How well we know in actual life what the light of the countenance means! How the mother's smile brings light and gladness into the heart of the child! How the welcoming look of a friend is at once understood! In Daniel ix. 16, 17, the prophet prays, "O Lord ... I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city, Jerusalem; ... and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate." Where there is the shining of the face we know there is more than forgiveness; there is favour and complacence. In the thrice-offered prayer of Psalm lxxx, "Cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved," the salvation of Israel is counted upon as the result; and in Psalm lxvii, we find that the shining of GOD'S face upon His people is further to issue in His way being "known upon earth, His saving health among all nations." It is, however, when we consider Him in the relationship of BRIDEGROOM and KING that the tenderness and preciousness of this blessing are most fully seen. A truly royal BRIDEGROOM: "in His favour is life," and to Him we can approach at all times, without any fear that He will hide His countenance, or that He will not hold out to us the golden sceptre. Queen Esther might tremble for the result of her boldness, but our KING ever welcomes the approach of His Bride. When her heart cries out, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth," He is ever ready to bring her into His chambers; indeed it is often the BRIDEGROOM who has to allure the Bride,[C] rather than the Bride who has to seek the favour of the BRIDEGROOM. It is only when she has treated him with neglect or disobedience that she finds herself in darkness. And what is not His favour to a loyal and true-hearted Bride! To a subject, the favour of the KING is "as dew upon the grass," but to a bride is it not everything? "JEHOVAH, the BRIDEGROOM, make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee!"