GOD IS LOVE Devotion 14 of 34 "No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us." (1 John 4:12) – Tomorrow:
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love . . . God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:8,16)
Right here we strike at the heart of the matter. A person who does not live by faith MUST live according to sight – and everything that can be seen is temporal, and thus is under the curse of God. Faith has to do with things that are "not seen," and that are "hoped for" (Heb 11:1). The "things" upon which we are to place our affection, and for which we are to "seek," are "above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God" (Col 3:1-2) – and that is an unseen realm. There are no natural capacities that can see such things. That is the peculiar function of faith.
However, in Christ, it is not possible to "live" by sight, even though many professing Christians are laboring hard to do so. Nothing that can be seen with the natural eye can foster faith. Furthermore, in redemption God has given us nothing to "see" with temporal capacities. It is true that we have the Scriptures, and they can be seen. However, unless our exposure to the Word of God is "mixed with faith," it brings no profit to the soul (Heb 4:2).
God Himself cannot be seen. Thus it is said of Him, "whom no can hath seen, nor can see" (1 Tim 6:18). God contrasts sharply with the natural order, and because of it His glory is too great for men to bear. So far as natural sight is concerned, He is described as "Him who is invisible" (Heb 11:27).
God has also withdrawn His Son from the earth, who is the supreme Evidence. In fact, after Jesus died, the world never saw Him again – only His disciples saw Him, those who were "to witnesses chosen before of God" (John 14:19; Acts 10:41). God has sent an invisible Spirit into the world, whom the world "cannot receive" (John 14:17). The blessings with which we have been blessed are "in heavenly places" (Eph 1:3). The "eternal inheritance" that has been promised to us is "in heaven" (Heb 9:15; 1 Pet 1:4). The things God has prepared for those whom love Him are "not seen" (1 Cor 2:9). The matters toward which we intently look are "eternal," and said to be "not seen" (2 Cor 4:18). The love of Jesus that is sparked by obtaining God's great salvation includes loving an "unseen" Christ. As it is written, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet 1:8). Faith thrives on the apprehension of all of these.
Thus, men are confined to faith in their association with God. Fleshly vision provides no access to God, Christ, grace, the Spirit, or spiritual blessings. And it gives no advantage to those who are in Christ Jesus. I realize this carries some alarming implications, for a considerable part of contemporary Christianity emphasis what is seen.
Now the Spirit will show us the evidence of God's presence. It will not be found in vision or in any other natural sense. It will be evidenced by our love for His people – "the brethren." Where that love is missing, no love for God can be affirmed, for such love is simply not possible where the love of His people is not found.
NO ONE!
"No one has seen God at any time." The word certainly is not ambiguous. This precise statement is also made in John 1:18, where the Lord Jesus is said to make God perceptible. "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). Paul reminded Timothy that God is "eternal, immortal, invisible" (1 Tim 1:17). He described Him as "dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (1 Tim 6:16). Jesus is described as "the Image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15). Here, the word "invisible" does not mean merely, unseen by the naked eye – like a bacterium, atom, or some other microscopic form of matter. Rather, "invisible" means outside of the domain of the natural. There are no human, or natural, capacities capable of perceiving God.
Even though the Spirit's statements on this matter are quite clear, it remains too difficult for some to receive. Some, unacquainted with the nature of Divine utterance, point to the experience of "Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel." It is twice declared that they "saw God." "And they saw the God of Israel . . . also they saw God" (Ex 24:9-11). Pointing to these texts, sophists declare there is a contradiction – that God has really been seen, as these texts affirm.
The sight reported in Exodus, however, did not involve the fulness of God. He was seen in a very veiled fashion. To put it another way, they saw the GLORY of God rather than God Himself – and even that glory was an accommodation to the frailties of their flesh. They "saw God" like men see the wind in the evidence of its presence: "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes" (John 3:8, NKJV).
When Moses requested that God show him His glory, the Lord replied, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live" (Ex 33:20). In view of this circumstance, God accommodated Himself to Moses, allowing him to behold the lingering, or afterglow, as it was, of His presence. Here is how it is stated. "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen" (Ex 33:21-23, NKJV). In saying "no man hath seen God at any time," John is referring to seeing God's "face" – or beholding Him in all of His effulgence, without the protective covering of His glory, and the mercy of His hand.
Another verse that seems to contradict the affirmation of our text is found in Genesis. There, after wrestling with a heavenly messenger through the night, Jacob responded, "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Gen 32:30). Actually, the text says Jacob wrestled with "a man" (Gen 32:24). What Jacob had seen was a representation of God, and not God Himself. In his expression, Jacob was saying he had confronted God and survived. But he had not seen the fulness of God, for no man can do that and live.
It is in this sense that our text reads, "No one has seen God at any time." It was not that the privilege had simply been withheld. It is not possible for flesh to survive an immediate and full confrontation of God. So far as flesh is concerned, God is "invisible" (Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17; Heb 11:27). In his first letter to Timothy, the Spirit moved Paul to say this of the Lord: "Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen OR CAN SEE" (1 Tim 6:16, NKJV).
Now the Spirit will affirm that God is only comprehended through faith and love. Further, where faith and love are found, God Himself is also found. Where they are absent, profession notwithstanding, God is also absent
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I want to be like Moses who endured as seeing You who are invisible. Show me Your glory.