Anyone Seen God Lately?

ANYONE SEEN GOD LATELY?

I have been witnessing to a couple muslims recently, and they are relatively well-studied on our bible as well as their koran. Makes you wonder how they haven't realized salvation and converted to Christianity, but then we know how the glorious gospel is hidden, unless God chooses to open their eyes. In any case, they ask some interesting questions, perhaps testing what I know of my own faith, but One question one of them asked what seemed a good bible study topic, so I have chosen to write here of it. Who all do you suppose has seen God? Let's not forget our God is not like their Allah, ours is the true triune God, so this question considers the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let's dig in...
Abraham is the first who comes to mind having actually seen God in the form of the Son. "And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, 'My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant.' And they said, 'So do, as thou hast said'...And the LORD said unto Abraham, 'Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, "Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?" Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.' Then Sarah denied, saying, 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid. And He said, 'Nay; but thou didst laugh.'" (Gen. 18:1 - 5, 13 - 15) In this text of Scripture, understand that Jesus in His preincarnate form visited Abraham with two of His angels, and the angels would later go to rescue Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, but as the Lord is omniscient, He knew Sarah's thoughts to laugh in her mind of the thought she would bear a son in her advanced age, and so He mentioned it aloud, to Sarah's denial.

Moses got to see God, but not in His true image until later in his relationship with the Almighty. The first audiovisual contact, as we know, was the burning bush; "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. And Moses said, 'I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.' 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.' And He said, 'Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.' Moreover He 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." (Exod. 3:2 - 6) Once out of Egypt, Moses and the people saw a visual aid from God in the form of a pillar of fire each night and a pillar of cloud by day! "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." (Exod. 13:21 - 22) Now this was not the true form of God, because no man has truly seen God ever! "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." (John 1:18) Since God is Spirit, He is invisible in His true form. "Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink." (Exod. 24:9 - 11) Let us remember again, this was not God's true form, because as we will soon read, nobody can see God in His true glory, and live! The last and most provocative viewing of God by Moses comes from this passage of Scripture: "And he said, 'I beseech Thee, shew me Thy glory.' And He said, 'I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.' And He said, 'Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live.' And the LORD said, 'Behold, there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand while I pass by: And I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back parts: but My face shall not be seen.'" (Exod. 33:18 - 23) What is particularly special about this is that Moses is the only person in the bible to see the true physical, bodily glory of the Lord, even if only from behind!

Jacob not only saw God, he actually wrestled with Him! "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when He saw that He prevailed not against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with Him. And He said, 'Let Me go, for the day breaketh.' And he said, 'I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.' And He said unto him, 'What is thy name?' And he said, 'Jacob.' And He said, 'Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.' And Jacob asked Him, and said, 'Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name.' And He said, 'Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My name?' And He blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (Gen. 32:24 - 30) Once again, Jesus granted a theophany to a member of the human race!

The parents of Samson also received the blessing of being able to see the Old Testament form of Jesus: "But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that He was an angel of the LORD. And Manoah said unto his wife, 'We shall surely die, because we have seen God.' But his wife said unto him, 'If the LORD were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would He have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these." (Judg. 13:21 - 23)

Nebuchadnezzar, an unbelieving king of Daniel's time, was the first heathen to recognize the presence of the Son of God, despite the flames of a fiery furnace! "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, 'Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?' They answered and said unto the king, 'True, O king.' He answered and said, 'Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.'" (Dan. 3:24 - 25) This is the last preincarnate theophany of Christ. Then He is born, and Emmanuel, God with us, is seen until He ascends in to heaven in the clouds at the beginning of the book of Acts.

Philip gets an interesting response when he asks Jesus to show them the Father; "Philip saith unto him, 'Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.' 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?" Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake.'" (John 14:8 - 11) Jesus is trying to tell Philip that in seeing Him he sees the Father, since there is one God, and He and the Father are thereby one. Since no man can see the Father and live, because the apostles are seeing Jesus, they are seeing the Father in Christ's works. Let's see one last illustration from Scripture of what Jesus said, only this time, He is talking to the Jews in Solomon's porch: "'I and My Father are one.' Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, 'Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me?' The Jews answered Him, saying, 'For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God.' Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.'" (John 10:30 - 38)

So here is a number of illustrations that some have seen God, though not as He truly is in His glory, that they may not die. So today, when someone says they have seen Jesus, should we doubt that they have seen God?  According to Scripture, Jesus said this; "Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24:26 - 27) "And He said unto the disciples, 'The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in His day.'" (Luke 17:22 - 24) When He does come, it will be in this manner: "Which also said, 'Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11) He will come again in the clouds of heaven in the manner stated in Scripture, and in no other way shall He come.