A week ago I decided to read through What the Bible Teaches, by R.A. Torrey again. It’s a great book, and you can download a free PDF here. Subscribe over there to make sure you don’t miss anything! >>>
Torrey starts out with the basics, and I always think about skipping the first little section when I pick up this book, but
sometimes we need to re-learn the basics.
In Book 1, Chapter 1, Torrey establishes:
- God is Spirit.
- Spirit may manifest itself in physical form.
- God has, in times past, manifested Himself in physical form.
- What was seen in those manifestations was not God Himself – His invisible essence – but a manifestation of God.
- “The Angel of the Lord,” in scripture is a visible manifestation of God.
He addresses a seeming contradiction during Proposition #4. Some scripture says that a person saw God, while others say that no one has seen God. I like the analogy Torrey gives about a mirror:
To illustrate: A man may see the reflection of his face in a glass. It would be true for the man to say “I saw my face,” and also true to say “I never saw my face.” So men have seen a manifestation of God, and it is true to say those men saw God. No man ever saw God as he is in his invisible essence, and so it is perfectly true to say, “No man hath seen God at any time.”
My next thought, though, is what, then, is going on in the throne room?
Revelation tells us that the creatures around the throne look on God, on the throne, and cover their eyes, saying, “Holy, holy, holy …”
Are they really seeing God, or just a manifestation?
I know those aren’t “men,” but per the principle … I wonder.
When this whole thing is over and we each stand before God, when we enter into the rest of eternity and those faithful spend forever in His presence – do we see Him? Or just a manifestation? Can the transformed believer see, on that side of the creation story, what the carnal one cannot, on this side? Or do we only ever see a manifestation, because, really, that’s probably enough for eternity anyway?
He told Moses if he looked on God’s face he would die so God would show Moses only His back.
When we get to heaven we’re already dead so won’t we be able to look on His face then? But if I can only manage to look at His feet as I’m bowing before the throne that’s okay with me.
Hey, that’s a great point. Death is no longer a concern …
Here is the clue: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” 1John 3:2 And “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” 1Cor 13:12
We will be very different creatures in the resurrection, when He will wipe away every tear. That is very up close and personal, and we will have the eyes to see and ears to hear, unlike in this existence where everything is dulled by the fall. I am so looking forward to it!!!!
Just the idea of “seeing Him just as He is” is pretty amazing!
I think that will be a great day when the heaven’s and the earth unite again in a re-creation of turning things new. We will no longer be ‘dead’ but finally alive given our glorified bodies as Jesus proclaims as the resurrection of the dead, so that we can be in the glory of God without fear since there is no fear with God. Not saying that we won’t show holy reverence to him, but out of either a righteous fear or a full-er understanding of who he really is. Second, do you think that the Angel of the LORD is Jesus?
I think so. (At least in a very generic way, as both the Angel of the Lord and Jesus are both God. But I think you mean the Person of Jesus specifically.)
We know the Angel of the Lord is identified as God. We know He has a physical body – He ate with Abraham and wrestled with Jacob. The Father is Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is Spirit, and we know there are only three Persons in the Godhead.
One could say that the Father or Holy Spirit could have taken on a physical form, but I think the theology behind Jesus as Judge has a lot to do with His incarnation. Jesus is the only One of the Three to ever be called, “the Son of Man.” John 5 tells us that it’s Jesus who is entrusted with judgment precisely because He is the Son of Man. To me, that means that His exclusive experience as a man qualifies Him to be the Judge of mankind.
What do YOU think?