Articles
How Do We "See" God?
On the surface it does seem a bit strange that the God who wants us to believe in Him, obey Him and serve Him, perhaps even at the cost of our lives, does not appear to us in His unaltered, unfiltered divine state. What makes it more puzzling are statements such as:
“Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel …” (Ex 24:9-10).
“And he [Moses] said, ‘Please show me Your glory’ … And the Lord said, ‘You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (Ex 33:20).
“And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved’” (Gn 32:30).
“No one has seen God at any time …” (Jn 1:18; 1 Jn 4:12).
“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Is 6:5).
“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father” (Jn 6:46).
What are we to make of such seemingly contradictory passages?
It is understandable how a skeptic might seize upon such scriptures as hopelessly conflicted and evidence that the Bible is a flawed human product. But any jaded opponent can take the documents of his adversary and, without context declare them inconsistent. Further, a literalist interpretation of literature fails to account for figurative, symbolic expressiveness that is designed to appeal not to logic but the emotional capacity of man.
It strikes me in the above list that the absolute statements are the ones declaring that “no one has seen God at any time” (Jn 1:18). Why might that be so? Because, as God stated to Moses, “No man shall see me, and live” (Ex 33:20). This implies an incompatibility between man and God in their present states. But didn’t God make man “in His image” (Gn 1:26-27)? What is it that is fatal to man’s direct exposure to the unfiltered glory of God? Here are two possibilities:
1. There is an enormous qualitative difference between created things and the eternal Creator. This earthly phase of man’s existence is so vastly inferior to God’s reality that the two are simply not compatible. Unmitigated exposure to Him is simply deadly by virtue of His supreme glory.
2. The sins of mankind, universal and pervasive, have so corrupted us that we, in our impurity and ruination, cannot tolerate the unblemished perfection of God.
How, then, is it said that certain ones like Jacob, the Mosaic delegation on Sinai and Ezekiel have seen God? Barring outright contradiction, which is not a necessary conclusion of the evidence, the answer seems to lie in the general practice of God to present Himself to mankind in representative ways that accommodate the chasm between them.
Jacob made his declaration after wrestling all night with “a Man” (Gn 32:24) who requested Jacob release him, then changed his name to Israel and pronounced blessing upon him (32:26-29). It is apparent that this episode carries symbolic meaning, for Scripture repeatedly portrays God as infinitely powerful and can destroy entire armies in an instant. Shall we think that Jacob had God in a headlock from which He could not extricate Himself and then cried “uncle”? This is absurd and fails to account for the fact that Jacob was at a critical moment of life and needed a special, symbolic encounter with God to comfort and strengthen him.
Further, Isaiah “saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’” (Is 6:1-3). This is an “apocalyptic vision” of God not unlike other Biblical descriptions in Revelation, Zechariah, Daniel, etc. Isaiah is being commissioned as a prophet and is given a symbolic picture of God’s glory to establish him.
The great Moses, emancipator and lawgiver who enjoyed intimate communion with God (expressed as, “He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face” – Num 12:8), could not see God’s “face”; i.e., His natural state. Moses saw the presence of God in a burning bush, in a cloud, on a mountain, in lightning, etc.; he heard God’s voice in some sort of terrifying timbre that frightened the Israelites. This is not double-speak; it is the difference between the literal and the symbolic.
In English we actually use the word “see” in similar ways: we “see” our parent in our children (resemblance or mannerism); we “see” someone in a photograph (a likeness on paper); we “see” the sunset (colors reflected in the atmosphere from our unseen star); we “see” the wind (its effects blowing leaves, flags, etc.). This is a natural feature of communication, not an evidence that we are hopelessly contradictory in our language.
We must accept the simple truth that God “alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see …” (1 Tim 6:16). We will truly not see God in this life. The best view we have – and God has deemed it sufficient – is to look at Jesus as He is described in Scripture: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (Jn 1:18). Like Moses, Philip requested to see the Father (Jn 14:8). His request is born of a carnal insecurity that he mistakenly thinks will be remedied in spite of the fact that he is in the same room as Christ. Jesus patiently responds, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (14:9).
It was not God’s plan to make Himself visible to us on earth; rather, He reveals Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ. Through Him we have hope of seeing God in eternity: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (Jn 3:2-3).
