“Show me your face!” That’s the cry of wanting someone to make themselves known. You might be aware of their presence in a room . . . you might see their form in the shadows . . . even if they are standing right in front of you but with a shrouded head . . . until they show you their face, you can’t really know who they are. I’m reading in Ezekiel again this morning and God “fast forwards” the prophet. He tells Ezekiel to speak concerning the “latter days” when God will allow Gog, the king of the land Magog and all the peoples of the north, to come against Israel “like a cloud covering the land” . . . those days when God will bring them against the land of His people, “that the nations may know Me, when through you, O Gog, I will vindicate My holiness before their eyes” (Eze. 38:14-16).

It will be the battle to end all battles when God makes known His glory know among the nations and the house of Israel will “know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward” (Eze. 39:21-22). And how will they know? What will be different this time than in times past?

And I will not hide My face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.   (Ezekiel 39:29 ESV)

God’s face is no longer hidden when His Spirit is poured out. He is no longer just the presence in the room . . . not just a form in the shadows . . . not there but shrouded in a cloak of unknowableness (probably not a word). When He pours out His Spirit on those He has called for Himself, He shows His face . . . makes Himself known . . . is able to be beheld, if though only as a through a mirror dimly at first.

I read this prophecy from an ancient day concerning a future day and am in awe that, by the grace of God, I am actively engaged in a foreshadowing of its fulfillment in this present day. As believers we have had the Spirit poured out into our lives. For those who have “heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him” we have been “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13-14).

And the seal of God leads to the reveal of God . . . “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God . . . the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God . . . we have the mind of Christ.” (1Cor. 2:10, 12, 16b).

And the guarantee of inheritance is the manner of His inhabitance . . . “And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (1John 3:24).

God’s Spirit dwelling in God’s people making known God’s face. O’ to the think of the intimate fellowship afforded to the child of God through the indwelling Spirit of God. Isn’t it a cause for awe and wonder? Isn’t it a catalyst for praise? Doesn’t the fact that God has made His face available compel us to cry out with Moses, “Please, show me Your glory!” (Ex. 33:18)

I’m thinkin’ . . .