The glory of the Lord is so bright and holy that any man who is exposed to it, with their naked eyes may die. Exodus 33:20 NKJV
But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
God is a consuming fire, holy and mighty. That even a man as great as Moses couldn’t behold His glory by their naked eyes. His glory consumes, and if sin be in us, how much more can we get consumed?
Moses was actually dead to himself, in a way, that God calls him the ‘humblest person on earth’-this title doesn’t come easy when you are that close to God and are the most feared person in your whole country. Some things in you must have died already, like pride, fame, lust and greed. When you regard yourself lower than even the most broke or defected person in your whole country(yet your are the opposite!). The ‘humblest person’on earth!
“ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.””
God solemnly warns Moses that no man can behold His glory and not die-death to self. There is a sort of death that happens to anyone who chooses to follow Christ with all their heart. Not tempted anymore by lust, pride and so forth. The very things that men could die to attain; no longer tempt you. And the flesh dies, as Jesus is exalted. This is what is required of you as we see in John 3:30 ;
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
This shows why Moses got so close to God. However, that was only because he humbled himself, the more, to get really close, that he was termed a ‘friend’ of God.
Our eyes are flesh, they may not pick on spiritual things because these things have been hidden from the carnality of man. For only those who truly know God can actually see Him?
“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the [d]Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”
Paul talks of things that are only understood by insiders; like spiritual things are only understood by those who are already in Christ. So if you expect to understand Him, God—you must first abide in Him then He shall reveal Himself. It sounds like a mystery or foolishness, right?
But note the words, ‘for they are foolishness to him’ who is not of God, from the verses above.
Meaning the word(scripture) itself, may not make sense not unless the Holy Spirit, Himself reveals it to you. Now this is the mystery!
For how many among the disciples understood that Jesus is God while He was still alive?
Yet they slept, drunk and maybe cracked jokes together. It’s not until the Holy Spirit came into them, that everything made sense.
Mark you—Jesus told them He is the Son of God, multiple times but it only looked like stupidity to them and to all the crowds.
And so, seeing God is possible. Not as a person you want to paint or take photographs with but as a person who is to be worshipped and hallowed for His goodness and glory, creator of life and mighty saviour.
What about angels?
As for angels, they carry the spirit of God, they are His messengers. And so meeting with them is like meeting God.
Remember those cliche series and movies where the king would write a letter and seal it with His stamp and give it to one of His messengers to deliver it to a person. And the person receiving it, had to bow down, when the messenger delivered and read the letter to its receiver. So the angels are like the messengers who are delivering the sealed letter from the king, His word. And so seeing them is like seeing God—for they carry His treasure, the word. However, worshiping them is prohibited, for there is only one King in a kingdom. There presence carry His holiness: Exodus 3:2
“There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.”
God is a consuming fire and the angel appeared to Moses in that very form.
Even Jesus’ body had to die first before He could see the Father?
Christ died first, to go and see the Father. Then He came back in His full glory. His flesh form has no record of Him meeting God face to face. But right now, sits on His right hand.
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”
Jesus goes back to present Himself to His father right after His resurrection. For before Jesus was born, He was a word and not a human. It was only after incarnation, that we see Jesus as a ‘human.’
There is no record of Jesus seeing God with His naked eyes[while still a mere human]. But the spirit of God was in Him. He goes to see the Father after His death and resurrection.
As though His spirit was in charge now, and the flesh was just an image(dead).
So yes, you can see God—but how?
Why does God seem distant most times?
One famous pastor says why God and angels seem distant is because they need to keep that fear and respect in-between.
We humans are corrupt in our ways and tend to get used, very easily. We don’t tend to respect those who seem very close to us!
For instance; like a president may be feared by all his Generals and ministers; meeting Him may seem something very scary to them. But the irony comes when the president is with his family.
They look at Him like a normal person[a father, brother or cousin], and tend not to take every word he says very seriously, without fear or worry of any repercussions. Because they are used to seeing him around, even though he is a scary president to the country.
Guess what would happen if God was your family member? (which He is…)
Then why is He invisible?
It’s not that God doesn’t want to interact with us more often or on a close basis. It’s because we will take Him or His angels for granted when we get too close, become very friendly and chatty[get used to Him]. So it’s not because He is scared or very strict. But He wants you to know He is God and you are a man. These two are very far apart yet very close in Spirit.
We see it with the Israelites who God decided to stoop down for, but they ended up taking Him lightly with their mumbling and complaints. As though they had lost touch that He is God! Who sees and knows everything.
Moreover the greatest prophet and their leader, Moses got this opportunity(of getting really close to God) and ended up making that mistake too—yet God had urged that He should be regarded holy by those who approach Him and glorified before the people. Numbers 20: 11-12
Moses ends up dying and fails to make it to the promised land. He didn’t attain his full purpose because of this very mistake!
So it’s not that God wouldn’t want for you to see angels everyday but because He wants you to fulfil His will-your purpose effectively without so much drama. Therefore, to refrain you from getting used to Him, so that you do the very things He asks of you without an urge of disrespect within. He keeps His distance plus most spiritual things.
Then the next question will be: How can I see God? Find out here
