Has anyone ever SEEN GOD?

Q. Has anyone ever SEEN God? John 1:18, Exodus 33:20, John 6:46 and 1 John 4:12 say NO. Genesis 32:30, Exodus 33:11, Isaiah 6:1 and Job 42:5 appear to say YES. Is this a contradiction in scripture?

(Submitted by: J. J. )

A. The quick answer is NO, no one has seen God (the Father) at any time and NO, there is no contradiction of scripture. However, while no one has seen God, the Father, several have seen God, the Son.

The apparent contradiction is one brought about by a misunderstanding of the nature and person of God. The easiest route to understanding this sometimes difficult to comprehend subject is to review the scriptures below.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." (John 1:1-3, NIV)

As the context shows, John is speaking of Jesus / Yashua who was with God, the Father, at the beginning and who, Himself, was God.

Moses asked God to tell him His name:

"Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO [more properly "that" rather than "who" – see KJV and original Hebrew] I AM.

"This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.' "God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation." (Exodus 3:13-15, NIV)

Later, when Jesus was on this earth living as a man, He told those He was speaking directly to that He was, indeed, "I AM". Jesus, when speaking to the religious leaders of Israel who claimed Abraham as their father, said:

"Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad. 'You are not yet fifty years old,' the Jews said to him, 'and you have seen Abraham!' "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" " (John 8:56-58, NIV)

From these scriptures and many others we learn that the monotheism normally associated with Christianity and Judaism is a flawed concept. There are TWO beings Who are God: God, the Father and God, the Son. While it is true that God is "one" (Deuteronomy 6:4), the Hebrew word translated as "one" is echad, which is the same Hebrew word translated as "one" in Genesis 2:24, saying that a man and his wife shall become "one" flesh.

God, the Son (Jesus/Yashua) was born and lived on this earth as a man, prayed to God, the Father and obeyed the will of God, the Father. Jesus/Yashua was cruelly murdered for no good reason, was resurrected and returned to His former station at the right hand of God, the Father and was given all authority in heaven and the earth. (Matthew 28:18, John 8)

There SEEMS to be an apparent contradiction because most people do not understand that there are two beings Who are God.

The first group of scriptures tells us that no one has seen God, the Father:

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, [the Father] but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, [Jesus/Yashua] has made him known. " (John 1:17-18, NIV)

"No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. " (John 6:46, NIV)

"This is love: not that we loved God, [the Father] but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God [the Father]; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit." (1 John 4:10-13, NIV)

[The speaker is God who was born as Jesus/Yashua.] "And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But, "he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. "Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen." " (Exodus 33:19-23, NIV)

The second group of scriptures describes instances of people seeing God, the Son.

In His original state, before He was born as a man, the face of YHWH, or I AM, could not be seen by a human being because it would kill that person. Why that is true the Bible does not specify, although the Apostle Paul later commented on the radiance coming from Moses' face after this encounter in 2 Corinthians 3:7-13, which refers to the incident cited in Exodus 34:29-35. The exposure that Moses had to seeing God's back caused his face to glow so brilliantly that it scared the Israelites. Moses had to resort to wearing a veil so they would not be too frightened to listen to what he was saying.

In the below passage the "man" who wrestled with Jacob was the God who was born as Jesus/Yashua "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." (See Exodus 3:15):

"So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."" (Genesis 32:24-30, NIV)

This passage also refers — not to God, the Father — but to "I AM"/Jesus/Yashua:

"The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (Exodus 33:11, NIV)

This is a "vision" and so may not be directly applicable to this discussion, but even so, it still refers to "I AM"/Jesus/Yashua, because we are told that no man has seen God, the Father.

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple." (Isaiah 6:1, NIV)

The whole book of Job is a metaphor, or a "parable" and also may not be applicable to this discussion, but, again, we know that it refers to "I AM"/Jesus/Yashua, because no man has seen the Father:

"Then Job replied to the LORD: "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. [You asked,] `Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. ["You said,] `Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you." " (Job 42:1-5, NIV)