Deuteronomy 32:20

And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

Faith here in Vine’s is ʼêmûwn, ay-moon’; from H539; established, i.e. (figuratively) trusty; also (abst trustworthiness:—faith(-ful), truth

How can we place our faith in someone we do not know? How can we trust someone that has not proven themselves to be true? The fact that God hid His face from that generation was because forward is tahpukâh, tah-poo-kaw’; from H2015; a perversity or fraud:—(very) froward(-ness, thing), perverse thing.

We do not see ourselves as perverse. At least I hope we don’t. What can we do to break this cycle of God’s hidden face and our perverse nature?

The answer is nothing.

Matthew 19:24-26 English Standard Version

24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

What has God done to make salvation possible?

John 3:16-17 English Standard Version

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

These are the most quoted scriptures in history. It is very likely that a world full of unbelievers have heard it. What moves them from unbelief to belief in order to place their faith in Christ? Do they even know what that means?

Mark 5:19 “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

I can tell you what the Lord has done for me, but first you must know me and trust me in order to believe my witness. We cannot do that by hiding our faces from them.

Colossians 2:9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

John 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

2 Corinthians 5:5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

1 Timothy 3:16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

I have divided these scriptures into two sections because the religious leaders in those days did not believe that God would ever reveal Himself as a man. They had no understanding of the Trinity. It was their belief that God could speak to the prophets and perhaps even rest upon a man as spirit, but to live inside a man as half human and half God was impossible. They could not reconcile their belief with what they saw when Jesus entered the world as fully man and fully God.

Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

How could God live inside man in harmony?

Jesus showed us that love for the Father reigned in His being and did not allow His humanity to corrupt His holiness. He was perfect first in love and then in performance. Love ruled.

Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Our connection between our humanity and His holiness is the faith we placed in Christ.