No One Can See God and Live

Caught in idolatrous revelry at the base of Mount Sinai, the nation of Israel came perilously close to destruction (Exodus 32:1, 9-10). Angered at this brazen disobedience, and yet hopeful that God would forgive His people, Moses interceded on their behalf (verses 11-14, 19).

Shortly after this incident, while seeking reassurance that God would continue to be with His people, Moses abruptly asked to see God’s glory (Exodus 33:18). God then told him that no one can see Him and live (verse 20).

God’s answer seems to contradict a statement earlier in the same chapter: “So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (verse 11).

When properly understood, however, there is no contradiction. Instead, this incident sets up an important distinction in Scripture between seeing God in some limited sense and seeing Him in His full glory. How can we understand this distinction, and why can’t we see God in His glory?

The reason no one can see God and live

We can’t see God because of our nature. We are mortal, made of flesh and bone, but God is Spirit (John 4:24). God is eternal, unbounded by time and space. In comparison, we are nothing!

It is impossible for the finite to comprehend the Infinite, or the limited to understand the Unlimited. If you were to think of humans as water jugs, you would never expect such jugs to be capable of containing the waters of the Pacific Ocean—and even that ocean, the biggest on earth, is limited!

It is also impossible for sinful, broken humans to survive the glory of God. We cannot fully understand or appreciate even just another person, let alone the Almighty, Eternal God.

When we are told that “no one can see God and live,” in essence we are being told that it is impossible for us in our present state to comprehend God in His full glory, and if we saw that glory, we would die.

The apostle John explained that no one has ever seen God (1 John 4:12), referring to God the Father. Scripture does tell us, however, that some people have seen the Son of God in various ways He has chosen to reveal Himself, though not in all His glory.

John also wrote, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18; see also 5:37).

Since no one has seen God the Father, the logical conclusion is that the One people saw in the Old Testament is the One who became flesh and was called Jesus Christ. (See more proof in our article “Jesus in the Old Testament?”)

Biblical encounters with God

The Bible describes a number of personal interactions between God and humans. Our ancestral parents, Adam and Eve, were the first two people to interact with the One who became Jesus Christ. Before they were cast out of Eden for disobeying God, they walked and talked with Him (Genesis 1:27-29; 2:16-20; 3:8-13).

Jacob, who was renamed Israel and who became the father of God’s chosen people, wrestled with a Man who turned out to be God (Genesis 32:24, 30). To wrestle with God, Jacob must have been in physical contact with Him, and then later Jacob spoke to Him “face to face” (verse 30).

It’s clear that Jacob, though he did prevail with God (verse 28), could not have matched Him in all His glory. Jacob obviously did not prevail against the spiritual Power that sustains the universe.

Gideon saw and spoke with “the Angel of the LORD face to face” (Judges 6:22), fully expecting this encounter to lead to his death. God reassured him, though, telling him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die” (verse 23).

In the same way, Manoah, the father of the yet unborn Samson, expected to die because he and his wife had seen God (Judges 13:22). Manoah’s wife, however, correctly surmised that God did not intend them harm. He had, after all, accepted their sacrificial offering (verse 23).

As we saw earlier, when Moses talked with the One who became Jesus Christ, there is a difference between seeing God in all His glory and seeing Him as He manifests Himself in human form or as He appears in fire and smoke (Exodus 3:2; 13:21-22).

Why we want to see God

The yearning to see God is not merely the result of curiosity. Instead, it stems from our nature—the way God created us to be.

The first chapter of the Bible hints at the reason we yearn to see God. Unlike the animals, which were created “each according to its kind” (Genesis 1:24), humans were created in God’s image (verse 26).

This expression conveys more than simply the idea of physical appearance. To be in God’s image means to be His offspring and, as such, to have a relationship with Him. Whether or not we recognize this yearning for what it is—the deep desire to connect with the Eternal God—we all have this longing.

The desire to see God may be part of this yearning for a relationship. After all, so much of our communication takes place through visual cues. A smile or a frown, for instance, lets us know right away the mood of another person.

At the deepest level, we want to see God because we want to be connected to our Father. We want to understand Him, and we want to know in a tangible or perceptible way that He hears us.

God in the flesh

One of the most profound statements in the Bible is in the first chapter of John’s Gospel: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

As frail, broken and sinful humans, we cannot see God in all His glory. However, Scripture holds out hope for a time when we will. For the first time in history, rather than momentarily appearing in fleshly form, the Word became flesh, living among humans as a human for more than three decades. Because of this, those people who interacted with Him “beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

One major reason that the Word became flesh was to reveal the Father to human beings (Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22). Jesus acted and spoke according to the Father’s will and direction, and for this reason, His character reflected the character of God the Father (John 14:9-11).

In fleshly form, Jesus could be heard and seen and touched (1 John 1:1-3). He was approachable in a way that had never been possible before. Still, unfortunately, many of the people who saw Jesus in the flesh failed to appreciate Him.

If the men and women living in the first century struggled to comprehend and appreciate God in the flesh, how could anyone comprehend and appreciate Him in His full glory?

Preparing to see God and live

For Christians now, seeing God is a matter of coming to understand His character and His will, just as the disciples came to see the Father’s character and will through their association with the Son.

What about seeing God in His glory? Not just anyone can. Only those who take God’s will and instructions seriously can ever hope to see God in His full glory.

While on earth in the flesh, Jesus taught the crowds about what would be necessary to see God. In a passage commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Without the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf, becoming pure in heart would be an insurmountable obstacle. Fortunately, Christ did die on our behalf, cleansing us of our sins.

That act of grace and mercy, however, did not remove all responsibility from us. Addressing a younger minister, the apostle Paul explained that a Christian’s individual responsibility continues even after the person has partaken of Christ’s momentous sacrifice.

The apostle acknowledged that we are purified through the blood of Christ. He noted that Jesus “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people” (Titus 2:14).

Even so, just a couple of verses before, Paul pointed out that Jesus also taught us to deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts,” so that we can “live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (verse 12).

When will we finally see God and live?

As frail, broken and sinful humans, we cannot see God in all His glory. However, Scripture holds out hope for a time when we will.

In His prayer the night before His crucifixion, Jesus told the Father that His desire was for His followers to be with Him and to behold His glory (John 17:24).

The same apostle who recorded this prayer in his Gospel later wrote to the Church about this prospect: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

What John said just before and after this statement is significant. He first drew the attention of his readers to the tremendous love God has for His children (verse 1). It is because we are children of God, and because of His love for us, that we will see Him.

After writing that we will see God, John, like Paul, explained the Christian’s duty to purify himself or herself (verse 3). That purification is implied in the statement that “we shall be like Him” (verse 2).

We will someday see God, provided we remain steadfast in our faith, doing our best to obey and serve Him. In the meantime, we may struggle to “see” Him more clearly through the pages of Scripture, recognizing that our perception of God is limited.

Like Paul, though, we can take comfort in knowing that we will someday see and appreciate God and Christ in all their glory. We will know God in the same way that He knows us. The holes in our hearts, left open from creation for this very purpose, will finally be filled.

Paul wrote about this wonderful moment in a letter to the church at Corinth: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Corinthians 13:11-12).