Has Anyone Seen God?
The Argument:
Has anyone seen God? John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time.
(Ex 33:20; Tim. 6:16; John 6:46; I John 4:12) Gen. 32:30 For I have seen god
face to face. (Ex. 33:11, 23; Is. 6:1; Job 42:5)
How do you harmonize these passages?
The Answer:
Seeing God "face
to face" is the highest imaginable experience. A person gets so close to "face to
face" that they cannot imagine getting any closer. So, when a person says he came "face to
face" with death, they mean that they cannot imagine getting any closer to
the actual experience.
Still, it is a figure of speech. Mortals cannot literally look into the face
of God and live. This body is not suitable for such an event. Thus, God has revealed Himself in veiled ways
and some have come closer to the experience than others in meeting God in as
personable way as can be allowed. The
experience was far more intimate and personal than before, and so, in
comparison to prior experiences, a person might be known to say that, as far as
he was concerned, he had seen God "face to face". If we allow for figures of speech (which we
must), then we cannot consider these face-to-face statements to be any more of
a contradiction than the example of the biography that said both "he went
to church"( meaning "usually" in one context) and in a later
part of the biography we find "he did not go to church" (meaning with
reference to a specific day when he was sick).
There is a way for both statements to be true in their various contexts.
If one text says "no man has seen God" (with,
perhaps, an unveiled, fully revealed, presence in mind) and another passage
shows where man "saw God" (but has in mind, a close encounter, but
somewhat less than full disclosure of His actual glory), then the language does
not represent an actual ontradiction. It would be that a figure of speech was
used in the encounter much like "I came face to face with
death". To counter my argument,
which admittedly was not a full treatment of the subject, one writer presented
the case for a real, face-to-face encounter between Moses and God. The writer
appeals to the
following passage:
Exodus 33:7 -Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it
outside the camp, far off from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone
who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the
camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand,
each of them, at the entrance of their tents and watch Moses until he had gone
into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the
tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. 10 When
all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent,
all the people would rise and bow down, all of them, at the entrance of their
tent. 11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a
friend. Then he would return to the camp; but his young assistant, Joshua son
of Nun, would not leave the tent.
Note: What gives away the fact that this is not a literal
"face-to-face" (viewing each other personally) encounter? Well, verse 9 has Moses inside the tent and
verse 10 has the Lord in the "pillar of cloud"(which conceals full
glory) and "at the entrance of the tent" (which is not actually
inside and unconcealed where Moses was).
No doubt it was special, a very close encounter. But, this was still not
unveiled face-to-face (personally looking in the literal face of God). Two
Muslim women could talk face to face as one speaks to a friend and still have
their veils on. The expression "face-to-face"
does not tell us how naked or covered their literal faces were. It speaks of a more intimate encounter and conversation
than God had with the other people. In
comparison to the others, it was face to face, that is, much more intimate than
their own encounter.
It would be much like watching a robber on a monitor and
seeing his disguised form move face to face with the store clerk. Even if the robber were wearing a mask, it
would still be a face-to-face encounter between the robber and the clerk, but
it would not be face to face with those viewing only the monitor or seeing this
happen from a distance. But, to further
demonstrate that Moses did not have an unveiled encounter with God, we see
Moses admitting this just a few verses later.
18 Moses said, "Show me your glory, I pray."
19 And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass
before you, and will proclaim before you
the name, 'The LORD'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But," he said, "you
cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live."
Note: How could it be "face to face" without
seeing His face? By "face to face"
meaning close, intimate, and personal encounter rather than having to do with
what Moses actually SAW with his own eyes.
The expression "face to face" does not have to do with what we
SEE. It is an expression of close, intimate encounter. Thus, it is a figure of speech in this
context. To get around this, the Bible
critic invents the idea that this part of the passage "contradicts"
the other part, or they try to rationalize that two different authors are involved in which the first
writer is contradicted by the later writer.
No, there is no contradiction.
There is simply a misunderstanding (intentional or unintentional) as to
what is meant by "face to face".
21 And the LORD continued, "See, there is a place by me
where you shall stand on the rock; 22 and while my glory passes by I will put
you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have
passed by; 23 then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face
shall not be seen."
