The Visible God
Before Jesus walked the earth, only a few had ‘seen’ a visible God.
Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden. Then sin changed everything.
Moses encountered God in the burning bush, hearing the voice speak to him—His response? He fell on His face. And God told him to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.
After many verbal encounters and seeing God do amazing things, Moses felt brave and asked God, “Let me see your glory.”
The trouble is, no one could see God’s face and live.
So, God hid Moses in the rocks and covered him with his hand as he passed by, so Moses could only see His back. Throughout Moses’ life, he talked with God, met with God, and became the friend of God.
When we See God like Moses Did
I wonder if that’s a bit like us. When we first encounter God, we also fall on our face, acknowledging Him as Almighty God. We walk with Him. We talk with Him and He speaks to us through His word, His Spirit, and prayer. We also become a friend of God because the relationship that was initially broken by sin is healed in Christ.
Then I remembered how Moses was on the mountain with Jesus and Elijah at the transfiguration. Face to face, they hear God speak from Heaven: “This is my Son, Listen to Him.”
Moses goes from hiding his face, falling on his face, to standing in the presence of Almighty God with Jesus and the Prophet Elijah. What a transformation.
We Grow Spiritually Too
And, what a transformation in us when we come to know Christ. We are transformed by the renewing of our mind to understand and perceive spiritual things. We have wisdom and discernment. We see our need for God and His promise to bring us into eternal life because of His grace—not by anything we can do to earn it.
Jesus Showed Us Who God Is
When Jesus walked the earth He became the visible God—skin on, breathing, walking, talking, teaching…showing us who God is in tangible ways.
Tweet This: When Jesus walked the earth He became the visible God.
Jesus Himself said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”
Paul said, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” Hebrews 1:3.
Jesus was God in the flesh and suddenly the character of God was three-dimensional to people. They saw mercy in action. They experienced love without strings. They met power and glory in a person. Tweet This
And finally they met the risen Christ and grasped what He’d been trying to tell them all along…”I have come that you may have life, and life abundant.” John 10:10
When we open our Bible we encounter the Living God through His Living Word. Tweet This
We see God by seeing how Jesus interacted with people. And, He begins to reveal Himself to us as we draw near.
What are some ways that Jesus portrayed the Father, giving His followers a glimpse of God Himself? Don’t forget to join the conversation in the comments below.
Jeanne
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“When we open our Bible we encounter the Living God through His Living Word.” What a powerful truth, Jeanne. I often approach God’s Word as though it is a sacred book but nothing more. When we open it, we are meeting with God! He speaks to us, one on one, as we read. Thank you for reminding me of that!
Thank you for your thoughts, Sherry. His word is powerful. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Ephesians 6 tells us it is a sword…a weapon to fight with. WOW
Jeanne, I loved this piece. It goes along with the truths He uncovered for me this week when I dug into the meaning of the word ‘waiting.’ In essence we are now the visible representation of Him on this earth. He lives in us and what we do and say in our oneness reveals to the world who He is. Are they getting the right picture? Are we displaying Him to our world? Some things to think about.
Thank you for your post.
This is precious, Mary Ellen. And so true. We are His representatives and the image we portray is so critical to the perception of God to others. Most definitely something to ponder. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.