Sermon and Worship Resources

Dictionary: Face

Biblical references to the face are both literal and metaphorical. The Hebrew word for “face” (paneh) frequently occurs in the plural in the OT (over 2,100 times), and it can express the numerous features of the face, that of God, humans, animals, and inanimate objects. It also can describe a surface, such as “the face of the ground” (Gen. 2:6 KJV) or “the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:2 KJV).

The concept of face must be understood in terms of the diverse emotional expressions and stratified social relationships of the biblical social world. This was a world of honor and shame, loyalty and betrayal. Where the modern person speaks of personal empowerment, the biblical person thought of social restoration. Life was tantamount to social acceptance. In the biblical world of strong corporate solidarity, the face was the most important part of a person’s body. Persons did not merely “contact” each other; rather, faces engaged each other. Face was synonymous with person (e.g., Lev. 19:32, where “the aged/elderly” is literally “the faces of the aged/elderly”). The face essentially describes interpersonal relationships.

Presence and nonpresence are noted in the expressions “hiding the face from” (Ps. 27:9) and “seeing the face of” (Gen. 32:20 KJV). These denote qualities of relationship through acceptance or rejection, especially to superiors. To “see someone’s face” who is a dignitary is to be granted a royal audience (Gen. 44:23). Yet it was not customary to show a sad face in a king’s presence (Neh. 2:2). A person could also try to hide his or her identity, since “face” marks a public expression of one’s character and social standing.

To literally “fall on the face” (Ezek. 1:28; Luke 5:12) shows humility and homage toward a superior. Personal intention or determination is shown in the expressions “set the face against/toward” (Ezek. 35:2) and “turn the face” (2 Kings 20:2). Dishonor and disrespect are expressed with a “fallen face” (Gen. 4:6; NIV: “downcast” face; cf. Gen. 40:7). Striking the face can be an act that humiliates (John 18:22), as with mutilation or having a soiled face (Lev. 21:18; 2 Sam. 19:4–5). By contrast, to speak “face to face” (Exod. 33:11) not only shows respect but also treats another as a social equal. Reflecting rich emotions, a face can be “cheerful” (Prov. 15:13), “aflame” with agony (Isa. 13:8), “red with weeping” (Job 16:16), and covered with “shame” (Ps. 69:7).

“Face” can be used as a metonym (i.e., substitution) for a person’s presence. Significantly, God’s rejection of a person or group can be expressed as them being hidden from his face (Gen. 4:14 KJV) or as God hiding his face from them (Isa. 54:8; Mic. 3:4; cf. Ps. 22:24). Those in distraught prayer ask why God has hidden his face (Job 13:24) or for how long (Ps. 13:1). Similarly, God acts against persons when he sets his face against them (Lev. 17:10; 26:17).

Believers anticipate the day when they will see God “face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12), having received the ultimate gift of God’s acceptance.

Synonyms: countenance, physiognomy, profile, features, expression, facial expression, look, appearance, air, manner, bearing, guise, cast, aspect, impression, grimace, scowl, wry face, wince, frown, glower, smirk, pout, moue, side, flank, vertical, surface, plane, facet, wall, elevation, dial, display, (outward) appearance, nature, image, front, show, act, false front, facade, exterior, mask, masquerade, pretence, charade, pose, illusion, smokescreen, veneer, camouflage, respect, honour, esteem, regard, admiration, approbation, acclaim, approval, favour, appreciation, popularity, estimation, veneration, awe, reverence, deference, recognition, prestige, standing, status, dignity, glory, kudos, cachet, effrontery, audacity, nerve, gall, brazenness, brashness, shamelessness, look out on, front on to, look towards, be facing, have/afford/command a view of, look over/across, open out over, look on to, overlook, give on to, give over, be opposite (to), accept, come to accept, become reconciled to, reconcile oneself to, reach an acceptance (of), get used to, become accustomed to, adjust to, accommodate oneself to, acclimatize oneself to, be confronted by, be faced with, encounter, experience, come into contact with, run into, come across, meet, come up against, be forced to contend with, beset, worry, distress, cause trouble to, trouble, bother, confront, burden, brave, face up to, meet head-on, dare, defy, oppose, resist, withstand, cover, clad, skin, overlay, dress, pave, put a facing on, laminate, inlay, plate, coat, line

