It is perfectly natural for people to want to see God. After all, we are physical beings, who are accustomed to taking in information through our five senses. Those things which we can sense are real to us, requiring no faith to believe in. Things become a bit more challenging for us though, when we can’t connect with the things through those senses. We are required to accept things on faith, something that takes time to do or even to learn how to do.
We who believe in the God of the Bible aren’t the only ones who have this problem. People throughout history have had a desire to see their gods, whoever they might be. This is where the idea of creating idols, representing those gods, comes from.
Some of those idols were things that people found in nature, which they thought looked like a representation of a person or a god. We’ve all looked at clouds and “seen” things depicted in them. Likewise, it is possible to look at almost any pattern or texture and see a face in it. That doesn’t mean those are gods of any sort; but to people who are seeking an image of their god, it could be.
There’s a tree in the city of Reynosa, Mexico, with a scar from a broken-off limb. The owners of that tree have decided that the scar resembles the Virgin of Guadalupe, a Mexican-Catholic representation of the Virgin Mary. They built a shrine around it, where people light candles and leave offerings to the Virgin, hoping to curry favor.
One of the many archeological sites in Mexico was founded by a culture that existed in the same time as the Mayan people, but was outside their region of Mexico. One of the deities for these people was based upon a meteorite (roughly 2 feet) that fell in that place and which they saw the image of a humanoid character that they decided was a god. These types of idols are not uncommon in world history, although they are really nothing more than man’s imaginations. They aren’t gods.
However, we can see one thing here, which may be of value to us. Satan doesn’t create or invent anything. Rather, he takes what God has created and tries to pervert it. We can see this most clearly in sin. Pretty much anything that is sin, is taking something that God meant for good and using it in a manner that God never intended. Hence, the idea of symbolically seeing a god in some symbol could very easily come from Jehovah God using various symbols to represent Himself.
Did God Ever Appear?
The first question we have to ask ourselves is whether our God, Jehovah, has ever appeared to people, and if He has, did He appear in bodily form? Considering that scripture tells us that God is a Spirit and does not have a fleshly body, it is reasonable to question any biblical mention of His appearance; not to say that it didn’t happen; but rather to question in just what form He did appear to those people.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. – John 4:24
Most of the references in the Bible to God appearing take place in the Book of Genesis, although there are a few notable exceptions. Even so, many of the cases which are quoted as God appearing to people in a visible form are clearly not what people make them out to be. Rather, they are places which allude to God making an appearance in a hidden manner or in a symbolic manner.
Some of the most obvious of these are also some of God’s “biggest” appearances to the nation of Israel, such as when Moses received the tablets of the law from God, after leading Israel out of Egypt. God gave Moses specific instructions about the people not setting foot on the mountain (Exodus 19:10-19), while Moses himself climbed up to speak with God. But there is nowhere in this accounting where God appeared in a visible form. Rather, He tells Moses that He will appear in a cloud.
And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. – Exodus 19:9
Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. – Exodus 19:18
It was common for God to hide Himself in a cloud, whether that be a cloud of smoke or another type of cloud. The people of Israel probably recognized this as representing God, because they were accustomed to seeing Him manifest Himself to them through the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, which had led them ever since leaving Egypt.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. – Exodus 13:21
Just a little side note here: First, the fire may have been there both day and night, but only visible at night, as the cloud would hide it during the day. At night, without the light of the sun, the light of the fire would make the cloud glow. Some believers today refer to this as the “glory cloud,” but that is an incorrect term. The actual phrase where they get this from says, “the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud” (Exodus 16:10). This can be understood to mean that the fire within the cloud was the actual glory, not the cloud itself. The cloud was hiding the glory of God, so that the people would not come to harm from seeing His presence.
These verses give us some understanding, which we can use to interpret the other instances where it appears that God physically appeared to someone. It is quite possible that what they are referring to is God appearing in some veiled form, which they still understood to be God. When we look at the various passages about God speaking to someone, they don’t necessarily say that those people could see God’s face.
There’s an interesting passage in the book of Exodus, where Moses had a conversation with God and asked to see God’s glory:
And he (Moses) said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see my Face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” – Exodus 33:18-20
God’s solution to Moses’ request is to set him in a cleft in the rock of the mountain and cover him with His hand, as He passed by. Then, once He had passed, He lifted His hand, allowing Moses to see His back (Exodus 33:21-23). Whether this literally happened, was a vision that Moses had or only happened in some symbolic sense is something we do not know. Any of those is possible, based on the way the passage is written.
What makes this even more interesting, is that earlier in the same chapter, we see a passage which seems to disagree with this one:
So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. – Exodus 33:11
While it would be easy to take this as God appearing to Moses, so that Moses could see His face, the verses before that show that God appeared to Moses in the same sort of pillar of cloud that He appeared in, when leading Israel through the desert. This was quite possibly done, so that the people would recognize that Moses was speaking with God, as we had seen in Exodus 19:9.
If God was this circumspect in talking with Moses, who He probably talked to more than any other figure in the Bible, it is easy to see that He would have done the same with others, regardless of how we imagine what we see written in scripture.
We know that Adam “walked with God in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8); but it doesn’t say that he saw God. All it says is that he “heard God walking in the garden.” How did he know it was God? Because he had conversed with God. But that doesn’t mean that he actually saw God, even though it implies that he did.
Moses didn’t see God in the burning bush. What he saw was fire that was not consuming the bush. That fire wasn’t even God. Rather it was an angel who was making the fire (Exodus 3:2). God spoke to Moses through that; but God did not appear to Him.
