How can we See God’s Face? Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God!

This week we are enjoying the last of the twelve messages on the second part of the Crystallization-Study of Exodus focusing on Exo. 19-24; the main topic for this week is, The Vision of God in a Transparent and Clear Heaven and the Heavenly Vision concerning the Desire of God’s Heart to Have a Dwelling Place with Man on Earth.

God took His people Israel through a lot of experiences, starting from exposing the death in Egypt and its riches (through the ten plagues), giving them the Passover as a type of Christ, delivering them from Pharaoh and his usurpation, bringing them across the Red Sea with mighty power and destroying Pharaoh and his armies, and leading them through the wilderness until they reached the mountain of God.

In the wilderness God cared for them by providing them with manna for their food and living water from the rock to quench their thirst. As the people of Israel were travelling through the wilderness toward the good land, the land of Canaan, God brought them to the mountain of God where He not only supplied them outwardly but He revealed Himself to them.

Through giving them the Ten Commandments God revealed to His people what kind of God He is and what kind of living they need to have in order to match Him. Here, on the mountain, God brought His people to Himself and desired to infuse Himself into them so that they may be His people who are built up to become His habitation to express Him on earth.

This week we will see how God wants us to see Him in a transparent and clear heaven, and He wants us to have a heavenly vision of the desire of God’s heart to have a dwelling place with man on earth. What God desires to have is a dwelling place, a built up church where God and man dwell together and God is mingled with man to the extent that there’s a Body for Christ to be expressed on earth and there’s a home for the Father to dwell with all His children.

May the Lord grant us a clear vision of God so that we may see Him face to face to a further extent, and may we be unveiled to see the heavenly vision concerning the desire of God’s heart to have a dwelling place with man on earth.

A Theological Problem with No Solution related to Seeing God’s Face in Exodus

In Exodus 24 God called Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and some of the elders and leaders in Israel to come up to the mountain and worship Him; and they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet there was something like a paved work of sapphire, even like heaven itself for clearness, and they beheld God (see Exo. 24:10-11).

Related to this matter of seeing God, especially seeing God’s face, there’s a theological problem for which there is no solution: on the one hand the Bible clearly says that no one has ever seen God or can see God face to face and live (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12), and on the other hand Moses saw God face to face, and we will all see God face to face (Exo. 33:11; Rev. 22:4).

After Moses asked God to let him see His face, God put him in a place on the rock as His glory passed by; then, He put Moses in a cleft on the rock and covered him with His hand until He passed by, and when God took away His hand, Moses saw His back – but not His face, because man can’t see God’s face and live (see Exo. 33:21-24).

In our Christian experience we can testify that the only way we can see God is by remaining in Christ, the crucified One; Christ is the Rock of ages cleft for us, and God puts us in Christ – even in the crucified One, and in Christ we can see God. It is only in the crucified Christ that we can see God.

However, how about seeing God’s face? Here’s the theological problem regarding seeing God’s face, which is part of some more theological problems in Exodus, such as:

• God said He will send His angel before the people (Exo. 33:2); this Angel refers to Christ, and Christ is God Himself. Why didn’t God just say that He Himself will go with the people and lead them? Then later after Moses bargained with God, God said that His presence will go with them; His presence is God Himself, but why didn’t God just say that He Himself will go with them?
• God told Moses that no man can see God’s face and live (Exo. 33:20); but then the verse 11 in the same chapter says, Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, even as a man speaks to his companion. How can we put these two together?
• From these verses we see that God’s face is His glory, his glory is His presence, and His presence is His face; how can we understand all this?

These questions expose an unsolvable theological problem; with our limited mind we cannot understand God or see God, and we should not even try to. Some things are better left not understood, but what we can understand, based on the whole Bible, is that we CAN see God’s face in a matter of degree.

On the one hand, we cannot physically see God’s face, but on the other hand, we can see God’s face in spirit and talk to Him face to face. In a sense, we can talk to God face to face, but in another sense, we cannot see God’s face and live; this is not a matter of contradiction but a of degree and extent.

Moses saw God’s face and spoke to Him face to face, but He did not see the unveiled splendour of God’s face in His Godhead. We as believers are in Christ; God put us in Christ, and in this crucified One we are covered by God’s hand, under the precious blood of Christ, and we can see God.