Antonyms: dodge, fear, back, give way, back down, dodge, avoid, throw in the towel, withdraw, cave in, retreat, succumb to, lay down one's arms, throw in the sponge, defer, submit, escape, bashfulness, shun, evade, elude

Showing 2551 to 2575 of 2635 results

2551. PLASTERER

Lev. 14:43; Daniel 5:5

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Leviticus 14:43 - "If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it," Daniel 5:5 - "Immediately the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand; and the king saw the hand as it wrote." From early times, people have known how to secure lime for plastering walls by burning limestone until it yielded white caustic alkaline earth. The Egyptians plastered their stone ...

2552. A Toothless Beast

Illustration

Writing in Moody Monthly, Carl Armerding recounted his experience of watching a wildcat in a zoo. "As I stood there," he said, "an attendant entered the cage through a door on the opposite side. He had nothing in his hands but a broom. Carefully closing the door, he proceeded to sweep the floor of the cage." He observed that the worker had no weapon to ward off an attack by the beast. In fact, when he got to the corner of the cage where the wildcat was lying, he poked the animal with the broom. The wildcat ...

2553. All Mine

Illustration

George W. Truett, a well-known pastor, was invited to dinner in the home of a very wealthy man in Texas. After the meal, the host led him to a place where they could get a good view of the surrounding area. Pointing to the oil wells punctuating the landscape, he boasted, "Twenty-five years ago I had nothing. Now, as far as you can see, it's all mine." Looking in the opposite direction at his sprawling fields of grain, he said, "That's all mine." Turning east toward huge herds of cattle, he bragged, "They' ...

2554. The Death of Sarah

Genesis 23:1-20

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Sarah dies at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven, thirty-seven years after the birth of Isaac. She is conspicuously absent from the events of chapter 22. The last city she lives in is Kiriath-arba, “city of the four,” which is another name for Hebron. Abraham is not a man without emotion. He mourns and weeps for her. For at least a third time in Genesis Abraham is an alien and a stranger. His hosts this time are the Hittites. Every time a key figure in Genesis 12–50 interacts with non-Israelites ( ...

2555. Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

John 13:18-30

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

While the Fourth Gospel does not explore the motives behind Judas’s betrayal (13:21–30) nor the overtures of the Sanhedrin (see Matt. 26:14–16, 20–25; 27:3–10; Luke 22:3–6), it does provide us with the poignant account of the beloved disciple’s inquiry. This is the first real introduction to the story of this disciple. When Jesus expresses his dismay concerning the betrayal (13:21), the disciples examine themselves (Luke 22:23), and Peter prompts the beloved disciple (John) to ask Jesus. The disciples are ...

2556. God's Pearls

Illustration

Staff

Think about the oyster. It takes a grain of sand and turns it into a beautiful pearl. Too often we are just the opposite. We take pearls and turn them into grains of sand. Or at least we see them that way. God said to Paul, "My strength is made perfect in your weakness." We are all as grains of sand from which God gradually and beautifully shapes us into pearls of white. Yet each pearl is formed in its own unique way, with its own flaws, its own ridges, its own character. As Christians, we must learn to ...

2557. Traits of an Effective Leader

John 10:1-30

Illustration

Staff

What are the traits of an effective shepherd? Many traits could be listed. I like what Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality of a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, on a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man's associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find that he lacks ...

2558. You Are a Son of God

Matthew 10:40-42

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

Do you remember the movie Dead Man Walking? It's the story of one seemingly at the opposite end of the spectrum, a convicted killer on death row, and his relationship with a Catholic sister who serves as his spiritual director. In a scene near the end of the movie, it is the final evening before the scheduled execution, and all appeals have been denied. The man and the spiritual director talk honestly about the horrifying crime he committed, its impact upon the victims' families, and the readiness of the ...

