If those are the objective blessings of being in the light of God’s face, what are the subjective effects when this light brings us to God, opens our eyes, pours his delight over us, and makes us a blessing to the nations?
It is obvious that the psalmist considers the light of God’s face to be a thrilling place to be. But it is made explicit for us:
- Job 33:26 — “Man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy.”
- Psalm 16:11 — “In your presence [same word as face in Psalm 4:6: “before your face”] there is fullness of joy.”
- Psalm 17:15 — “I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”
A shout of joy. Fullness of joy. Satisfaction in the morning. Because the light of God’s face is lifted up upon us.
“The most basic thing that distinguishes a Christian is a new gladness in a new God through a new gospel.”
And in all three of those texts, our joy is in God himself — not his gifts. We see his face and shout. Before his face we are full. When we see his likeness we are satisfied. To be sure, God is the giver of every good and perfect gift (abounding grain and wine), but when attention is called to the light of his face, and the prayer goes up: “Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” (Psalm 4:6), the cry is not mainly for the joy of grain and wine — or any created thing. The joy of his face is joy in the person of God, the radiance, the brightness, the beauty, the glory of God.
This is the new gladness of the psalmist. And given this context, I conclude, it is better than the gladness of the world in every way: the source is infinite and supremely beautiful, the duration is eternal, and the quality of it is unique because no mere man can see and enjoy the holy beauty of God. He must experience a miracle.
God’s Light Overcomes Our Blindness
And on this side of the incarnation and the cross, this new gladness is described with striking relevance to our text like this:
The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. . . . [But] God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” [to remedy our blindness] has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4, 6)
What was the psalmist crying out for in Psalm 4:6? “Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” That prayer is answered supremely when God causes the eyes of our heart to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospel. Once we were blind and saw in the gospel nothing compelling. We thought we had a better god and a better gospel and a better gladness because our grain and wine were abounding. Then God shone into our hearts, and the “light of God” was lifted up in the face of Jesus. And we awoke from death.
And when we awoke, we didn’t only see spiritual beauty with the eyes of our heart (Ephesians 1:18). We also smelled the sweet spiritual aroma of Christ with the noses of our heart (2 Corinthians 2:15–16). And we tasted the satisfying goodness of God with the tongues of our heart (1 Peter 2:2–3). And we touched the healing fringe of the garment of God with the finger of our heart (Matthew 9:20; 1 John 1:1). And we heard the song of God rejoicing over us with gladness (Zephaniah 3:17).
And what is the point of a new fragrance of Christ, a new taste of divine kindness, a new touch of wholeness, a new sound of God’s song, and a new sight of God’s bright and smiling face? What’s the point of those sensuous images of conversion? The point is: the most basic, most essential distinction between the Christian and the non-Christian is not new decisions of the will, not new deeds of the hands, not new doctrines in the mind, but a new delightin the heart — new spiritual beauty, new spiritual taste, new spiritual touch, new spiritual fragrance, new spiritual sound. A new gladness, in a new God, through a new gospel.
