Bullets for the Battle

Spiritual Combat Alert # 2: Preaching the Face of Jesus

There is nothing wrong with “what preaching” and “why preaching” except that “it” usually doesn’t go far enough. Many preachers are too immature to go beyond “it” and hearers are too self-satisfied to know they need more than “it” gives them. The “it” they are missing, of course, is “Who preaching”! The “whats” and “whys” of faith are without question essential, but they are only “preliminary” to the higher “Who preaching,” which is ultimate. Again and again the Old Testament shouts the message from the lips of its prophets. After Israel experiences the “whats” and the whys” the summary purpose statement is always shared or implied, “ … then they shall know that I Am the Lord!” (Gen. 28:13; Exod. 6:6; Ezek. 6:13). The point of it all is to climax in “Who” He really is! “The whats and whys” of the burning bush, the plagues in Egypt, the Exodus itself, the manna in the wilderness, the water from the rock, the Ten commandments, the bronze serpent, etc., etc. all were foundational so that these “whats and whys” might lead Israel to know and love the Who of reality … the Lord of all the earth!

“Who preaching” leaves you enthralled with “Jesus only.” It seats you at the feet of the Master, transfixed by the glory of His Face and hanging on to every word that comes out of His Mouth. It puts one’s hearers where Mary of Bethany was … actually being in the Presence of Jesus! It gives a person the calm but colossal assurance that he or she is achieving, receiving and believing in the indwelling, surrounding and superintending of the Presence of the Messiah. It is to spiritually, yet actually, “see His Face” in that moment of reality!

Absalom (who had murdered his brother, Amnon, as revenge) had been forgiven by his father David and permitted to return to Jerusalem. However, Absalom was denied access to the king. He knew what David was doing and why things were happening as they were, but it was still not enough for his heart! He had been back in Jerusalem for two whole years without the honor of being in the King’s presence. Absalom had cried out to the chief of the army, General Joab, “I want to see the King’s face …! (II Sam. 14:32). Absalom yearned to be in the presence of this one who was his father, his king and the anointed leader.

The story of Absalom is a sad tale of squandered potential. He was David’s favorite son, yet the one who betrayed him. II Samual has five full chapters (13 to 18) devoted to this event from Amnon’s sin to Absalom’s death to David’s cry of grief! The roots of a magnificent father-son relationship were there, but they were lost. David failed by not being aggressive enough for the truth! Absalom failed by not being submissive enough to the truth!

The great tragedy of this story is that David, the father, and Absalom, the son, both wanted the same thing … to see the face of one another and to know the wondrous presence of fellowship restored and enjoyed!

Absalom’s heart, even in his weaknesses and flaws, speaks for all of us at the depth of our desires and hopes. We, too, say with him, “To what glory is it to dwell in Jerusalem and never see the face of the King?”

May all of us who preach, teach, share and witness be dominated, controlled and focused by this highest and most exalted aspiration. People will be delighted to learn the “whats” of the Gospel. They will be intrigued by the “whys” of the Gospel. But what they yearn for most … knowingly or unknowingly … is to have their very beings carried into the Presence of the “Who” of the Gospel.

“For to what glory is it to call yourself a Disciple yet never see the Face of the Savior?”