Face-to-Face is Powerful and Preferred - 3 John

3 John 1:13 (ESV)

Final Greetings

I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink.

There is power in face-to-face conversations.   We live in the virtual world.    Whether it is a world we were supposed to invent or not, the argument is moot ... we are here.   God intends us to talk to Him spiritually.  That means we neither see Him or have face-to-face conversations.   Notice what He said to Moses, when Moses asked to see Him:

Exodus 33:20 (ESV)

But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

We will see Jesus face, eventually.  The end of the Bible records the glory of the new heaven and the new earth.  One of the truths we, as believers, hold on to is that we will see Jesus face:

Revelation 22:4 (ESV)

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

So, there is power in seeing Jesus, eternally.   When God sent Jesus to the earth, we were able to see God in the flesh in the face and activities of Jesus:

John 14:9 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

There is power in seeing face-to-face.   John, in this little gospel knows this truth.  He said the same thing at the end of 2 John.  He wants to see those in the Body of Christ.   We can communicate virtually all we want, but the power in inter-personal relationships is what Christ came to create.  Through His life and death and resurrection we are able to have the hope of a face-to face meeting with God.   Should not we long for the same thing with God’s people.   John could write more.  But, he longs to see them more.  That should be the desire of every believer ... to see other believers and fellowship and instruct one another.