As we look at His Holy Face, we see the face of a man that was beaten, reviled, spit upon. His beard and moustache were plucked, His nose broken. His scalp was bleeding from the crown of thorns.
And yet…
..His face is serene, calm, even regal. He did not complain, cry out or answer his accusers. He humbly accepted his mission and, while dying on the cross, He said, “It is finished.”
In Isaiah 50.6-7 the Prophet says, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame (buffeting) and spitting.
For the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; He who vindicates me is near.”
On the road to Emmaus, Jesus told the disciples, (Luke 24:44) “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.”
Does the Shroud also show that Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses, the psalms and the prophets? Look closely at The Holy Face. Is there something unusual about the blood “flow” on His forehead? It looks like the number 3, but our numerical system hadn’t been invented for another 700 years. Could it be a Hebrew symbol?
In fact that “number” is very similar to the 18th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the Tsade. In Psalm 119 we find the left side of the letter “tsade” represents a humble and faithful servant bent in submission (kneeling). On the right is a hand lifted up to God. Put those two things together and you have a righteous person. The word “tsade” means “righteous one”. Only the humble are truly righteous.
Ps. 119.10-106 says, “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe thy righteous ordinances.”
Ps 119.142-144 also states, “Thy righteousness is righteousness forever, and thy law is true. Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but thy commandments are my delight. Thy testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live.”
Isaiah prophesies Jesus’ death and glorious resurrection in Chapter 53.10-11. “Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand; he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one (Tsade), my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.”
Righteousness is prevalent in the New Testament, In Romans 1:16 Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, 1 as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
It says in Revelation 19:6, “Then I heard something like the sound of a great multitude or the sound of rushing water and mighty peals of thunder, crying,
“Halleluia! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding day of the Lamb* has come, his bride has made herself ready; 8 It was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure.”
Revelation 22:3-4 states, “ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.“
Could it be the Tsade that appears on the forehead of Jesus also be on the foreheads of the saints?
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