No one has ever seen God… John 1:18
A college student arrives on campus and finds Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, occultists, and New Agers. All of them are talking about God!
John says, “Remember, no one has ever seen God.” This raises some obvious questions. Didn’t Adam and Eve walk with God in the Garden of Eden? What about Moses speaking with God face-to-face? What about Isaiah, who said, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord” (Isa. 6:1).
Theologians call these occasions in the Old Testament when God appeared in a visible form “theophanies,” but God is Spirit. He is invisible to us. He dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see (1 Tim. 6:16).
- When Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord,” what he actually saw was the hem of his robe, which was so massive it filled the temple! Because it filled the whole temple, that’s all he saw!
- Moses asked to see God in all his glory, but God said to him, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:20).
- God said to Moses, “I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen” (Ex. 33:22-23).
No one has ever seen God! Not Moses, Mohammad, or the Dalai Lama. No person who claims to have had visions of another world has ever seen God. So don’t be gullible, and don’t believe everything that you hear.
Are you putting all religious claims through this filter? Why or why not?
