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47 lines
3.6 KiB
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<title>Doesn't the Bible Say People Actually Saw God?</title>
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<div class="head">Doesn't the Bible Say People Actually Saw God?</div>
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<p>There are several passages of Scripture that seem to indicate people actually saw God:</p>
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<p><b>Jacob at Peniel</b></p>
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<p>Jacob saw God face to face at Peniel.</p>
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<blockquote><p>And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved (<a id="nbi1301-si1" onClick="return mV('Gen',32,30);">Gen 32:30</a>).</p></blockquote>
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<p><b>Moses</b></p>
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<p>The Bible says that Moses saw God on a number of occasions.</p>
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<blockquote><p>And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God (<a id="nbi1301-si2" onClick="return mV('Exd',3,6);">Exd 3:6</a>).</p></blockquote>
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<p>Scripture declares.</p>
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<blockquote><p>So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (<a id="nbi1301-si3" onClick="return mV('Exd',33,11);">Exd 33:11</a>).</p></blockquote>
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<p>In Deuteronomy we read.</p>
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<blockquote><p>But since there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face (<a id="nbi1301-si4" onClick="return mV('Deu',34,10);">Deu 34:10</a>).</p></blockquote>
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<p><b>Isaiah</b></p>
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<p>Isaiah the prophet records himself seeing God.</p>
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<blockquote><p>In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple (<a id="nbi1301-si5" onClick="return mV('Isa',6,1);">Isa 6:1</a>).</p></blockquote>
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<p><b>Did Not See God</b></p>
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<p>Did these people actually see God? No. What these people saw was not the essence of God but a physical representation of Him. As spirit God is invisible to humanity. No one can see Him directly. The Apostle Paul said of Jesus:</p>
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<blockquote><p>He is the image of the invisible God (<a id="nbi1301-si6" onClick="return mV('Col',1,15);">Col 1:15</a>).</p></blockquote>
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<p>Though God, in His essence, is invisible He has taken a physical form on occasions to communicate with His creation. He did this for the benefit of those to whom He was speaking. The physical form gave man a point of reference to which he could communicate with God.</p>
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<p><b>No One Is Able to See God</b></p>
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<p>But that which the people saw was not the essence of God, for no one has seen or can see God in His essence:</p>
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<blockquote><p>No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, but the only is at the Father's side, has made him known (<a id="nbi1301-si7" onClick="return mV('Jhn',1,18);">Jhn 1:18</a>).</p></blockquote>
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<p>Paul wrote.</p>
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<blockquote><p>Who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever (<a id="nbi1301-si8" onClick="return mV('1Ti',6,16);">1Ti 6:16</a>).</p></blockquote>
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<p>Sinful humanity does not have access to a holy God.</p>
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<p><b>Summary</b></p>
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<p>During the Old Testament period God appeared to certain people in a physical form. This form was not the essence of God but rather a physical representation of God for the benefit of those to whom He was speaking. Nobody has seen God or can see God for, by nature, He is an invisible spirit.</p>
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