Recently, I was asked, “Did Moses see God face to face?”
Let’s think about the question briefly because the answer from Scripture is rather interesting.
Exodus 33:11 says, “So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Later in the chapter, Moses asked the Lord, “Please, show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18).
God gave an interesting response to Moses’ request.
Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” (Exodus 33:19-20)
Exodus 33:11 says the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face,” and then in Exodus 33:20, the Lord says Moses cannot see His face because he would die if he saw the face of the Lord. So, did Moses see God’s face or not?
I think the answer is that Exodus 33:11 describes how the Lord spoke to Moses (“as a man speaks to his friend”) and is not necessarily a literal statement that Moses saw the face of God.
Exodus 33:9-10 says a “pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.” So what Moses saw when he spoke “face to face” with God was a pillar of cloud – and not the actual face of God.
I also think Moses’ request to see God’s glory (Exodus 33:18) meant he had not yet seen God literally “face to face,” and he wanted to do so.
Perhaps we can imagine Moses’ thinking as something like, “Lord, you’ve spoken to me from a burning bush and a pillar of cloud. We talk like friends – can’t I see You as You truly are?”
All of this helps us understand that Moses didn’t literally see the face of God, but he spoke with God as a man spoke with a friend.
Moses was told he couldn’t see the glory of God because it would kill him. But through Jesus, we see the glory of God.
And the Word became 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 1:14).
What a wonderful thought this is!
God expressed his glory to us in a form we could relate to - a human form. In the incarnation, God came to us in a manner that we could grasp. - Keller, The Meaning of Marriage, 154
An incredible passage near the end of Revelation mentions something amazing about what heaven will be like.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4)
When Jesus returns, and His people are changed to be like Him (1 Corinthians 15:50-57), “we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
In the flesh and blood we have now, no one can see God as He truly is and live. But when we are “changed,” we shall be able to “see His face” as He truly is.
What a glorious thought that is!
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