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It is a well-known fact throughout Scripture and tradition that if you see the face of God you will die. This is reiterated time and time again throughout the text (Exodus 19:21, 33:20; Judges 6:22-23; 13:21-22; 1 Timothy 6:13-16; John 1:18). Yet, so often, when people do see the face of God, they don’t die––they live (Job 42:5; Deuteronomy 34:10). In fact, there is not a single instance in the Bible of someone seeing the face of God and dying––not one. So, why does the Bible even say it? Is this a contradiction?
What does it mean to see the face of God and live? Let’s see for ourselves.
Tunnel Vision
There are several layers to this question. The quick answer is actually the best answer: God lets them live––He spares their lives. God, of course, is the Author of life, He makes life and takes life. He decides who lives and dies. For instance, take note of what Jacob says after he wrestles the divine Man: “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered” (Genesis 32:30, cf. 48:16). The word translated as “delivered”, here, is nāṣal in Hebrew, which can also mean “spared”. In other words, God could have killed Jacob, but He chose not to do so. In fact, God does this several other times throughout the OT, such as when Gideon sees the angel of the Lord and becomes afraid for his life, but the angel reassures him that he will not die. And, again, with Samson’s father and mother, Manoah becomes afraid when sees the angel of the Lord and says, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” But his wife calms him down and says, ‘C’mon bud, get grip! If God had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted our offerings or told us about such things (Judges 13:21-23).
But notice the context of these passages. The people see the Angel of the Lord in human form face to face––who is God, of course––and live.
But this is only half the battle––because––there are certain facts about reality that cannot be broken. It is still true that if you see the face of God you will die. Hard stop. Christ Himself clearly says that “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18). The Apostle Paul also affirms this distinction to Timothy when he says that God “alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16)
So––if no one has seen God, and no one is even able to see God, and yet, apparently, all these people in the OT have seen God face to face, how does this make any sense?
Well, according to God, no one can see His full glory and live. There is a difference between God’s full glory and His partial glory. It is the full glory of God that kills. God chooses to conceal Himself or partially reveal Himself to spare someone’s life, such as with theophanies or visible manifestations of God where the Angel of the Lord appears in various forms, from a burning bush and pillar of cloud to human form and so on (Exodus 3:2-6, 23:20-23; Genesis 18:1-3, 32:30; Joshua 5:13-15).
In fact, Exodus 33 addresses this exact topic: Moses goes into the Tent Tabernacle and speaks to God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (vv.9,11). Then Moses said,
“Now show me your glory.”
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 33:18-23)
God tells Moses outright that if he sees His full glorious presence, he will die ––no ifs, ands, or buts. Moses, then, is only permitted to see His partial glory, which in this instance, is His back. His full glorified face cannot be seen. This instance explicitly addresses the full versus partial revelation of God’s glory that both Christ and Paul refer to.
There is no contradiction.
But there is something deeper going on here.
Notice the anthropomorphic language used––the hand of God covers Moses’ eyes to spare him from seeing His face and glory. Subsequently, after Moses sees God’s partial glory his face also shone radiantly with glory like God’s, and so he veiled his face (Exodus 34:29-35). This type or image of glorification paired with the anthropomorphic language prophetically foreshadows the coming incarnational image of God the Son, Jesus Christ, who likewise veiled His glory for us in flesh, so that one day we, too, may shine in holy radiance like the sun, as adopted sons of God (2 Corinthians 3:7-18). More on this in a bit.
Double Vision
Now, another difficulty that some people might have with all this is that God the Father is traditionally understood as a nonmaterial spirit Being and, therefore, invisible. So, if God is invisible, how can we actually see Him with our own two eyes?
This is where things get interesting.
We are actually expected to see the glory of God the Father through the Son of God. John says that God has made His only begotten Son known to us, full of grace and truth, so that we have seen God’s glory through Him (John 1:14-17). So, consider when Christ holds people accountable, particularly Philip, for not seeing God the Father in Him, even before His resurrection and ascension (John 14:8-11; Matthew 12:22-32).
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 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 authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” (John 14:9-10)
Christ is God concealed in the flesh, yet God is revealed in Christ. The Father and the Son are one (John 10:30). And yet, everyone saw the “Author of life” (Acts 3:15) and spoke with Him “face to face, as one speaks to a friend”. In this instance, it’s not actual physical eyesight we’re speaking about, but the light of the eye––spiritual discernment––and it has deep prophetic and eschatological significance.
For it is true that one Day we will all see God the Father face to face, with our own two eyes, and live forever. This is not a figurative statement.
Consider when a theophany of God appears to Job in a whirlwind (Job 38:1), and what Job says to God after He judges him:
“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6)
Interestingly, Job sees God, lives, and wants to die! (v.6) Earlier on, Job prophesies that when he dies and turns to dust, he will one day stand before the Lord and see Him with his own two eyes:
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:25-27)
So––Job speaks about seeing God twice: Once in partial glory in a whirlwind theophany, and another in full glory during the bodily resurrection. This is a NT promise. That like Job, we will all see God with the very same two eyes we have right now––dead or alive. And that’s the prophecy. Whether we like it or not, we will all see God’s full glory: Some to eternal life and others to eternal death. Those who despise God will see His glory and die, but those who love God will see Him and live––under one condition.
For a person to see God’s full glory and live, that person must also be fully sanctified and eternally transformed in body, soul, and spirit like Christ (Romans 8:16-17,28-30), that is the adoption of sonship, the full unity of our flesh and His Spirit––our glorification (Colossians 3:4; Philippians 3:20–21; 1 Corinthians 15:42–44; cf. Isaiah 45:25; Hebrews 2:10). Our glorification will be fulfilled on the Day of resurrection and salvation for those who have faithfully loved and worshipped the Lord in Spirit and in truth (2 Corinthians 3:7-18). As Christ said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8) And when Christ returns, it is prophesied that the true believers in the new heavens and new earth “will see His face” (Revelation 22:4). These are prophetic statements of a future reality, not mere word pictures. Our life calling is to glorification. John says,
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2)
Paul also affirms this understanding when he says,
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)
On that Day when our broken image is restored into the glory and likeness of the Son, the image of the invisible God, we will see God as He is, as the painted sees the painter; not that we become God in His essence, to be sure, but that we “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:3-4). We become like God, united with Him by grace through faith in the person of Christ. For the Son of God became the Son of Man to make the sons of men the sons of God.
For now, as it stands, Jesus Christ is the only one who has seen the Father in His full glory, so that in all things He may have the preeminence (John 6:46; Colossians 1:18). Yet, throughout history, God has assumed limited forms of glory––such as the Angel of the Lord and the Incarnation––precisely because He is a loving God who desires to see us face to face, as a father speaks to his son.
Matlock Bobechko is the Chief Operating/Creative Officer of Bible Discovery. He is an eclectic Christian thinker and writer, award-winning screenwriter and short filmmaker. He writes a blog on theology, apologetics, and philosophy called Meet Me at the Oak. He is also an Elder at his local church.
[1] “Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”” (Judges 6:22-23)
[2] “The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”” (Judges 13:21-23)
[3] The word used to translate “face” in English is pānîm in Hebrew, and can also be translated as “presence”.
