Who has seen God? / ¿Quién ha visto a Dios?

Introduction

There are many things that previously were invisible to the human eye that are now visible due to technological advances:

Bacteria

Galaxies

A child in the womb

It is wonderful to see that which was previously impossible to see. It is something that should cause us to marvel.

What is the greatest thing we could ever see? What is the most magnificent thing we could lay our eyes upon? Surely it would be to see God himself.

This possibility leads us to consider the question: Who has seen God? We will consider Moses’ encounter with God where he was denied the privilege of seeing God. We will consider this theme under the following headings:

Moses’ request: to see God’s glory

Why can’t we see God?

Why can’t se

Will we ever see God?

I. Moses’s request: to see God’s glory

I. La petición de Moisés: ver la gloria de Dios

Moses is speaking with God. He wants to make sure God will lead his people to the promised land. In the midst of this conversation Moses makes a bold request:

Ex

Exodus 33:18 NIV

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

Exodus 33:18 LBLA

Entonces Moisés dijo: Te ruego que me muestres tu gloria.

Moses is not simply asking for God’s blessing, God’s guidance, God’s provision. He wants to see the full measure of God’s glory.

Moses had previously seen a visible manifestation of God’s presence in a cloud of glory (16:10).

On another occasion he saw God’s presence in the burning bush (3:2).

God answers Moses because this request cannot be granted. In fact, if it were granted Moses would surely die.

Exodus 33:19–20 NIV

And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Ex 33:18-

Exodus 33:19–20 LBLA

Y El respondió: Yo haré pasar toda mi bondad delante de ti, y proclamaré el nombre del Señor delante de ti; y tendré misericordia del que tendré misericordia, y tendré compasión de quien tendré compasión. Y añadió: No puedes ver mi rostro; porque nadie puede verme, y vivir.

God knows that Moses is asking to see his glory, unveiled, no cloud, no burning bush. Moses wants to see the undiluted, unveiled glory of God. But that simply cannot be. No one can see God’s face and live.

God does concede to pas his “goodness” in front of Moses. When God passes, then Moses will be able to see the after effects of the glory of God.

II. Why can’t we see God?

II. ¿Por qué no podemos ver a Dios?

Why could Moses not see God? What was in Moses that would lead to his sudden death after seeing the face of God?

The answer is simple: sin.

To understand this we must go back to Eden.

Something happened in the Garden of Eden that prevented mortals from seeing the face of God.

After our first parents sinned the Bible says:

Genesis 3:8 NIV

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:8 LBLA

Y oyeron al Señor Dios que se paseaba en el huerto al fresco del día; y el hombre y su mujer se escondieron de la presencia del Señor Dios entre los árboles del huerto.

Our first parents had sinned against God. Their sin had separated them from the presence of their creator. No longer could they be in the presence of God without faces severe consequences.

Sin is what separates us from God. Sin is what defiles human beings. For this reason Paul talks about sin as that which makes us “fall short of the glory of God”.

Romans 3:23 NIV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23 LBLA

por cuanto todos pecaron y no alcanzan la gloria de Dios,

God is so holy, so pure, so just that if we, sinful human beings, would come before his presence we would immediately be destroyed by the sheer awesomeness of God’s glory.

Our sin is such an insult to the presence of thrice holy God that we would not stand to be before his presence.

If you do not believe this, then surely you really do not understand God’s absolute holiness.

III. Will we ever see God?

III. Will we ever see God?

III. ¿Algún día veremos a Dios?

Humanity, after Eden has such a sad history. Creation rebelling before God. Human beings doing that which is contrary to God’s will and increasingly separating themselves from God.

The creature, rather than worshipping God, worships creation. It is as if we will never again see God. It is as if we will never see him who created us in our mother’s womb.

And yet, the message of Christmas is that God will be seen once again. In fact God has been seen. God has been gracious to this sinful world and has allowed himself to be seen.

This is the message of Christmas.

The message of Christmas is that the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, came to earth, wrapped himself in human flesh, was born of a virgin, he was truly God and truly man, God came down to earth and was seen by hundreds of ordinary human beings.

The message of the Gospel of John exalts this truth time and time again:

John 1:14 NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:18 NIV

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 1:14 LBLA

Y el Verbo se hizo carne, y habitó entre nosotros, y vimos su gloria, gloria como del unigénito del Padre, lleno de gracia y de verdad.

John 1:18 NIV

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 1:18 LBLA

Nadie ha visto jamás a Dios; el unigénito Dios, que está en el seno del Padre, El le ha dado a conocer.

Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. When people saw Jesus, they saw God himself.

John goes as far as to say that we saw the glory of God itself.

He also reminds us that no one has seen God. We know that it is man’s sin that prevents him from seeing God. But Jesus, came to overcome our sin, he came to die un the cross so that by his word of redemption we may truly come to know and see God.

Without God’s intervention, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would never be reconciled to God. Without Jesus mankind would never again be able to see God.

So, we declare that 2,000 years ago in Israel there were many who saw God.

Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, Ana and Simeon in the temple, the 12 disciples, and many many others in Israel saw God walk in their midst.

Pilate, Caiphas, Judas, the roman soldiers saw God’s face in the person of Jesus Christ.

What a privilege to have seen God himself, to have seen him, to have touched his face. But that was 2,000 years ago.

There is no one alive today who has seen God.

We no longer have the great teacher of Nazareth walking in our midst.

We can no longer to to Galilee to hear the prince of preachers preaching near the shore.

Will we ever see God?

Yes!

1 John 3:1–2 NIV

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

1 John 3:1–2 LBLA

Mirad cuán gran amor nos ha otorgado el Padre, para que seamos llamados hijos de Dios; y eso somos. Por esto el mundo no nos conoce, porque no le conoció a El. Amados, ahora somos hijos de Dios y aún no se ha manifestado lo que habremos de ser. Pero sabemos que cuando El se manifieste, seremos semejantes a El porque le veremos como El es.

1 John 3

Because God has loved us he sent his Son so that by believing in him we would become children of God.

Our hope is that one day, we shall see him just as he is.

How can we know that we will see him? We will see him if we purify ourselves. That does not mean that we will see him because of our works; rather, if we truly are children of God we will desire to purify ourselves.

1 John 3:3 NIV

All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

1 John 3:3 LBLA

Y todo el que tiene esta esperanza puesta en El, se purifica, así como El es puro.