2559. Loving out of Obligation

Mark 12:28-34

Illustration

David A. Cooper

A rabbi was asked, "Which act of charity is higher - giving out of obligation or giving from the heart?" All in the class were inclined to respond that giving from the heart had something more in it, but they knew the rabbi was going to say just the opposite, because in spiritual teaching nothing is logical. They were not disappointed. "Giving from the heart is a wonderful thing," the rabbi said, "It is a very high act and should never be demeaned. But there is something much more important that happens ...

2560. We Need a Bath!

Luke 3:1-6

Illustration

Scott Black Johnston

On the journey of Advent, we light the first candle, and we read biblical passages that propel us into the future to consider the end of time-the apocalypse. Today, our reading sends us in the opposite direction. On the second Sunday of Advent, we are pulled into the distant past to hear the words of the ancient prophet, Malachi. Malachi tells of a figure who is coming "to prepare the way for the Lord." He speaks of a messenger who will purify people's hearts. "God is sending an emissary," writes Malachi ...

2561. Self Righteousness

Luke 18:9-14

Illustration

C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis recounts that when he first started going to church he disliked the hymns, which he considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as he continued, he said, "I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren't fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit."

2562. Go Fly a Kite

Illustration

Charles Eliet had a problem. He had a contract to build an engineering marvel--a suspension bridge over the Niagra River. But he had no way of stretching his first cable between the shores. Any boat that tried to cross the falls would be swept over. Then Eliet hit on an idea. If a kite carrying a cord could be flown across the river, the cord could then be used to pull larger cables across. So Eliet announced a kite-flying contest, and a young man named Homan Walsh responded. On Walsh's first attempt the ...

2563. The Great Association Of Onlookers

Illustration

Louis H. Evans

We suffer today from a spectator complex - watching, but doing nothing. We see a play and we are deeply disturbed; we weep a little, clench our fists at the wrong or the injustice walking the stage - and then go home and forget it! We feel without acting. Let’s put it in the church. On the gridiron of life, the church is playing its game against stubborn opposition - against the well-coached teams of low public mores, materialism and selfishness. In the stands sit the non-churchmen, criticizing the ...

2564. John 6:56-69

John 6:56-69

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This week's gospel text overlaps the final verses from last week reminding us that it is Jesus' surprise message in John 6:53-59 that actually causes the reaction in verses 60-69. These texts portray two crucial events Jesus' final desertion by the synagogue establishment and by a large number of so-called disciples. What began as a chapter focused on a quest for faith (6:1-36) concludes with a scene of ultimate rejection (6:66). The profoundly personal and painful nature of this desertion is suggested by ...

2565. The Wounded Healers

Mark 5: 21-43

Illustration

Ron Lavin

With all its imperfections, sins, blemishes, and warts, the Church of Jesus Christ is the intended healer of the world's wounds. Christians are called to be compassionate, wounded healers. Perhaps, Henri Nouwen, the Roman Catholic theologian, has said this better than anyone else. The author of many books, Nouwen speaks of Christians as "wounded healers" who have compassion. Compassion is not pity. Pity lets us stay at a distance. It is condescending. Compassion is not sympathy. Sympathy is for superiors ...

2566. Beware Another's Treasures

Illustration

Bob James

Recently I laid a small circle of poison around a hill of stinging ants. Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony. I returned later to see how well the poison was working. Hundreds of the stinging ants were carrying the poison down into their hill. Then I noticed a hole in the circle of poison. Some of the poison was moving the opposite way away from the hill. Some smaller, non-stinging ants had found this "food" and were stealing ...

2567. A Beautiful Void

Illustration

Chuck Colson

The United Nations complex sits on sixteen acres of New York City's choicest real estate, bordering the East River and Manhattan. The lean, immense Secretariat building rises into the sky, the sun reflecting off its window walls. Bright flags of the nations of the world fly in the breezes off the river; the most prominent is the blue and white UN flag, its two white reeds of olive branches surrounding the world. A visitor is immediately struck by the grandeur of the building, stirred by the sight of ...

