JD Abshire Supporter

This was made possible as a result of the incarnation i.e. the invisible God taking on human flesh. 

John 1:14 " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

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?"

To look upon God in His Spiritual form would require us to be in essence spiritual/immaterial or non physical (dead). 

Colossians 2:8 " Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

Col 2:9 "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

1 Timothy 3:16 " And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."

Hebrews 1:3 " Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"

January 12 2014 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Al Mari Supporter Private practice as a cardiovascular & thoracic surgeon

The question stems from John 1:18 "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."

The method of reasoning is understandable: since no one has seen God and Jesus was seen by many, therefore Jesus is "not God".

This confusion results from failure to understand who the God referred to in John 1:18. 

In general, when the NT speaks of God, it refers to the Father God. But when Jesus is referred to, the words "I AM", "Logos" and "Lord " are used. In the OT, Jesus is referred to as YHVH ELOHIM, I AM, EL SHADDAI. 

That Jesus is God Creator is clear in John 1 that he was the Logos Creator. And in John 1:14 " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

As to the differentiation between the God the Father and God the Son ("Lord"), 
Eph 1:3 "Blessed be the God (Theos) and Father of our Lord (kyrios)"Jesus Christ,"

Likewise, Peter differentiated the two, as in "Blessed be the God(Theos) and Father of our Lord (kyrios) Jesus Christ,"(I Pet. 1:3)

In essence, "no one has seen God (the Father Theos), but has seen Jesus, the God kyrios, the Lamb Meschiach (the "Son of God", "Lord God", "Logos", "YHVH ELOHIM, "EL SHADDAI")

March 10 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Anthony Clinton Supporter Teacher in China

The Scripture seems to contradict, related to seeing God because it is evident that the patriarchs and prophets saw Him Gen 12:7. He appeared to them. So in what way did He appear to them? The appearance of YHWH to the Old Testament was the Angel of Jehovah! Gen 32:30, Num 14:14, Deu 5:4, Deu 34:10 all record God’s servants seeing God face to face.

Jud 2:1 is proof that this Angel of YHWH was indeed God Himself as you can note as the angel is speaking He says, “and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. “
This Angel says He will never break His covenant with them so there the Angel claims the covenant to be His covenant. Then we note this same Angel appearing before Gideon under the oak at Ophrah and this Angel came and sat with him under the oak. You can see that this Angel is YHWH when you read in context Jud 6:16-21. In that passage it says “Jehovah said to him, Surely, I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
Then Gideon answers him “Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You, and bring forth my food offering and set it before You. And He said, I will stay until you come again.” 
Here we have Jehovah Himself saying He will stay there under that oak tree till Gideon returns. How can this be if no one has seen YHWH at any time? The simple explanation is this. The Angel of Jehovah is none other than Jesus Christ the second Person of the Trinity. In the New Testament He was God manifested in flesh in the Old Testament He is God Manifest as the Angel of Jehovah.
The Father Dwells in unapproachable light and can never be seen in all His glory. Moses found this out when He asked to see “His Glory” but God almighty veils His glory by appearing in the Old Testament as the Angel of Jehovah. 

The New Testament also shows this Angel is Jesus Christ when talking about the wilderness event in 1Cor 10:1-11, in verse four it says “and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ”

If we take the account of Exodus 14 in context here we see Ex 14:19 “And the Angel of God, the one who went before the camp of Israel, moved. And he went to the rear of them. And the pillar of the cloud went from in front of their face and it stood behind them.
It just happens that at that time Christ is said to be following them instead of leading them and in the morning look what it says! [Exodus 14:24 MKJV] “And in the morning watch it happened that Jehovah looked to the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the army of the Egyptians.” 
This Angel (Jesus Christ) is called Jehovah who looks out through the pillar of fire and cloud. So we have many situations where God was seen but I believe what man can never see is the invisible God dwelling in all His majestic Glory. This is what is meant by no one being able to see God. Jesus Himself said “blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” If they see God it must be in another dimension. It’s like the sun; everyone can see the sun every day it arises in a bright clear sky. But if somehow you appeared ten meters from the sun we all know what would happen. You would immediately perish. Everyone can see the sun and can understand the effects of the sunlight and its importance to life. So also we can see God in His Son, Jesus Christ and see the effects of the Glory of the Father through His Glorious Son. How wonderful to see God in the degree He has allowed us to. At the Mount, the Father was manifesting His glory in the Son but the disciples were limited to seeing only a slight glimpse and then fainted because they could not live and continue to see that glory. He was veiled in flesh and the Glory that He had always with the Father was only released at certain degrees of awesome power so they could indeed confirm that He was both the Son of Man and indeed equal to God as Son of God.

March 12 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Frederick Thomas Supporter Rom 3:4 ...let God be true...

Joh 14:9 Jesus *said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 

Joh 14:10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 

Joh 14:11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. 

Heb 10:19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 
Heb 10:20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 

Prof. Stuart supposes that the point of the comparison may be that the veil of the temple operated as a screen to hide the visible symbol of the presence of God from human view, and that in like manner the body of Jesus might be regarded as a “kind of temporary tabernacle, or veil of the divine nature which dwelt within him.” 

Also that “as the veil of the tabernacle concealed the glory of Yahweh in the holy of holies, from the view of people, so Christ’s flesh or body screened or concealed the higher nature from our view, which dwelt within this veil, as God did of old within the veil of the temple.”

May 23 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report