Will We Ever See God’s Face?

If we love the Lord Jesus, one of our great frustrations is that we have not yet seen Him. Of course, the Lord promised a special blessing for us, telling a doubting Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29). Nevertheless, it is only natural that we should long to look upon the face of God once we are with Him for eternity. Will that be possible?

The simple answer is “yes.” Believers will spend eternity with the Lord and we will see our God. The clearest verse about this is Revelation 22:3–4: “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads” (italics added). This states that in the New Jerusalem in the New Creation, the redeemed will spend eternity looking upon their God. However, this does not resolve how this will be possible in light of all the Scriptures have to say about seeing God.

The New Testament Teaching: No One Can See God

The problem is that the New Testament is emphatically clear that no person has seen or can see God the Father. Jesus taught “God is spirit” (John 4:24), meaning He is immaterial and so cannot be seen. In John 1:18 it says “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” The Lord Jesus taught no one “has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father” (John 6:46). John reiterates this is 1 John 4:12: “No one has seen God at any time.” So plainly, according to John in both his Gospel and epistle, no one has seen God or can see Him except for the Lord Jesus, who is God the Son incarnate.

This idea is not limited to John’s writing but is stated by Paul as well. The apostle Paul described the Father as “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Tim. 1:17, italics added). Since God is invisible, Paul goes on to say that He “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16, italics added). Plainly, the New Testament asserts that it is not possible for a mortal person to see God.

The Old Testament Teaching: No One Can See God

The Old Testament answer to this question is the same as the New Testament. When Moses asked God to show him His glory (Ex. 33:18), God told Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Ex. 33:20). Clearly, the Old Testament teaches that the God of Israel revealed in the Old Testament could not be seen by any person.

Yet in this very same passage (Ex. 33:21–22), God puts Moses in the cleft of the rock, covers him, and says, “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen” (Ex. 33:23). Is this saying that it’s possible to see God’s back but not His face? Not really. The point of this passage is that God showed Moses a glimpse of His presence. As God passed by, Moses caught sight of His glory. Seeing a glimpse of God’s glory is similar to how we can see the rays of the sun, but we can’t look at the sun directly or we will be blinded. Moses didn’t see God—he only saw a reflection of His glory.

What about other examples from the Old Testament of those who have seen God? For example, when Moses brought Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel to Mount Sinai, the text says “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” (Ex. 24:10–11, italics added). How can they have seen God and lived?

“It is only natural that we should long to look upon the face of God once we are with Him for eternity. Will that be possible?”

The most likely explanation of their encounter with God is in the nuance of the Hebrew verb chazah, translated “saw” twice in these verses. It generally means to see in a vision (cf. Num. 24:4, 16). In other words, they did not literally see God Himself, but only saw a vision of Him. Similarly, in Isaiah 6, when Isaiah saw the Lord, although a different Hebrew verb is used, it is plain that this is a prophetic vision and not an actual sighting of God. Also, when Daniel saw the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:9ff), he describes all that he saw as part of a night vision (Dan. 7:2). Similarly, Ezekiel describes seeing God in all His radiance and glory (Ezek. 1:26– 28). However, at the beginning of the chapter, the prophet said “I saw visions of God” (Ezek. 1:1). So, plainly Ezekiel only had a vision of the Lord and didn’t literally see God.

We Will See God the Son!

So how is it that we will be able to see God in our forever future? For you and I, it will be possible to see God, but only God the Son, the Lord Jesus. In response to Philip’s request that the Lord Jesus show them the Father, He said, “The one who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9 HCSB).

Also, in the Old Testament, there is the mysterious Angel of the Lord. In numerous passages, the Angel of the Lord is used interchangeably with Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (e.g., Ex. 3:2, 6–7). This has led many to conclude that these appearances of the Angel of the Lord are theophanies—visible manifestations of God. Since John 1:18 states that no one has ever seen God but that the Lord Jesus has revealed Him, it has led to the conclusion that Old Testament theophanies were actually Christophanies, or pre-incarnate manifestations of the Messiah Jesus, God the Son.

So, when the Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar (Gen. 16:7–14), she marveled at seeing God: “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” (Gen. 16:13). She had indeed seen God but it was a pre-incarnate appearance of God the Son. Similarly, when Samson’s parents were visited by the Angel of the Lord and they saw His wonders, Manoah was frightened and exclaimed, “We will surely die, for we have seen God” (Judg. 13:22). They did not die because, once again, this was a pre-incarnate appearance of God the Son.

Final Thoughts

This is the great hope that we have. One day, the Lord Jesus will return and we will look at His face directly. John describes it like this: “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:1–2). The Lord Jesus will transform us into His righteous image and we will finally be without sin and entirely holy.

Although Revelation 22:3–4, mentioned above, says that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the eternal city, a better translation would be, “The throne of God, even of the Lamb, will be in it (the New Jerusalem), and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face.” This indicates that it is the Lamb, the Lord Jesus, the Son who is fully God, whom we will look upon forever. It is the face of Jesus the Messiah we will see. And when we see Him, I guarantee, we will never be disappointed.