Articles
Seeing God
Seeing God face to face is one of the supreme goals of mankind. It is one of the central themes of the Pentateuch (the first five books of Moses). The beginning of the Bible features God with man in the garden of Eden, where he walked in the garden with Adam and Eve and spoke freely with them (Gen 3:8ff). The Pentateuch also ends with an interest in this idea. After the death of Moses, the postscript in Deuteronomy reads that “since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face” (Deut 34:10). Moses’ relationship with God dominates the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Number, and Deuteronomy. His relationship appears to be one that was privileged compared to the other Israelites, since he was permitted to see God. Others in Genesis appear to have also spoken face to face with God in some context, like Abraham, who spoke extensively with God directly (Gen 18:23-33), or Jacob who claimed to have “seen God face to face” (Gen 32:30).
God’s glory appears to Israel at Mount Sinai (Exod 19:11) and in the wilderness (Num 14:10). He is even seen by the elders of the people who eat a meal in his presence (Exod 24:10). Yet the people are warned at the same time that they were not really allowed to get too close to the mountain, lest they actually “break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish” (Exod 19:20). Deuteronomy later clarifies that the people did not see God’s actual form on the mountain (Deut 4:15-20). Rather, the people saw God’s glory manifested in the terrifying thunder and lightning and cloud (Exod 19:16) and in the audible speaking of the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:1-17).
The legal texts are dominated by a legion of regulations about who can and cannot approach God in his sanctuary. The tabernacle is said to be the sanctuary where God will dwell among the people (Exod 25:8) and the ark of the covenant is the place where God will meet with them (Exod 25:22). Yet only Aaron and his sons are not permitted to enter the holy place (Exod 28:43), and Aaron is warned not to enter the most holy place where God “appears” above the ark at just any time, lest he die (Lev 16:2). When Aaron enters the most holy place, he is required to burn incense first so that a cloud covers the mercy seat and obscures God from view (Lev 16:13). Other texts spell out rules for ceremonial uncleanness (Lev 11-15), which bans one from the tabernacle (Lev 15:31). Numbers 2-4 is devoted to spelling out the arrangement of the camp and restricting who can pitch their tent within close range of the tabernacle. Numbers 4:5-15 in particular are devoted to instructions for moving God’s furniture in such a way that no one ever actually sees what it looks like. Any outsider that got too close was to be put to death (Num 18:7). These examples are just scratching the surface of how big a deal approaching God to see him was in the law.
Moses’ role is different than Aaron’s however. God told Aaron and Miriam that “If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses, he is faithful in all my household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the LORD” (Num 12:6-8). Moses is described as someone who sees God’s form and speaks with him mouth to mouth. Exodus also mentions that “the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Exod 33:11). Yet even Moses finds himself yearning for more. He prays for God to show him his true glory (Exod 33:18). In one of the strangest conversations in the Bible, God informs Moses that he can only show his back, as “no man can see me and live!” (Exod 33:20-23). The subsequent conversations that Moses has with God result in Moses’ face shining, to the point that he has to wear a veil when speaking with the people (Exod 34:29-35). The people of Israel cannot perceive the glory of God. Ironically, they are preoccupied with the sights they see (Exod 20:18), and are more interested in a god they can see than the one they can hear, prompting them to build a golden calf (Exod 32:1-6).
Many more directions could be taken with this. But when one realizes the importance of this theme in the earliest books of the Bible, it heightens the impact of the statement in the New Testament that John makes: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:18). Mankind’s yearning and hoping to see the God that made the whole world cannot be realized with the tools he has at his disposal. Ultimately, God chooses to come down and see man face to face. This idea finds no greater fulfillment than in the person of Jesus Christ. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us so that we beheld his glory (John 1:14). Though “no one has ever seen God at any time” we are promised that “if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). No longer is the sanctuary a restricted physical tent where an elite few can consult God. Rather, the sanctuary is in our hearts and bodies, which are temples of the holy spirit. As Christians, we have the presence of God dwelling within us and revealing him to us in a way that Moses could only look ahead to.
The story of Moses is not the incredible tale of a man who walked with God in a way no one else could. The story of Moses is a glimpse at what can be available to us, if we take hold of the true life offered to us in Christ. As Moses was never satisfied in his desire to see God, know God, and love God, so should we never stop in our desire to draw nearer to him. May God help us to do this!
