Experiencing God’s Presence: Living Face to Face with God

In the previous article, we looked at the worship of heaven and found that the worship in heaven is a result of seeing the face of God.  We saw that there is in the human heart this longing for the face of God.  Job said, “This I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another, how my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27).

We saw that there is no Hebrew word for “presence” – every word that we translate as “presence” means “face.”  So when we seek God’s presence, we seek His face.  When we seek His face, we are rewarded with His presence, as He is with us.

Why do we have this longing for the face of God? What is it about being in perfect union and communion with Him that is so satisfying?

To find the answer, let us study the posture of the Trinity as revealed in the opening of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

“In the beginning was the Word.” We know that the Word is Jesus, who existed in the beginning.

“And the Word was with God.” The word with is such a simple word. In the Greek, the word is pros. This word literally means facing. The picture this verse portrays is of Jesus being so with the Father for all of eternity that they were, are, and forever will be eternally facing. The Father and Son for eternity have lived face to face, heart to heart, eyes locked on each other, never looking away, in unbroken communion. This is the posture of the Trinity – to face one another, to be fully known, fully loved, fully accepted, fully one, and to never look away.

Pros. Facing, forever. We were created in the image of God, with that same longing to face Him and be fully known, fully loved, fully accepted, fully one, and never look away. Our longing for His face comes from the posture of the Trinity, who have lived face to face forever.

There is a very similar word in the Greek language: proskuneo. It consists of two words: pros, which means “facing,” and kuneo, which means “to kiss.” Proskuneo literally means “to face another and kiss” – and this is the word for “worship.”

Worship is one of the most intimate expressions of love between us and Jesus. As we worship, we come face to face with God, as we were created to do; and as we behold His face, our hearts erupt in continual worship.