As we turn our heart to the Lord, have a pure heart, and are unveiled, we see the Lord face to face and, even more, we are infused with Him to match Him even in His glory (which is a communicable attribute of God; see Exo. 33:21-23; 17:6; Matt. 5:8; Rev. 22:4).

The children of Israel had God’s presence with them, and later we see that the Angel of God was with them, and eventually even God’s glory went with them; this is a matter of the degree of their experience of God. May we advance in our experience of Christ until we fully see God face to face!

Thank You God for putting us in Christ, the crucified One; it is only in the crucified Christ that we can see God face to face! Lord, enlighten us to know how we, human beings, can see God’s face. Keep us in the crucified Christ, the rock of ages cleft for us, so that we may be covered by God and see God’s face. Lord, we turn our heart to You. We want to be pure in heart so that we may see God! Increase our fellowship with You. Draw us closer to You. We want to see Your face to a greater extent.

Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they shall See God (Matt. 5:8)

The Lord Jesus told us the way to see God: it is by being pure in heart; blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8). It doesn’t say that “he / she will see God” but that “they shall see God”, indicating that God wants to gain a group of people who are pure in heart, having a single heart for God and His purpose, who see God face to face.

God desires to have many saints in the local churches who live in the kingdom life with a pure heart. Paul encourages us to flee youthful lusts and pursue Christ with those who call on His name out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22). God needs a company of people who live out corporately a life in which their heart is pure: they want nothing for themselves but they live for God’s purpose and the desire of His heart.

What does it mean to see God? God is light (1 John 1:5); light is the nature of God’s expression, just as Spirit is the nature of God’s person (John 4:24) and love is the nature of God’s essence (1 John 4:8, 16). To see God is to see light.

When the heart is pure, one sees God; when the heart is single, there is light within; when the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away; and when the heart is pure, one does not slip and can know God further. Since there is such a close relationship between the heart and light, it is necessary to deal with our heart in order to see light. (Watchman Nee)

The Triune God – as revealed in the light of the gospel – is light (2 Cor. 4:4, 6). Christ is the image of God and the effulgence of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3), and the gospel of Christ is the gospel of His glory which illuminates and shines forth Christ.

Whenever we turn our heart to the Lord, His light shines on us – we see Him in His expression. To see God is to see light, and to see light is to see God; in His light we see light, and when we turn our heart to the Lord and cooperate with Him to remove any veil and purify our heart, we see God as light.

To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, having the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for His glory (1 Cor. 10:31). We receive Christ with our Spirit, since God in Christ is today the Spirit (John 1:12; 3:6; 2 Cor. 3:17) and Christ grows as the seed of life in our heart (John 13:19).

We need to be poor in spirit and pure in heart so that we may receive Christ and so that we may see Him face to face and have Him grow in us without any frustration. If we today are pure in heart in seeking God, we will receive the reward of seeing God; this blessing is both for today in this age and for the coming age!

Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You right now. We want to deal with our heart so that our heart would be pure and single toward You. Lord, our desire is to see You face to face! Remove any veil from our heart as we turn our heart to You, and illuminate the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ into our heart so that we may see You face to face. Lord, shine on us. Keep us in Your shining light, Your expression, so that we may see You. In Your light we see light. Lord, we just want to be pure in heart to see God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of 1 John, msg. 5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 12 / msg 12, The Vision of God in a Transparent and Clear Heaven and the Heavenly Vision concerning the Desire of God’s Heart to Have a Dwelling Place with Man on Earth.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Just to behold Thy face, / For this my heart doth cry; / I deeply long to drink of Thee / My thirst to satisfy. / Thy glorious, radiant face / My heart delights to see; / Here I’d abide and ne’er depart, / Beholding constantly. (Hymns #812)
  # Bless’d are the pure in heart, / For they shall see our God; / The secret of the Lord is theirs, / Their heart is Christ’s abode. (Hymns #411)
  # Lord, in these days I want to set my heart, / Ever and only, always on You, / That I would not defiled be, / Keeping my heart so single and pure for Thee. (Song on being Pure in heart)