Who saw God?

[EricH]

No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

John 1:18 NASB

The only person to have seen God in his completeness was Jesus. He is the only one who has soon Him as He really is and thuse has the ability to "explain" or exegete Him

[germanJoy]

No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

John 1:18 NASB

The only person to have seen God in his completeness was Jesus. He is the only one who has soon Him as He really is and thuse has the ability to "explain" or exegete Him

That exactly is the reason why God can be explained only in Trinity.

You are right, no one has seen God (the Father) except Jesus. Interestingly, the Father's role is distinct from the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Son came in the flesh, revealed God Himself and physically appeared and was physically seen by all. The Spirit of God had been rooming around His creation the whole time, showed Himself face-to-face to Jacob and He (the Lord) also appeared in a manner seen by those He chose like Abraham, Isaac, David, Solomon, etc.

That explains Trinity: One (plural) Lord (Echad Elohim).

Now the Lord appeared to him (Abraham) by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. Gen. 18:1

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice." 2 Chronicles 7:12

The Spirit of God Almighty was seen by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but the Lord "YHWH", was not seen except by Jesus. And YHWH is known and made known in and by Christ. For we see YHWH in Christ. Thus, Jesus is YHWH manifesting Himself.

God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am the Lord; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Lord (YHWH), I did not make Myself known to them. Exodus 6:2-3

Edited June 21, 2006 by germanJoy

[st. Worm]

quote:

"...it is clear to me..........that jesus is not god himself. but rather a fine and holy ensample of gods nature in man, and spirit, available to man...thank god for jesus, a gift of humanity to all men who will believe so.

SW:

The truth can be harsh sometimes but you are not a Christian. You are instead a pagan.

[Smalcald]

The ongoing work of Satan is to bring Christ down, to destroy faith in His divinity, to stop His work. If Christ is not God He cannot forgive your sins, and if He cannot do that we are all going to hell, we will die in our sins. Any concept of Christ which does not accept the Trinity, means that Christ is not divine, unless you admit to being a worshipper of multiple Gods?

[germanJoy]

The ongoing work of Satan is to bring Christ down, to destroy faith in His divinity, to stop His work. If Christ is not God He cannot forgive your sins, and if He cannot do that we are all going to hell, we will die in our sins. Any concept of Christ which does not accept the Trinity, means that Christ is not divine, unless you admit to being a worshipper of multiple Gods?

Christ............. is seated at the right hand of the father. and he said......."why callest thou me good"......"there is none good- but the father- which is in heaven." If christ is god.......then why would he himself ,continually direct us to a seperate entity- calling himself less than the father?

micen2, what you are doing is taking one scripture out of context and make it your own half-truth. Indeed, Christ as Son of God and Son of Man, had to say things identifying Himself to be both, God and man. Therefore, on one hand, He said "there is none good but the Father" implying His manhood and on the other hand, He claimed: "I and the Father are one." implying His godliness. And that my dear, is the WHOLE TRUTH.

[RustyAngeL]

Actually, a few people saw G-d and lived to tell about it, including Isaiah, who saw the Lord, high and lifted up and His train filled the Temple. Isa. 6

I will have to remember that verse. My friend who has been in a couple of cults in the last few years is now part of the SDA. She uses the scripture that says No man has seen God to try and prove that we will be spending our eternity on earth and not in Heaven. I used the scripture where Jesus says " I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go I will come again and recieve you unto Myself, that I where I am you may be also" She says that is not what that really means but offers no explination. She also slides past the verses about the rapture. I don't get how people can just ignore scripture that is so clear and use it to prove a twisted view on what the Bible says.

[other one]

I guess this belongs here. I was wondering who was the guy who saw God. I don't remember much about it. I read the passage a while ago, but I remember it was like, he had to wait for God to pass him because he was so bright or something. I think it was like, a reward for something. I don't remember. Does anybody know who I am talking about?

QUOTE

Exod 24 10Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.

QUOTE

John 6:45 "It is written in the prophets, ' AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

46 Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

When we just use the word God in a question it can become confusing. No one has seen the Father except for the Son, However in one setting there were 74 people who saw the God of Israel an did not die. They even made a point to tell us that they ate and drank so we woule know that they were not in the spirit, but flesh and blood.

