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Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 22:4, they will see his face
God told Moses no one could see his face and live; John says God's servants will see it.
Revelation 22:4, in every translation this tool compares.
A door marked no entry that later swings open on its own changes the meaning of the old sign. At Sinai Moses asked to see God's glory. God said no one could see his face and live. John says all God's servants will see it. What was closed even to Moses is now open to everyone in the city.
Seeing God's face. The Greek of Exodus 33:20 has idein to prosopon mou, to see my face; John has opsontai to prosopon autou, they will see his face.
Exodus says no one can. John says they will. He gives no condition and no limit. Psalm 17:15 and other psalms only hope for it. The sources give the reason in what has changed: the people are now made clean and the whole city is the holy place.
Seeing God's face is the highest blessing of the age to come, the ESV Study Bible says. Beale calls it the answer to the old prayer that God would shine his face on his people. What would have killed a sinner now brings life.
Not a contradiction of Exodus. Exodus speaks of sinful people in the old world. John speaks of a cleansed people in a new one, the ESV Study Bible and Beale both say.
Keener says God's once-hidden face (Exodus 33:20) will now be fully shown; the ESV Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible make the same contrast with Moses. Beale says the hope of seeing God's face runs through the psalms (Psalms 11:4-7; 17:15; 27:4) and Jewish writings, and that a revelation that would once bring death (Exodus 33:20) now brings eternal life. He hears the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:25-27 behind 22:4-5, where God's face shines and his name is placed on Israel. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes Jewish hopes of seeing God's face at the end. The grade is drawn here as possible: the words are general, and the sources name Exodus as a contrast more than as a source.
Beale makes the priestly blessing of Numbers 6 the text most in mind; Keener, the ESV Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible point to Moses at Sinai. The sources do not say whether the face is God's or the Lamb's; Beale says it is unclear and that both are present.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 22:4-5
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 22:4
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:4
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:4
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:4
- Septuagint, Exodus 33:20, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 22:4
