Exodus 33:20 But,” he said, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’
THE CONUNDRUM:
Can a man see God’s face, or not?
Exodus 33:11 says that “the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend”, and yet, when Moses later asked to see His face, the Lord said he could not see His face and live (Exodus 33:20). Also,in Genesis 32:30, Jacob said he had seen God’s face, but John 1:18 tells us: No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
What are we missing?
READ ALSO: THE RETURN OF JESUS
Biblical Examples
Hagar: Genesis 16:13 “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.'”
Jacob: Genesis 32:30 “So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.'”
Job: Job 42:5 “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.“
Exodus 24:9-11 “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.”
READ NEXT: BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS (Part 14B)
Moses’s Encounters
Moses: Exodus 3:2-6 “There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.’ When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”
Moses :Numbers 12:6-8 “he said, ‘Listen to my words: ‘When there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?'”
Next, we’ll consider the scriptures that clearly assert no one can see God.
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