But what about Abraham? There are a number of verses in Genesis, which clearly say that “The Lord appeared to Abraham” (Genesis 12:7; 17:1; 18:1 and others). The Hebrew word for “appeared” there is “raah” which can mean to see with the eyes or to have a vision. So, it is likely that Abraham had visions of God, much like a prophet would have visions and therefore described it as God appearing to him; a common way of describing such incidents.
The same Hebrew word is used throughout the Old Testament, wherever it talks about God appearing to someone. We can clearly surmise from this, that God’s appearances to the people in the Bible was in the form of visions and dreams. That doesn’t lessen their value in any way, it merely explains how they saw Him. Just like then, God can still reveal Himself to people in visions and dreams.
Jesus, the Physical Manifestation of God
While God the Father has never appeared to man in physical form, we can still say that there has been a physical manifestation of God here on Earth. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, appeared in a physical body, born as a baby to Mary, by the Holy Spirit. He was both man and God, making it possible for man to see God, touch God, and hear God’s voice.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John (the Baptist)2 bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” – John 1:1; 14-15
While we mostly concentrate on the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross, we shouldn’t ignore the three and a half years of ministry He had here on earth, before going to the cross. Those years give us a wonderful picture of who God is and what He does. Jesus taught the things that His Father wanted Him to teach and did the things that His Father wanted Him to do. In this, Jesus became the visible image of God.
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” – John 5:19
The last few words in that verse are very telling, as Jesus tells us that He not only does the things that Father God is doing, but He does them in the same way that Father God does them. In other words, when we look at what Jesus did, we see what the Father would have done, had He been here in the flesh. Watching Jesus is the same as watching God.
Of course, you and I can’t see Jesus for ourselves, as He walked upon this earth 2,000 years ago, long before any of us were born. Yet there were witnesses to His actions and some of those witnesses wrote down what Jesus did and said, so that we would have a record of them. That’s how two of the Gospel accounts came to be. Both Mathew and John were disciples of Jesus. The other two Gospels, Mark and Luke, were written by men who were disciples of Jesus’ disciples; so, they were second-hand accounts.
Some would say that is not sufficient; as we have not seen Jesus ourselves. Yet we believe in the lives and works of many other historic figures, based on what eyewitnesses wrote about them. Everyone believes that George Washington existed, was the commanding general of the Continental Army in the US Revolutionary War and later became the first president of the United States. Yet none of us were alive when he did those things. We base our beliefs on historical writings that were written by eyewitnesses and others who gathered information from eyewitnesses, making them second-hand accounts as well.
If people can believe that George Washington lived and did the things that are written about him, why would they have trouble believing that Jesus Christ lived and did the things that were written about Him? Perhaps that is nothing more than an excuse, because they don’t want to believe in the existence of God or perhaps it is an excuse to hide their disbelief that God can do the things that God says He can do.
Then Why Isn’t Jesus Here Today?
Since part of the reason why Jesus came as a man and was born as a baby was to show God to us, it would seem natural to ask why isn’t He still here today? But showing God to us wasn’t the only thing that Jesus came for. He also came to be our Savior. That required His death on the cross.
Jesus died as the ultimate sacrifice, so that we could receive forgiveness for our sins, thereby eliminating the need for the Old Testament sacrificial system (Hebrews 10:1-18). He was raised from the dead so that we might obtain eternal life (John 5:21-22). And He returned to heaven, so that He might send us the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). So, the Holy Spirit is the part of the Trinity which is here on the earth with us today.
Many believers see the major work of the Holy Spirit as being what are known as the Gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians, chapter 12). But in reality, the main work of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and to point us back to Jesus. That is ultimately a more important work, one which even the Gifts of the Spirit are intended to accomplish as well.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit)2, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me (Jesus)2, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. – John 16:13-14
We Must See By Faith
Ultimately, all the people who had a personal encounter with God in the Bible, did so through faith. That’s what He expected of them and that’s what He expects of us today. We are called to be people of faith, who don’t need a physical manifestation of God’s presence in order to believe that He is.
We are told four times in the Bible that “the just shall live by faith;” one time in the Old Testament (Habakkuk 2:4) and three times in the New Testament (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). That is significant for two reasons. First, it is significant because it exists in both the Old and New Testaments. This proves that it is a Biblical principle, which has always existed. Secondly, the repetition of the same phrase means that it is important. The more times something is repeated in the Bible, the more important it is.
Our faith draws us closer to God, where we can experience His presence in our lives. That’s better than just seeing Him. Part of what makes it so special is that we are able to have that faith, without seeing Him. It requires more faith to believe that God exists without seeing Him, than it would to believe in His existence after seeing Him. So, in reality, God is helping us build our faith, by not showing Himself to us in bodily form.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. – Hebrews 11:6
All of the great heroes of the faith, throughout the Bible, believed in God, without actually seeing Him. Some went to great extremes in obeying Him and are memorialized in Hebrews, chapter 11; which is known as “the great hall of faith.” They are our example; people whose faith in God caused them to obey Him, even when what He was asking of them didn’t make sense to their natural minds. But in obeying God, even without seeing Him, they received the greater reward; not only here on earth, but in the life to come.
We can see God all around us, if we look for Him. No, we won’t see His body; but we will see His works. Our very existence, as well as the world that He created for us, all tells us about Him and His love for us. In that, we can see God.