Face-to-Face

When Moses entered the Tabernacle to pray, the Bible tells us that he spoke to the LORD face-to-face. What do we make of that? How can anyone see God face-to-face? As if that were not strange enough, the Scriptures also say that Moses beheld “the form of the LORD” (Numbers 12:7-8). Shall we throw out the doctrine that no man can see God? Is this the one exception to the rule?

… my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face-to-face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD (Numbers 12:7-8).

Now, what is this all about? Could it be that Moses spoke with the Father there in the Tabernacle? No, that’s simply not possible. Nobody ever has seen the One God face-to-face. There are 14 Bible passages which lay out this truth. Below are five of them, affirming that no man can see God’s face and live.

No one may see me and live (Exodus 33:20).

… but my face shall not be seen (Exodus 33:23).

If he were to pass by me, I would not see him. Were he to move past me, I would not perceive him (Job 9:11; NASB).

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the Only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever… who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16).

No one has ever seen God… (John 1:18)

Since the LORD who met personally with Moses couldn’t possibly have been the One God, but Moses was certainly with someone bearing the name Yahweh—we conclude that Moses’ meetings in the Tabernacle in the wilderness must have been with our Lord Jesus. Moses saw Jesus’ pre-incarnate form and face. Be amazed at that!

Moses Saw the One God

So far so good. But what shall we do with the passage which tells us that Moses “saw Him who is Invisible”?

[Moses]… saw Him who is Invisible (Hebrews 11:27).

This is not easy to interpret, but let’s try. First of all, we have to determine who the one ‘who is Invisible’ is. Well, it can’t possibly be our Lord Jesus. Jesus was and is visible. The First Epistle of John begins by describing Jesus as someone the Apostles saw and touched.

That which was from the Beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life… that which we have seen and heard we declare to you (1 John 1:1-3; NKJV).

This same epistle later affirms that ‘No one has ever seen God’ (1 John 4:12). So, for John and for all the authors of the Bible, the Invisible God is the Father.

The one ‘who is Invisible’ is the One God and Father. Only he is referred to in the Scriptures as the Invisible God (Colossians 1:15). But that produces a conundrum for us in that Moses ‘… saw Him who is Invisible’ (Hebrews 11:27). Does that mean that Moses saw God then? Well, yes!

So, how then did Moses not die? How did Moses survive such an encounter? The Bible tells us how.

Where Was He?

Hmmm.

Moses ‘… saw Him who is Invisible’ (Hebrews 11:27)?

We’re not done interpreting the verse, of course. In fact, we haven't really started yet because we have not yet determined which Old Testament passage Hebrews 11 is referring to. Here are three possibilities:

• the Burning Bush

• the Tabernacle encounters

• Moses’ 80 days on top of Mount Sinai

What do you think?

Did you pick one? It’s a negative on the three options we gave. We don’t think that Hebrews 11 refers to any of these three passages. We believe that Hebrews 11 refers to the passage in which God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock—the passage where Moses saw God’s backside.

You’ll recall that in the cleft of the rock experience, God passed by as Moses stood in the notch. God let Moses see his back, but not his face. In fact, God did not allow Moses to see anything on his front side, on his right side, or on his left side.

God only let Moses look after God had passed by the place where Moses was standing, and Moses could only see God’s back.

Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.’ And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you... 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).

What “To See Him” Means

God clarifies in the Exodus passage what it means to see him—it means specifically to see his face. To see God’s back doesn’t count as seeing him, at least not according to God’s way of thinking. Anyways, when the Father’s goodness passed in front of Moses, God covered Moses with his hand.

Moses waited in the cleft of the rock and looked only after God’s hand was taken away. It was in that instant that Hebrews 11:27 was fulfilled: Moses ‘saw Him who is Invisible.’ With the exception of Jesus, no other man has ever had an experience like that one! It was truly remarkable.

Remember: God insisted that Moses should not see him, saying ‘you cannot see my face,’ but at the same time he let Moses see his back. Is that a contradiction? No, the key to harmonizing the two is that God said that Moses couldn’t see his face. The view of God which God does not allow is the view of his face.

Jesus never put that stipulation on anybody who had an encounter with him—he never said “You cannot see my face.” That’s another reason why we know that the LORD of the passage was the One God, and not Jesus.

Interestingly enough, the three men whose visions of God are recorded in the Scriptures (Daniel, Ezekiel, and John the Apostle) offer us no description of God’s face. The closest they get is that Daniel tells us that God’s hair is 'like pure wool' (Daniel 7:9).

Think about it. No man has never seen God's face--not even in dreams or visions!

Unacceptable Behavior

Think of it. On the street, you see many people from behind. The only people you look in the face are people you know. If you’re walking down the street and you look a stranger in the eyes, you make them uncomfortable. It’s not acceptable social behavior. It's unacceptable.

But why is it not acceptable? Because you don’t really know them, so you shouldn’t act like you do. Similarly, you don’t really know God, so don’t act like it. Don’t presume that you really know the Almighty. Only Jesus really knows him.

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him (John 1:18; NKJV).

No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father (John 6:46).

So what’s the conclusion of the matter? It’s that you need Jesus to introduce you to God—or you’ll never know God! If you know Jesus, you know the Father. That’s what Jesus said to his disciples. Read Jesus' words slowly and intelligently:

‘If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; and from now on you know him and have seen him.’

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:7-9; NKJV)

But without Jesus, you don’t know God. In fact, if you say you know God but reject Jesus, you’re just revealing that you don’t really know God.

… they were saying to him, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor My Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father also’ (John 8:19).

God Moves Around

Another great truth we glean from this passage is that the One God is not sedentary. He doesn’t sit around. He moves about. He flies about. He passes wherever he wishes, moving through space and time. This truth is supported by Daniel 7 which describes God arriving at his Throne: It says:

… the Ancient of Days took his seat (v. 9).

What does took his seat tell us but that God was standing up shortly before that instant? It’s clear that nobody can take a seat unless they have first been standing. In the case of this passage, God arrived at his Throne and then he sat down.

God is not like the static idols of the pagans which have feet but cannot walk. We are made in his likeness and we have feet—do we not? If we have feet and he doesn’t, that would mean that we have more than God. Impossible.

Shouldn’t we suppose that the One who created us in his image had feet and legs before we did? Excuse the primary-school logic but God has feet and we have them too. How much more capable of walking around is God than we are? You had to learn how to walk. God never did.

And mark this: God can go wherever he pleases. He dwells in Heaven. He can come to Earth, like he did with Moses, flying by the cleft in the rock. And God can descend to Hades. Psalm 139:8 says ‘… if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are’ (LEB).

And what else does the Bible tell us about God's mobility? Listen to Psalm 18:10.

He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.

Wow! Can you imagine what a cherubim looks like? God can mount on top of one! He soars and flies.

Getting Personal

But here’s the most wonderful movement of all—the most impressive move of God is that he can enter your heart. He does that through the Spirit he sends to us, the Holy Spirit.

God has absolutely no limitations. He may choose to have Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and angels do his work for him, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t do those things himself. It just doesn’t make sense for him to do some things.

Being the Sovereign Lord of the Universe, he delegates work to others. He moves through his delegates. Jesus was God's greatest delegate. Won’t you also be one of them for him?

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ (Isaiah 6:8)