The Bible says in John 1:18 no one has seen God. Matthew 5:8 says the pure in heart shall see God, and the Bible in Exodus 33:20 makes it clear that no man can see God and live. The Bible also says in Numbers 14:14 that Moses saw YHWH face to face. So how can we see a difference in the way man can look at God?
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Jesus Christ is the express image of the invisible God. Jehovah God in all His glory is invisible and cannot be approached, but Jesus Christ the Epress Image of God appeared to the Old Testament Saints as the Theophany. When they saw the Theophany (The Angel of Jehovah) it was Christ appearing to them! The term "image" relates to the Visible part of God and invisible, the part of God that Moses was not allowed to see when he asked to see it. Exodus:3318-23 Let me explain it like this. We can see the sun rise every time the sky is clear. But what would happen if suddenly we appeared 100 meters from the Sun. We would evaporate immediately. This is what would happen if we saw God in all His glory. So there are varying ways in which Jehovah was seen, but never seen in all His awesome majesty. The degree of seeing God by Moses was far greater than that of the Children of Israel. He saw Jesus face to Face. But when he asked to see God in all His glory Moses was not permitted. Exodus:3318-23 But you might say "The people of Jesus' day saw Him!" Almighty God covered His glory in flesh so that He was able to appear as a normal human being and could show degrees of the Glory of His Divinity at various times. He took Peter James and John to a mountain Matthew 17:1-9, and they were shown how Jehovah appeared in Glory in that Human flesh. They were getting closer and closer to the visible glory of God, till they were mercifully kept from evaporating in that glory by fainting. This is why the Scripture says only Jesus who came down from the Father has really seen Him in His complete splendor. Blessed are the pure in Heart for they will see God, they will see God in Christ by the works He does, by the Word He spoke, by the love He demonstrated, by the death He died and now by the Glory of His works and love manifest in His Church. Christ in His Divinity can now be seen in the Church as a brilliant shining light of a city on a hill. Sometimes that Glory was so wonderful it appeared in some more than others. Stephen,s face shone like an angel because that glory was so great in him that it became visible to all as he died and forgave his persecutors.
John 1:1 states: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and The Word was God” John 1:2 “The same was in the beginning with God.” The “Word” was in the beginning. “With God” suggests to the advantage of, at or nearby, face to face. “The Word was God” i.e. The Word is literally “God” in substance and every respect. “The same” (Word) was in the beginning with God, therefore eternal. In Isaiah 44:6 “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” Isaiah 48:2 “For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.” Isaiah 48:3 “I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.” “The Lord of Hosts” is literally The Yeh•hō•vä' or “Jehovah of Armies”, represented in the tetragrammaton as YHWH. When Moses saw YHWH face to face he beheld a theophany of The Lord Jesus Christ. The title Lord of Hosts is referenced 273 times in the KJV and Lord God of Hosts 28 times. Our blessed Lord Jesus Christ is the God of The Bible. John 14:8 "Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." John 14:9 "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?"
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