Face to Face

I read about a man in England, who though blinded when he was just 10 years old, went on to win honors in university and won the hand of a beautiful woman in marriage.  While engaged, he was being treated by an oculist (ophthalmologist in America) who found a course of treatment that promised to be effective in restoring his sight.

The treatment and the engagement came to a conclusion on the same day and the man went to the altar with bandages on his eyes that the doctor cut off while he was waiting on the bride.  At first there was concern that he was not able to see but soon his eyes saw clearly.  One of the first things his eyes beheld was the love of his life walking toward him. His eyes gazed on the face that he only knew by what his finger tips could reveal.  He saw her in all her beauty and was overwhelmed by the very sight of her.

This, I believe, will be very much what happens when we are taken to glory and finally see Jesus face to face.  As a child of God, we see him working in our lives and feel his presence day by day, but we do not see him in all his glory.  As the apostle Paul wrote, "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Cor 13:12).

A hymn that postulated that day I remember from my childhood is entitled, "Face to Face," which asks "face to face with my Redeemer, face to face what will it be?"  A popular modern song in Christian music, "I Can Only Imagine," muses, "I can only imagine what my eyes will see, when your face is before me."  We only see a reflection or an impression of the glory of Christ by our experiences in this world, we have yet to behold him in his glory.  What indeed will we behold?

I have nothing to offer that could begin to answer that question as I am left to only imagine.  Whatever I could come up with would fall infinitely short of an infinite glory of the infinite God.  However, I can tell you that it will be an encounter that you don't want to miss.  Receiving a "Get out of Hell" card is not the point of Christian faith, it is rather the eternal blessing of beholding our Lord, face to face, in all his glory for eternity.  Jus' Say'n.