To me that is letting us know that the God that Moses interfaced with was not the Father. It was Jehovah Eilohym that was also called "I AM" which Jesus pretty much told us was He Himself.

QUOTE

Philippians 2:5+ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with god a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus was Jehovah in the days of Moses, but he is not the Father...... and that is where it can get confusing when we just use the word God to make reference to one of the three without specifying which of the three we are talking about.

[germanJoy]

The ongoing work of Satan is to bring Christ down, to destroy faith in His divinity, to stop His work. If Christ is not God He cannot forgive your sins, and if He cannot do that we are all going to hell, we will die in our sins. Any concept of Christ which does not accept the Trinity, means that Christ is not divine, unless you admit to being a worshipper of multiple Gods?

Christ............. is seated at the right hand of the father. and he said......."why callest thou me good"......"there is none good- but the father- which is in heaven." If christ is god.......then why would he himself ,continually direct us to a seperate entity- calling himself less than the father?

micen2, what you are doing is taking one scripture out of context and make it your own half-truth. Indeed, Christ as Son of God and Son of Man, had to say things identifying Himself to be both, God and man. Therefore, on one hand, He said "there is none good but the Father" implying His manhood and on the other hand, He claimed: "I and the Father are one." implying His godliness. And that my dear, is the WHOLE TRUTH.

two questions for you.................where in the bible does christ claim himself to be God himself.......?...........and whom did he pray to, if he is God as you say he is?.............

micen2, sorry for the delay of this response. I have not seen your question on time.

My Answer to your question:

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am (YWHW) . Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.

John 8:58-59

But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working". For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

By this statement, micen2, Jesus acknowledged that He is God Himself, being equal with God. And that made the unbelieving Jews hate Him which became His death sentence at the Cross of Calvary. Believe it or not, that was the ABSOLUTE TRUTH!

Edited September 21, 2006 by germanJoy

[firehill]

No one has seen God in physiacal form according to the Bible, fact.

[other one]

some thoughts from over the hundreds of times I have listened to the Bible concerning the Trinity and the three that make it up:

QUOTE

Exod 24 10Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet (15) there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.

QUOTE

John 6:45 "It is written in the prophets, ' AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

46 Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

Moses and friends saw the God of Israel and were not harmed.

Jesus says that no man has seen the father except He that came from Him.

So it seems to me that the Father that Jesus speaks of, is not what that the Nation of Israel interfaced with in the old testament.

Looking further:

QUOTE

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life and the life was the light of men.

QUOTE

John 1:9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him.

John 8:57-59

57 The Jews therefore said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

NASB

It seems to me to be saying that Jesus was what the Nation of Israel interfaced with in the old testament days. Jesus in this form was with the Father from the beginning.

It seems to me that the people of the old testament days were not aware of the Father except for what they saw through the Jesus in the form he existed in before he became flesh.

Further:

QUOTE

Philippians 2:5+ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with god a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It appears to me that Jesus as the word was that which the Father worked through to manifest Himself to the people of the old testament times. Jesus did not regard himself to want to be the equal to the Father so He took the form of a human to further the works of the Father on earth.

Jesus was deity by being in the form of God, but it was the Father that did the work through Him when he was the Word. It appears that the only thing that has changed is Jesus is now flesh working the same way only as a man. The Father exercises His will through Jesus, now in the fleshly body.

QUOTE

John 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me;

QUOTE

John 17:20 Jesus prayed " I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their work: that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me"

It seems to me that Jesus just extended the conduit from Him to us for the Father to do His work through Jesus to us so we could know the Father as the Father knows us. Thus we now can do the work of the Father. I believe this is the path and workings of the Holy Spirit

QUOTE

1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put al His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, "All things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection, to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, That God may be all in all.

Jesus, before His ascension told the Apostles that all power and authority had been given to Him. After he has subdued everything Jesus will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him........ The Father.

I don't see the Son always being equal with the Father, either when He was the word nor in the flesh. He will also be subject to the Father after He does the job of bringing the kingdom into it's full power over all and giving it to the Father.

1 Cor 8:5-6

5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

NASB