A Face Like A Flint

A Face Like A Flint
Or Harder Than A Rock

"The more impudent wicked people are in their opposition to religion the more openly and resolutely should God's people appear in the practice and defence of it...
When vice is daring let not virtue be sneaking...
Bold sinners must have bold reprovers; evil beasts must be rebuked cuttingly, must be saved with fear. Those that keep closely to the service of God may be sure of the favor of God, and then they need not be dismayed at the proud looks of men..." - Matthew Henry

God uses "flint" in the Scriptures to show us two general categories into which we are falling. We are either going the way of courage, boldness, firmness, determination, or resolution in doing good, or we are going the way of shamelessness, inattention, haughtiness, or rebellion in doing evil. We are either moving toward God and doing His will with a sold-out determination, or else we are moving away from Him and fighting His will with indifference or rebellion.

It is said of the Lord Jesus in Isaiah 50:7 - "For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."

Amidst scorn, contempt, and ridicule, we can be assured that God will "help" us. He will sustain us and keep us with His favor and mighty protection.

The Lord Jesus, as the Messiah and the Redeemer of all mankind, laid down His life. He made a voluntary sacrifice. He was fully determined to brave it all or face any and all sorts of dangers in order to do the Father's will. He went forth with a readiness, a holy and undaunted perseverance, and an unshaken fortitude and fidelity. He couldn't be dissuaded or discouraged from the Great Task that lay before Him. No matter what - He wouldn't shrink back even at the sight of rejection, hardship, or suffering.

When a man is said to go toward an object or a goal with unshrinking firmness and steadfastness, it is said that he "set his face" toward it.
Hence, we read of Jesus in Isaiah 50:7 - "...therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."
And then again, in Luke 9:51, it is said of Him that - "...He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem."

To "set" one's "face like a flint" is to actually harden one's face, brow, or forehead with an unshakeable focus on a certain goal to reach, a task to accomplish, or a direction at which to arrive, allowing nothing to hinder or to obstruct one's way.

In Ezekiel 3:9, we read of this same determination in the Prophet Ezekiel - "As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house."

Ezekiel's "mission field" was the sin-hardened people of God. In order to reach them, God made him harder. The Scriptures tell us that He gave His Prophet a forehead - "...as an adamant harder than flint..."

His "forehead" or firmness and boldness could be likened unto a diamond, meant to cut like flint the people's hardened hearts. God endued him with a strength that was stronger than theirs. As much as they were determined to go on in their sin, he was determined further to deliver God's message to them in hopes that they would humble themselves and repent.

We can see this same bold resolution depicted in Jeremiah 1:18 where it says of the Prophet Jeremiah -"For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land..."

In a sense we could say that Jeremiah "set his face like a flint" to do God's will. Like the Prophet Ezekiel, God gave him an unfailing and unshaken determination to prevail despite persecution and humiliating treatment. Nothing could sink his spirits or drive him from his work. By the Power of God, he was said to have been made and fortified like a "defenced city," "an iron pillar," and "brasen walls" to stand "against the whole land."

We can also hear the same determination in the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:16 when he said - "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth..." He "set his face like a flint" to do God's will even if it meant great suffering for Christ's sake.

On the other side of the coin, so to speak, we have a people who have "set their face like a flint" to accomplish a goal. Unlike Jesus, the Prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and the Apostle Paul, their goal is to "do their own thing" no matter who likes it.

Despite the preaching and prophesying of the various Prophets, God's backslidden people were said to have "made their faces harder than a rock" and to have "made their hearts as an adamant stone..." We read of them in the Books of Jeremiah and Zechariah -

Jeremiah 5:3 - "O LORD, are not Thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return."

Zechariah 7:11-13 - "But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as He cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts."

These people were determined, resolute, and steadfast - not to do God's will - but their own. They were wilful, stubborn, and inflexible in their sinful ways. Their faces were harder than a rock, and their hearts were extremely adamant as granite or a diamond. They couldn't be softened by the Word of the Lord. With an unholy persistence, they continued onward in their wickedness and stubbornness. No amount of coaxing, threatening, or correction could turn them around.

In Ezekiel 3:7, God referred to them as being "impudent and hardhearted" - "But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto Me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

In other words, they "set their face like a flint" to rebel. "They...made their faces harder than a rock" against the Word of the Lord through the Prophets. "They made their hearts as an adamant stone." Nothing could move them from their sinful ways. They had absolutely no regard for God's law or warnings.

Presumption, impudence, and brazenness are distinct characteristics of the wicked.
In Proverbs 21:29, we read - "A wicked man hardeneth his face..." Despite the various warnings and rebukes from God, he will not turn from his stubborn ways.
Romans 2:5 - His heart is "impenitent." It is calloused. It is no longer affected by any calls to repentance.

We are either moving in the way of the Lord or our own way.
Our foreheards are either "adamant" against Sin or for Sin.
Our hearts are growing softer and softer in the Lord's hands or harder and harder.

We are either the Preachers whose foreheads are "as an adamant harder than flint," or we are the people who have made their hearts "as an adamant stone."

Isaiah 50:7 says - "...therefore have I set my face like a flint..."

Into which category do you fall?

Let the flint stone help you determine that today.

May God Bless His Word.
Connie

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