OCTADE
@octade@soc.octade.net
To 'see the face' of an authority figure or ruler is a turn of phrase, or idiom. It is not necessarily literal. In the ancient near east, Orient, and Mesopotamia, 'the face' of a ruler meant his representative or authorized agent. If you see the king's ambassador, you are seeing the king's 'face'. Jesus even said,
"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
Jesus was not claiming to be the Father. He was claiming to be his 'face' or representative.
'Jacob' means 'supplanter'. He supplanted Esau in the birthright of the older brother, in the same way that Christ and the Apostles supplanted Judea with the new body of Christ. Paul the Apostle explains this:
"For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."
The story of Jacob versus Esau and Isaac and Ishmael are prophecy of the struggle between fleshly Israel and Christ, who supplants the kingdom of Judea with the new body of Christ, the people of the new covenant. Thus Paul said:
"Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. [note: The Jews who persecuted the Nazarenes are Ishmael.] Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."
Judea was cast out and supplanted by the new covenant believers. This is Jacob, or Israel, taking Esau's birthright, as prophesied in Genesis. The New Covenant people supplanted the Old Covenant people. This is Jacob supplanting Esau and becoming Israel. Paul directly identifies the ancient Judeans as the Hagar or Ishmael of the Old Testament, contiguous to the Esau of Genesis:
"For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children."
Thus the ancient Jews were not Israel:
"Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
In this same vein Paul elaborates that the Jews of his day are actually Esau rather than Jacob:
"It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
The flesh is Esau. The spirit is Israel. The spiritual are counted for the seed, while the flesh is counted for the elder who is rejected and supplanted by the younger Jacob / supplanter.
'Israel' means he that rules with God or as God, and means that Israel is God's new 'face'.
Jesus is the head of Israel. The believers are the body of Christ or Israel.
Anyone who sees a true Nazarene minister who knows and speaks the truth of Christ's gospel without lies or hypocrisy, is 'seeing the face of Christ.'