Now, to counter my argument, Mr. Weida (or Vida) said:
It is quite obvious from the reading in exodus that god
actually comes down and makes his presence, possibly physical, known to Moses in direct contact,
face to face, as one speaks to a friend. This doesn't indicate to me that the
relationship god and Moses had was "face to face" figuratively, as
one speaks to a friend. It indicates literally, as one would sit down and speak
to a friend, literally face to face,
My Reply:
The Hebrew word has various shades of meaning. A common
nuance is "presence to presence",
The word is most commonly rendered "before", which means in this
case that each one was before the other (saying nothing about what was literally
seen or how extensively revealed or covered each party was). So, all we can gather from the context is
that Moses met "face to face" with God, and that expression does not
reflect what either party actually SAW.
It was a literal "presence to presence"
confrontation, but the expression is also not a literal, precise declaration of
what Moses SAW. The store clerk came
face to face with a robber, but that does not tell us anything about the
literal face of the robber. He could be
wearing a mask and it is still a face to face experience. Our text tells us
that Moses COULD NOT see the actual face of God and live. So, there are various levels of interaction, and
face to face was not, in this case, a SIGHT-OF-GOD'S-FACE matter, but a close,
person-to-person presence with each other.
The text tells us specifically where Moses was (in the
tent), where God was (in a cloud at the door of the tent) and specifically what
Moses DID NOT SEE. The text also tells
exactly WHY Moses could not see the actual face of God. It was because "no
man can see the face of God and live".
This is a much more intimate encounter that man is not suited to
experience. Therefore, SPEAKING face to face
as one speaks to a friend, does not equate with SEEING the actual face of
God. "Face to face" is a manner
of speech, confrontation, communication, but does not necessarily relate to
what one SEES in the face to face experience.
I have shown that the context defines the nature of the face to face as
close encounter and intimate communication. There are other passages that have
this same connotation:
Strong's defines "paniym" (paw-neem'); plural (but
always as singular) of an unused noun [paneh (paw-neh'); from OT:6437]; the
face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications
(literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition
(before,etc.):
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance
with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and
International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Num 12:8
8 I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in
dark sayings; And he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant
Moses?" NKJV
This passage pertains to the closeness and more direct
SPEAKING and HEARING experience and explains that face to face means "EVEN
PLAINLY" and not in dark sayings, and he SEES THE FORM of the Lord (not
His face). Therefore, face to face does
not have to do with what one SEES, necessarily, but in the proximity of two
individuals in communication.
Num 14:13-15
13 And Moses said to the LORD: "Then the Egyptians will
hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, 14 and
they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You,
LORD, are among these people; that You, LORD, are seen face to face and that
Your cloud stands above them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by
day and in a pillar of fire by night.
NKJV
This passage claims that compared to other people, Israel
saw God face to face in the presence they saw in the cloud and pillar of
fire. This was a face to face experience
for the Israelites, though it does not make a claim about them seeing the
actual face of God.
Deut 5:3-6
3 The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but
with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. 4 The LORD talked
with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. 5 I stood
between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD;
for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He
said:
6'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage.NKJV
Once again, this is a passage that denotes "presence to
presence" as the nature of the "face to face" experience, but
says nothing about them seeing God in all His unveiled, radiant glory, or
seeing His face.
Deut 34:10-12
10 But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet
like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 in all the signs and wonders
which the LORDsent him to do in the land
of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, 12 and
by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the
sight of all Israel. NKJV
This passage shows that Moses knew the Lord face to face IN
ALL THE SIGNS AND WONDERS. It is a claim to the intimate connection Moses had
with God, but does not relate to Moses glaring in the unveiled face of God.
Ezek 20:34-37
35 And I will bring
you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you
face to face. 36 Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness
of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you," says the Lord GOD.
NKJV
This is long after the Babylonian Captivity. The same idea of what face to face meant is
continued. God wanted to plead with them
face to face. But, He wanted to do it in the same manner that He did it in the
wilderness of the land of Egypt. But, in
the wilderness of the land of Egypt they did not look directly into the
unveiled face of God, nor did He present Himself to them in that way. The
evidence shows that face to face speaks of presence to presence communication,
but does not always relate to what one sees, or even if one sees the actual
face of God. Therefore, I must conclude
that Mr. Weida (Vida) is mistaken as to what the passages speak of in Exodus,
Isaiah, and Job. Each case was a close
encounter of a personal nature, but in neither case does the text say that man
saw the actual face of God. They saw a
form, or a cloud, or a mental dream-vision, or a pillar of fire, or a whirlwind,
or some other veiled experience, but they did not see the unveiled, actual face
of God and live to tell about it. This
cannot be done until we are clothed with that immortal body that is suited to
the glorious experience.
Terry W. Benton
