God's face - Jordan's drawing

So Jordan (3) asked me a fascinating question tonight. He had a pen and paper and wanted to draw a picture. Before he started, he looked up and said, "Dad, how do you vaw (draw) God?"

I responded, "Well that's a great question. Why don't you have a go?"

I know lots of people have tried. In classical art God is sometimes depicted as an old man. In cartoons, he can be represented as a cloud. Of course we can't draw God, and maybe we're not supposed to.

Jordan thought about it and then said, "Well, I'm just going to draw a face."

When he'd finished he came and showed it to me. "Look Dad, JEEsus!"

Now what a wonderful truth that is. Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve had direct access to God's presence. The bible tells us that they even took walks together. And yet when they sinned, Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, and hence from God's presence. The distance between man and God was perhaps never felt so poignantly as when Moses desired to see God. Even though God considered Moses a personal friend, he nevertheless warned that Moses could not see his face - and live. In Scripture, God's face indicates his presence. There was a limit to the extent that humanity could experience the direct presence of God. I said there was.

But when God sent Jesus, all that changed. Now, because of Jesus, we have access to the presence of God. In Christ, we see the very face of God. 2 Cor 4:6 tells us that we now have been given in our hearts the knowledge of God in the face of Christ.

Of course Jordan doesn't realise this. He just knows how to draw faces and not much else. But what he stumbled upon was a powerful revelation. How do we draw/depict (see) God? Answer: in the face of Christ.

Good job Jordy.

Every night I bless my children with the priestly blessing:

"The Lord bless you and keep you,
the Lord cause his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you,
the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace."

(So much more to say here about why "the Lord" is repeated three times, and why it is the second one that talks about his face shining...but this post is finished)