2568. Truckers Ed

Illustration

Donald Ballar

"Here's the scenario," the instructor announced to his class of novice truck drivers. "You're in an 18-wheeler with a heavy load, barreling down a mountainous two-lane highway. Ed, your co-driver, is asleep. There are six trucks behind you, and as you come over the top of a hill, they pull out beside you to pass. Suddenly, you see several trucks coming in the opposite direction, pulling into your lane to pass. What did you do?" "That's simple," a student called out. "I'd wake up Ed." "Why would you do that ...

2569. The Assassins

Humor Illustration

There was once a medieval theologian, Fakhr al-Din Razi, who wrote scathing articles about a secretive group called the Assassins. One night, a man snuck into the theologian's house and confronted him. The man said, "My master wants to know what manner of man would attack the Assassins?" Fakhr replied, "I am not afraid to admit that I criticize the Assassins." The strange man pulled out a vicious-looking knife and plunged it into the table in front of Fakhr. "If you criticize us again, that knife will be ...

2570. No Place Like Home

Illustration

Michael P. Green

The story is told that during the American Civil War, when the rival armies were encamped on the opposite banks of the Potomac River, the Union’s band played one of its patriotic tunes, and the Confederate musicians quickly struck up a melody dear to any Southerner’s heart. Then one of the bands started to play “Home, Sweet Home.” The musical competition ceased, and the musicians from the other army joined in. Soon voices from both sides of the river could be heard singing, “There is no place like home.” ...

2571. Solomon's Adversaries

1 Kings 11:14-25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

By means of a flashback (11:14–22) the audience is also informed that Solomon’s kingdom had some serious opposition. When the reader is told that the Lord raised up Hadad of Edom, we note that the specific Hebrew term satan (“adversary”) is used, a stunning contrast with Solomon’s earlier declaration to Hiram (5:18) that no satan can be found on any side. This is a graphic illustration that Solomon’s words can be hollow. In fact, Solomon’s adversaries may be more subtle, since Hadad—like Solomon himself— ...

2572. Psalm 42

Psalm 42:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Psalm 42 sets the tone for book 2—though enemies overcome the psalmist, God does not vanquish them quickly. The author uses repetition to convey this sense of discouragement. Twice the naysayers mock: “Where is your God?” (42:3, 10). Three times the psalmist bemoans that he is “downcast” (42:5–6, 11; cf. 43:5; 44:25 [“brought down”]—these are the only occurrences of this verb in Scripture); twice that he is “disturbed” (42:5, 11). Even when he records statements suggesting hope, he immediately dismisses ...

2573. Ammon

Jeremiah 49:1-6

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Ammon lies in central Transjordan, opposite Shechem. The area was taken over by Israel after the exodus (Josh. 10:6–12:6; Num. 32:33–37) and assigned to Gad (Josh. 13:24–28). The region was lost to Israel when the Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser made war against Israel (1 Chron. 5:26). The Ammonites repossessed the region. Baalis, king of the Ammonites, was involved with Ishmael in the assassination of Gedaliah (40:14–41:10). Molek (or Milkom) was the chief god of the Ammonites. At times Israel worshiped Molek ...

2574. Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem

Acts 9:19b-31

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

After his Damascus Road experience, Saul spends some time in Damascus before joining the disciples in Jerusalem (9:19b–31). With the only appearance of the phrase “Jesus is the Son of God” (9:20) in Acts, Luke points to the center of Saul’s preaching as evidence of his significant realization during his encounter with the risen Lord. Moreover, the account of his rejection by his fellow Jews (9:23–25) also points to the dramatic reversal, in that the one who has persecuted Jesus is now being persecuted ...

2575. What Makes the Difference

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

Two pastors' wives sat mending their husbands' pants. One of them said to the other, "My poor John, he is so discouraged in his church work. He said just the other day he was considering resigning. It seems nothing goes right for him." The other replied, "Why, my husband was saying just the opposite. He is so enthused, it seems like the Lord is closer to him than ever before." A hushed silence fell as they continued to mend the trousers; one patching the seat and the other the knees.

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