Sunday, January 5, 2014

Seeing God

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. John 1:18
 
No one has seen God, since He is a spirit, but there are several instances recorded in the Old Testament when He assumed a visible form. In Exodus 33:12-23 God and Moses have a discussion just before God renews His covenant and then gives Moses the second set of Ten Commandments. During that conversation, in what we read in verse 20, God said…"You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" Other recorded occurrences of people seeing God are found in the following verses:
      Genesis 32:30 (Jacob after he wrestled with who is presumed to be Christ) So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved."         

Exodus 24:9-10 (A large group of the Israelite leaders at Mt. Sinai.) Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.

      Judges 13:19-22 NLT (Sampson’s parents, when they were told that they would have a son.) Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a rock as a sacrifice to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife watched, the LORD did an amazing thing. As the flames from the altar shot up toward the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the fire. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground. The angel did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Manoah finally realized it was the angel of the LORD, and he said to his wife, "We will certainly die, for we have seen God!"

      Isaiah 6:1, 5 (Isaiah in a prophetic dream.)  In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. ... Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

      Daniel 7:1, 9 (Daniel, in a vision.) In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. ... "I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire."

So we won’t likely see God, face to face, here on earth, but we can grasp an understanding of Him from things that Jesus showed us about our Heavenly Father. As Jesus said…All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Matthew 11:27. 

RSVP: Jesus is offering us information about His Father, our Heavenly Father. Will you respond and accept this revelation about Him? 

Prayer~Dear Jesus, thank you for sharing information about our Heavenly Father. Open our eyes, ears, and hearts to see and understand all that You are explaining to us. Grant us the wisdom to see Him more clearly every day.

© 2014 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.

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