The LIGHT of our countenance

 1. That we are noticed by the Divine Being. He takes cognisance of your affairs.

2. That He is interested in us, as a father in the doings of his children.

3. That we are the objects and recipients of His favours. He favours our undertakings, circumstances, and conditions.

4. That He approves of our acts — accepts and fills us with peace.

5. That He helps us. God's favour is no empty pretence — His aid comes timely.

6. That He blesses us. His benediction conveys the good.

II. THE RESULTS. It puts "gladness into the heart." Why? Because —

1. It is the countenance of a powerful, wise, omnipotent Being.

2. It is the exuberant gladness — overflowing joy — beyond any worldling's mirth — unending. How disquieted should those be from whom God's face is averted and for whom there is on His countenance a frown!

HEBREW WORD STUDY – HIS COUNTENANCE – PANI  פני 

Numbers  6:26: “The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace.”

This blessing is used so much in many traditional churches that we never stop to think what it is the priest, pastor of a worship leader is really saying. What does it mean to ask the Lord to lift His countenance unto you?  Many modern English translations render it as “May He the turn His face to you.”  So render it as showing favor, being good to you, or just facing toward you.

I have heard this verse many times throughout my life but I never really meditated on it. I went right to my Aramaic Bible. I knew the Greek had a very interesting insight but I wondered if the Aramaic would give me an even greater depth of understanding.  You see, in Greek, the word for looking is aphorontes from the root word aphorao which has the idea of looking away from everything else to focus your gaze upon one thing.   The Aramaic word is nachor from the root word chor which is reflexive and has the idea of making oneself transparent. It is a word that you would use when a bride and groom look upon each other when sharing their wedding vows.  They are committing themselves, their lives, their whole being to each other for the rest of their lives, they are promising to forsake all others, to always be there for each other, to open their hearts to each other and bare no secrets from each other.  A single English word for chor would be transparency. It is to look at each other with transparency.

In oriental culture, a mere peasant or servant was not permitted to look a king in the eye.  When in the presence of the king one must look down and not at his face.   Only the closest and most trusted servants were allowed to look the king in the eyes.  This is not only to show respect but to keep the servants from becoming too familiar with the king. It was a way of exercising control, keeping a person in his place so to speak.  It was to keep the mystique of the king alive. Your facial expressions and your eyes reveal a lot about you. One can see weakness, or maybe favor or lack of favor by looking into someone’s eyes. Without looking into the king’s face, one could never know what the king was feeling.  Yet, the King of all Kings is “lifting up His countenance to His people.  He wants His people to see what He is feeling. He has only love in His eyes and He wants you to see that love, an experience that love, and look into your eyes and see that love returned.

The word countenance is simply the word pani which is often translated as face or before, but since God does not really have a face to see and He is omnipresent so He is always standing before us, beside us, behind us and all around us, we cannot translate it as face or before. Countenance is not such a bad English word to use here but we use that word so little in the 21st Century that no everyone picks up on its oh so precious meaning. I have a better word which precisely fits our 21st Century understanding and that is one’s presence.

The key to understanding this lies in those words – lift up.   It is the word nasah in Hebrew which means to lift up so as to draw attention to that which is lifted up.   The Lord is going to draw your attention to his presence.  You see the Lord is always present, always with us, it is just that we do not realize it. Thus, this blessing is invoked.  There is much debate among Hebrew scholars over the Jussive form which would express permission and thus we would begin this blessing with “may the Lord.”   However, many rabbis believe this is not a Jussive and therefore should be rendered as  “The Lord will lift up (draw attention to) His countenance (presence) and give you peace.  As most of us know and have experienced when we go through difficulty or trouble and we begin to feel the presence of God, we become peaceful.

So next time your spiritual leader gives this blessing and you are wondering what in the blazes does God raising up His countenance have to do with me?  Just think about this. As you go out into the world and experience the cares of this world and you feel no peace, look up, reach out for the Lord for He is trying to make His presence known to you so He may bring you peace.

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: the LORD make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Numbers 6:24–26).

This is the priestly blessing pronounced upon the people of Israel by Aaron the high priest. The climax of the blessing is a beautiful reference to the Lord’s countenance and its power. When God’s countenance is lifted up in grace upon us, He gives perfect peace of soul.

It can bring great joy, “Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with thy countenance” (Psalm 21:6). In times of despair, His countenance gives sustenance. “Why art thou cast down, o my soul? . . . I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance” (Psalm 42:5).

In times of confusion, His countenance will illumine the way. “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance” (Psalm 89:15). But it will also reveal our hidden sins. “Thou has set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance” (Psalm 90:8). As far as the wicked are concerned, however, “the face [same Hebrew word as ‘countenance’] of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth” (Psalm 34:16).

Now no one can actually see the face of the Lord in His divine essence, for, as God told Moses, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20). Such passages must be understood as the “presence of the LORD,” for this also is a proper translation of the same word. Or perhaps some could even refer to pre-incarnate appearances of Christ, for God can surely “give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6).

1. Jesus’ countenance is light.

Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. [See Job 29:3; 33:28]

Psalm 4:6b Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.

Matthew 17:2 And [Jesus] was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light.

1 John 1:5,7a This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 7a But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

2. The Lord favors (blesses) His children with the light of His countenance.

Psalm 36:9 For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light.

Psalm 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.

Psalm 67:1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause His face to shine upon us; Selah.

Psalm 80:3 Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

[See also Psalm 80:6,19]

Psalm 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.

Psalm 97:11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.

Acts 2:28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy countenance.

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

3. A bright countenance is a reflection of the Lord’s Own countenance.

Exodus 34:29,30a And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while He talked with him. 30a And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone.

Psalm 18:28 For Thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

Psalm 34:5 They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. [SeeEzra 9:8b]

Job 33:30 [God does these things to man] to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.

4. A cheerful, inspired countenance begins in the heart.

1 Samuel 1:18 [After Hannah had heard from the Lord, her countenance changed for the better:] And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.

Psalm 21:6b Thou [Lord] hast made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance.

Proverbs 15:13a A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. [See Proverbs 17:22]

Proverbs 15:30a The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart.

Proverbs 4:8,9 Exalt her [wisdom], and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. 9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

1 Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

5. You can’t hide your problems or sins — they will show on your face.

Genesis 4:5b-6 Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen?

Ezra 9:6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the Heavens.

Isaiah 3:9a The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.

Proverbs 30:13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up.

6. Proud, “hard” faces characterize the wicked and unrepentant.

Psalm 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

Proverbs 21:29a A wicked man hardeneth his face.

Jeremiah 5:3 O Lord, are not Thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

7. A close relationship with the Lord is the secret of a bright countenance.

Job 11:13-15 If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward Him; 14 If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. 15 For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear.

Psalm 42:11b I shall yet praise Him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Ecclesiastes 8:1b A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.

Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

John 12:35,36 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.

Acts 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him [Stephen], saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

8. A bright, happy, full-of-faith countenance is part of our witness for the Lord.

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven. [See Luke 11:36]

Luke 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.

Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Isaiah 60:3 [A bright countenance is winsome] And the Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to the brightness of Thy rising.

Matthew 6:16-18 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

Philippians 2:14,15 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him Who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.