For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 1 Peter 3:12
While I was driving a couple of my granddaughters home from their swim team practice, the radio was on, with a CBC documentary about a survivor of the holocaust in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Hannah noticed an unfamiliar term and turned to me to ask, ‘What’s a Nazi?’ The fact that this term was unfamiliar to her is a good thing! Our children and grandchildren have been spared the horrors of knowing the evil inflicted on the world by the Third Reich. I briefly explained to her about those vile people, including the horror of Hitler’s murder of six million Jews. And I added that Hitler’s punishment will be so much the greater because of God’s promise against those who raise their hand against His chosen people. It is a glaring example of what our text today speaks concerning the face of God against them that do evil.
I have always been touched by the lovely benediction of Numbers 6:24-26: ‘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.’ This is the benediction that Aaron the high priest and his sons were to use to bless the children of Israel. And it is a reminder to us today of the greatness of the privilege of having the face of the Lord turned our way. It is also a reminder of the joyous anticipation of every believer to see the face of our Saviour when we reach our eternal home. Amid all of the wonders of Heaven, none will hold our attention like that of our Saviour’s countenance. But that very face that you and I are so anxiously longing to see is the very same face that will forever fill with dread the souls of those who have done evil.
Many people were disappointed at the end of the Second World War that Adolph Hitler was not captured alive, to face a court for his horrible crimes, believing that he had escaped the justice that was his due. But Hitler will one day see the face of the God before which he committed those crimes. And justice will be perfectly dispensed. So will justice be perfect against all others who have committed terrible crimes, and even those whose crimes were – in human reckoning – minor or non existent. That is why you and I should never concern ourselves with vengeance against those who injure us; God will handle that case.
How terrible for those against whom God has turned His face in judgment! How glorious for those toward whom God has turned His face in blessing! – Jim MacIntosh