Face to Face with God

–

Exactly what does that mean? If we “see the face of God,” who actually are we looking at?

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Death sentence for seeing face of God !!!!!

Exd 33:20 And he[God] said [to Moses], Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

Exd 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

“No man hath seen God at any time” John 1:18

–

Where the LORD talks Face to Face – contradiction?

Num 14:14 And they will tell [it] to the inhabitants of this land: [for] they have heard that thou LORD [art] among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and [that] thy cloud stands over them, and [that] thou go before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.

Deu 5:4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

Deu 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,

Gen 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Exd 33:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

Eze 20:35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

Dan 10:6 His body also [was] like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.

****Daniel was face to face with someone here….He sees his eyes.

–

Clarification:

“LORD” Does not always = “GOD.”

“Lord” is a title addressed to angels when they appear as well.

The angel of the Lord is also Lord, and is present when God calls Moses from the bush.

Exd 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed.

***see Deu 5:4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

*** God is in the bush, but so is the angel of the Lord.

Exd 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

Exd 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here [am] I.

Exd 3:6 Moreover he [God] said, I [am] the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

*** note that it was the angel of the Lord that Moses saw, but it was God that talked to Moses.

–

Effects of being in direct contact with God’s glory

Exd 34:29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

Exd 34:30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him

Exd 34:35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

–

The Jericho encounter

Jos 5:13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, [Art] thou for us, or for our adversaries?

Jos 5:14 And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?

Jos 5:15 And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy. And Joshua did so.

In this case, the angel of the Lord (captain of the host of the Lord, not God himself) appears to Joshua. However, Joshua falls in worship. Normally, the “average angel” would not accept worship, being only servants of God. This is someone with a divine nature. So when Joshua sees the person in front of Him, he sees this divinity and worships. The angel of the Lord is thought to be the pre-incarnate Jesus (Yeshua), who shares the divine nature of his father God.

–

Isaiah mentions an eye to eye encounter with the Lord when he returns to Zion to redeem Israel.

Isa 52:8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD [Yahovah] shall bring again Zion.

*** This is saying people will actually experience a physical Lord that they can look at , and who can look back at them, when Israel experiences its future redemption.

Isa 52:9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

Isa 52:10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

***how do you see salvation? In Hebrew, it actually says “all the earth will see Yeshua Elohim.” This is Jesus, son of God, coming as Messiah. When you see the Messiah in person, you will see God, since he will be covered with the glory of his Father.

–

Conclusion. God, the Father, is God in the burning bush. No one can see His face. When a face to face interaction is occurring, apparently the angel of the Lord (Jesus, Yeshua) appears in a tangible way, and it is his face that people see.

–

Can we see God’s face now? Click here for more