ways, God began to reveal Himself. This process of progressive revelation continued over many centuries, until finally the time came for God to take on flesh and blood and reveal Himself to the world as Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:4; Colossians 1:15).
The author of Hebrews said, “God, who at different times and in different ways spoke to our ancestors through the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1,2). As God incarnate, Jesus Christ is “the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3). The apostle John wrote, “No one has seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him” (John 1:18). And Jesus himself said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Through Christ we can know God.
Yet even in Christ, it is still not possible for us to see and know God like Adam and Eve did. But Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). The hope of Christianity is that, through Jesus Christ, what was lost in the Fall can truly be regained. The time comes when those who truly seek God will “see His face” (Revelation 22:4).
“Today I am one day closer to home than ever before. A day is nearing dawn when the fog will lift, mysteries will become clear, and all question marks will turn straight into exclamation points! I will see the King!” (Vance Howner).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
