Has anyone really seen God and lived?
QUESTION:
How do you square these two verses on “seeing God”? They appear to contradict each other.
Exodus 24:9-10 ESV “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel...
John 1:18 ESV “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
ANSWER:
Here’s the entire passage for context:
Ex. 24:9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,
Ex. 24:10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.
Ex. 24:11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.
After signing the covenant with God, Moses and the other men Israel climbed the mountain to meet with God as directed. There they see the God of Israel. This immediately brings up an immediate and tantalizing question: WHAT DID THEY SEE? As with any scripture, we have to intemperate this passage with ALL of scripture in mind. We cannot assume any interperationa’s that contradict other scripture. As an example, we read in 1 John:
1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
John is tellings us that no man has ever seen God at any time. This has to include even the time of Exodus 24. Later on in Exodus you find this passage:
Ex. 33:20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
Ex. 33:21 Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;
Ex. 33:22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
God, in the first person, is recorded saying to Moses that he cannot see God’s face and live. If Moses couldn’t see God’s face and live… then we can conclude that he NEVER saw His face. This included Exodus 24. Lastly, we remember that earlier in Exodus the Lord said to Moses that these men were permitted to worship from a distance. But only Moses could approach closely.
Ex. 24:1 Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance.
Ex. 24:2 “Moses alone, however, shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”
SO these men saw something of God, but whatever they did see, we know they never saw God in any true sense, at least not His Face, and they certainly never made it very close.
Something to think about is a clue that we find in verse 10 when we see a reference to His feet. I don’t know about you, but my impression of an encounter with God from scripture in any context Has always caused a similar reaction externally to the body - falling face down. Even from a distance it seems that they had a similar reaction that is reported in other parts of scripture. They were prostrate on the ground in fear for their lives. And one can only think about the vantage point they must of had in that posture. The only thing they did see was God’s “Feet” and the pavement underneath. We can safely assume this was an appearance of the Shechinah Glory. If you are interested, a fun journey to take in scripture is to search out where Jesus was seen in a Glorified state, un-veiled in flesh. Word search “Shechinah”. It’s a Hebrew word that means “Dwelling” or “settling” and is used to describe the tangible presence of God.