WILL WE SEE GOD WHEN WE DIE AND GO TO HEAVEN?
Will we spend eternity being able to see
the face of God?
Contents
1. THE
NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING: NO ONE CAN SEE GOD
2. THE OLD TESTAMENT TEACHING: NO ONE CAN SEE GOD
If we love the Lord Jesus,
one of our great frustrations is that we have not yet seen Him. Of course, the
Lord promised a special blessing for us, telling a doubting Thomas, “Because
you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet
believed” (John 20:29). Nevertheless, it is only natural that we should long to
look upon the face of God once we are with Him for eternity. Will that be
possible? ‘The simple answer is “yes.” Believers will spend eternity with the
Lord and we will see our God. The clearest verse about this is Revelation
22:3—4: “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants
will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their
fore-heads” (italics added). This states that in the New Jerusalem in the New
Creation, the redeemed will spend eternity looking upon their God. However,
this does not resolve how this will be possible in light of all the Scriptures
have to say about seeing God.
1. THE NEW
TESTAMENT TEACHING: NO ONE CAN SEE GOD
The problem is
that the New Testament is emphatically clear that no person has seen or can see
God the Father. Jesus taught “God is spirit” (John 4:24), meaning He is
immaterial and so cannot be seen. In John 1:18 it says “No one has seen God at
any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has
explained Him.” The Lord Jesus taught no one “has seen the Father, except the
One who is from God; He has seen the Father” (John 6:46). John reiterates this
in 1 John 4:12: “No one has seen God at any time.” So plainly, according to
John in both his Gospel and epistle, no one has seen God or can see Him except
for the Lord Jesus, who is God the Son incarnate. This idea is not limited to
John’s writing but is stated by Paul as well. The apostle Paul described the
Father as “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Tim. 1:17,
ital-ics added). Since God is invisible, Paul goes on to say that He “dwells in
unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16, italics
added). Plainly, the New Testament asserts that it is not possible for a mortal
person to see God.
2. THE OLD
TESTAMENT TEACHING: NO ONE CAN SEE GOD
The Old
Testament answer to this question is the same as the New Testament. When Moses
asked God to show him His glory (Ex. 33:18), God told Moses, “You cannot see My
face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Ex. 33:20). Clearly, the Old Testament
teaches that the God of Israel revealed in the Old Testament could not be seen
by any person.
Yet in this
very same passage (Ex. 33:21-22), God puts Moses in the cleft of the rock,
covers him, and says, “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back,
but My face shall not be seen” (Ex. 33:23). Is this saying that it’s pos-sible
to see God’s back but not His face? Not really. The point of this passage is
that God showed Moses a glimpse of His presence. As God passed by, Moses caught
sight of His glory.
Seeing a
glimpse of God’s glory is similar to how we can see the rays of the sun, but we
can't look at the sun directly or we will be blinded. Moses didn't see God—he
only saw a reflec-tion of His glory. What about other examples from the Old
Testament of those who have seen God? For example, when Moses brought Aaron,
Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel to Mount Sinai, the text says “they
saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of
sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.
Yet He did not
stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw
God, and they ate and drank” (Ex. 24:10-11, italics added). How can they have
seen God and lived? The most likely explanation of their encounter with God is
in the nuance of the Hebrew verb chazah, translated “saw” twice in these
verses.
It generally
means to see in a vision (cf. Num. 24:4, 16). In other words, they did not
literally see God Himself, but only saw a vision of Him. Similarly, in Isaiah
6, when Isaiah saw the Lord, although a different Hebrew verb is used, it is plain
that this is a prophetic vision and not an actual sighting of God.
Also, when
Daniel saw the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:9ff), he describes all that he saw as
part of a night vision (Dan. 7:2). Similarly, Ezekiel describes seeing God in
all His radiance and glory (Ezek. 1:26- 28). However, at the beginning of the
chapter, the prophet said “I saw visions of God” (Ezek. 1:1). So, plainly
Ezekiel only had a vision of the Lord and didn't literally see God.
3. WE WILL SEE
GOD THE SON!
So how is it
that we will be able to see God in our forever future? For you and I, it will
be possible to see God, but only God the Son, the Lord Jesus. In response to
Philip’s request that the Lord Jesus show them the Father, He said, “The one
who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9 ucss).
Also, in the
Old Testament, there is the mysterious Angel of the Lord. In numerous passages,
the Angel of the Lord is used interchangeably with Yahweh, the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob (e.g., Ex. 3:2, 6-7). This has led many to conclude that these
appearances of the Angel of the Lord are theophanies—visible manifestations of
God. Since John 1:18 states that no one has ever seen God but that the Lord
Jesus has revealed Him, it has led to the conclusion that Old Testament
theophanies were actually Christophanies, or pre-incarnate manifestations of
the Messiah jesus, God the Son.
So, when the
Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar (Gen. 16:7—-14), she marveled at seeing
God: “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” (Gen. 16:13). She had
indeed seen God but it was a pre-incarnate appearance of God the Son.
Similarly, when Samson’s parents were visited by the Angel of the Lord and they
saw His wonders, Manoah was frightened and exclaimed, “We will surely die, for
we have seen God” (Judg. 13:22). They did not die because, once again, this was
a pre-incarnate appearance of God the Son.
4. FINAL
THOUGHTS
This is the
great hope that we have. One day, the Lord Jesus will return and we will look
at His face directly. John describes it like this: “We know that when He
appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John
3:1-2). The Lord Jesus will transform us into His righteous image and we will
finally be without sin and entirely holy. Although Revelation 22:3-4, mentioned
above, says that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the eternal city,
a better translation would be, “The throne of God, even of the Lamb, will be in
it (the New Jerusalem), and His servants will serve Him. They will see His
face.”
This indicates
that it is the Lamb, the Lord Jesus, the Son who is fully God, whom we will
look upon forever. It is the face of Jesus the Messiah we will see. And when we
see Him, I guarantee, we will never be disappointed.
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