TEXT:
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ (Matthew 5:8).
What’s God like? That’s a question people often ask whether they are a Christian or not. All we really have is how God is described in the bible. Pictures of Jesus usually portray a Western white skin colour when He was a Jew. Isaiah prophesied about the coming Messiah, ‘There is no beauty that we should desire Him’ (Isaiah 53:2), so it wasn’t good looks that made Jesus attractive while on earth, but what He said and did. Jesus told His disciples, ‘He that has seen Me has seen the Father also’ (John 14:9). So, by studying Jesus, we’ll have a good idea of the Father’s attributes, because God is a spirit.
1. The restriction on seeing God
Sin robbed us of God’s presence. Adam and Eve walked and talked with God face to face in the Garden of Eden, but when they disobeyed His command, God had to withdraw. They never saw God’s face again and man has lived with that restriction ever since.
Moses asked God, ‘Show me Your way …. Show me Your glory’ (Exodus 33:13, 18). Although he had seen the manifestation of God on Sinai and heard Him talking to him, he wanted more. God’s response was, ‘You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live’ (Exodus 33:20). God told Moses it was for his benefit that he wouldn’t be able to look on God. In a similar way, we are told not to look at the sun, especially when there is an eclipse, because it can damage our eyes. When Jesus appeared as a great light to Saul of Tarsus, it temporarily blinded him (See Acts 9:3).
When the angel told Manoah and his wife about the coming birth of their child Samson, and then ascended to heaven in the flame of their sacrificial offering, Manoah’s first response was ‘We shall surely die, because we have seen God’ (Judges 13:22). That was the prevailing thought at that time. His wife reassured him that because God had accepted their offering, He wanted to bless them, not bring about judgment.
2. The possibility of a partial revelation
Down through the ages, people have had divine encounters with the Angel of the Lord, who was the Lord Himself. This is called a theophany, a visible manifestation of God. Hagar said, ‘Have I also seen Him who sees me?’ (Genesis 16:13).
Moses was joined by Aaron and his two sons and the seventy elders on Mount Sinai, where they all saw the manifestation of God. Only Moses was allowed to draw close to God and God spoke to him face to face (See Numbers 12:8).
Isaiah wrote, ‘I saw the Lord, He was high and lifted up’ (Isaiah 6:1). Other prophets such as Ezekiel had similar experiences.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples saw something no one had ever seen before, when Jesus’s face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white. John wrote, ‘We beheld His glory’ (John 1:14) and Peter added they were, ‘Eyewitnesses of His majesty’ (2 Peter 1:16).
Peter told the Corinthian church, ‘In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face-to-face’ (1 Corinthians 13:12 TLB). We can make some things out now with the help of the Holy Spirit, but it’s not as clear as it will be one day.
3. The promise of seeing God – ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’
The Bible says, ‘The God of gods shall be seen’ (Psalm 84:7 margin). Paul wrote, ‘Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known’ (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Even Job, in the middle of his severe trial, boldly declared, ‘But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!’ (Job 19:25-27 NLT).
One of the great joys awaiting Christians is to see Jesus, the One who gave His life for us. Many in the early church, doubting Thomas included, had that privilege. They saw Jesus on earth; they saw Him in His resurrected body (over 500 on one occasion, see 1 Corinthians 15:6); but that was only a partial view.
We will see Him in His glory, the glory He had with the Father before He came to this world. We will see Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. We shall see the Lord God and the Lamb. ‘We shall see His face’ (Revelation 22:4). ‘We shall see Him as He is’ (1 John 3:3). John adds, ‘And everyone who really believes this will try to stay pure because Christ is pure’ (1 John 3:3 TLB).
The prospect of seeing God face to face drives us on and motivates us not to drop our guard in a world full of temptation and compromise. As the hymn says,
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus!
Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ.
One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase.
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
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