I have been surprised from time to time when a certain disc jockey, whom I've heard on the radio, looks totally different than what I imagined. I had pictured a certain face in my mind to go along with the voice I heard. Perhaps you've done the same. You also may have formed an image in your mind of what God looks like. However, no one knows what He looks like for God told Moses, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (Exodus 33:20 NKJV). But that is only while we live on the earth. In heaven, the Bible says, They shall see His face (Revelation 22:4a).
Even though we do not know what God looks like, nor have we seen the face of His Son, we do know what He is like. We know His character, and what He likes as well as what He hates. We know His will for man, and His desire for all to be with Him in heaven (cf. 2 Peter 3:9). We know He is just and righteous, but also merciful and kind. We know that He is absolutely holy and must punish those who sin (Habakkuk 1:13), but that He is also gracious. Not only can we read about these attributes of God in the Bible, we can picture them in our minds when we read of Immanuel, "God with us," when He walked this earth.
Moses and the apostle Philip made similar requests about seeing God. Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18). Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us” (John 14:8). Both requests were denied in part as Moses was allowed to see God's back as He passed by him, while Philip was told that he had already seen the Father because he had seen His Son, Jesus. I believe both requests were made sincerely so that their faith could be complete. But the answer to both was for those men to look not for God's face, but where God had been and what he had done. Regarding the passage about Moses, one commentator wrote, "In vivid pictorial language, the passage says that man may see only where God has passed by (verses 22, 23) and so know him by his past doings and acts" (R. Alan Cole, Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 2, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 235). Or as Paul wrote, For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Indeed we can know what the Father is like when we study the life of Jesus: Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’"(John 14:9)? There is no clearer picture that you and I can see and live to tell about it. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15). When Jesus willingly suffered on the cross for us, it's as if the Father did the same. Knowing that ought to be sufficient for us.
Therefore, since we can know God not by seeing His face, but by what He has said and done, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away (Hebrews 2:1). If we truly know God based on our study of Scripture, then we know that what He says He means, and means what He says. On that basis, He calls us to make the decision to forsake all and follow Him (Luke 14:33). Everything we need to know about God has been revealed to us. If we live our lives in accordance with the word of God, then we are going to see Him some wonderful day.
Brotherly, Jamie
