No Man Hath Seen God At Any Time Philip North

Since the beginning of the human race, mankind has often allowed his emotions to rule his conduct. We are all familiar with the old adage, “letting one’s heart rule one’s mind.” This is as well done mistakenly in the affairs of everyday life, as well as in the realm of religion. Placing one’s feelings over proper judgment far too much has resulted in long term consequences, along with those consequences from which one has recovered.

Many people claim, amongst other things in religion, that they have seen the face and body of Jehovah God. They refer to various “dreams” and “visions” they say were experienced. However, no matter what be the assertion, the Bible is always right on everything, every time, and under every circumstance, due to its contents coming from the mind of an infinite, almighty, omniscient, and omnipresent mind—-that of God Himself. No other being could have that degree of mind, save our magnificent Creator. His mind is eternally unlimited, while our minds are all limited and temporary.

In all the places found in the New Testament stating most clearly that no human, save Jesus, has seen the face of God, each passage but one comes from the Apostle John. Consider the following verses:

John 1:18: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

John 5:37, Jesus says, “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his face.”

John 6:46, Jesus further declares, “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.”

I John 4:12: “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

I Timothy 6:16 says of God, “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”

The verses are all self-explanatory, and thus, the truth is “spelled out” here. Therefore, this truth is either accepted or rejected, when it says that no human being, except for Christ, has actually seen the face (or any bodily area) of God.

Actually, our Maker is so mighty in His very appearance, that for any flesh of any kind to look upon his face would mean certain death. Since God is greater than all of His Creation, this has to mean that His countenance is even mightier than the sun itself! Can anybody look upon the sun for long and not go blind? Never in a million years, gentle reader!

Can proof of the above argument be shown? Yes indeed, and fully! Note the following passages where Moses is talking directly to God, and makes a request to see God’s actual form:

Exodus 33:18-23: “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shall see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”

Even righteous Moses, being the only human so fortunate as to see what God actually looked like from behind, was not allowed to see His face! Can the verses used in this article, especially the ones cited above, be any plainer? Definitely not! Look again at part of what God said to Moses: “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” Moses would have died right there on the spot, had God permitted him to see His actual face. Such would have been no different with any other man, woman, boy, or girl who ever lived both before and after Moses, for again, God said, “there shall no man see me, and live.” Chapter 34 of Exodus, for that matter, tells how the face of Moses changed so much after seeing what God looked like from the back, he had to wear a veil when returning down from the mountain. What is more, the children of Israel noticed how the countenance of Moses was different. Too, the verses quoted from John and Paul earlier in this article are bolstered by those in Exodus.

Whatever the claim, regardless of how aggressive, sincerely, or emotionally made, that individual who says they saw God did not see Him! Such will not happen until the end of time, when only the righteous will see the whole of God’s indescribably beautiful features eternally in Heaven. Oh, how we long for that occasion!

Besides, how can human emotions rule over truth, when human emotions change like the weather and time of day? Truth itself never changes, where the Bible is concerned. The first part of Malachi tells us, “For I am the Lord, I change not;.” Hence, what God said to Moses, coupled with what Jesus stated, along with what Paul wrote under the pen of divine inspiration, still holds true today, as it will until time on earth ceases! Satan has a big grab bag of tricks he plays on mankind, and getting some people to believe they actually saw God’s form is only one of them (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). When one reads all that the Bible says on Satan, they will be equipped to recognize his umpteen lies and deceit (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:14-15)!

After all is argued, claimed, and disagreed with, we get right back to what God’s precious and all true Word declares: “No man hath seen God at any time.”

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