How to See God

 

The OT word is “selem” or IMAGE — meaning made in the likeness of something else. It can refer to a few other things but this word is used to say God made humans in His image.

Genesis 1:27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

In this case, ours is not a physical likeness, more likely moral and spiritual and in contrast to animals. Humans can have a relationship with God, are given dominion over the earth, and can mirror or reflect God to one another as well as to image God back up to God. However, sin marred that image. Now His image is blurry and difficult to see as He intended.

We know God is not like the carved images made by and bowed down to by some. Sadly, in answer to the question in Isaiah 40:18, “To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?” Isaiah rebukes those who make idols from wood and metal. God forbids making images of any gods.

Deuteronomy 5:8 says this about any sort of likeness: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” Yet this is not about sculpture; it is about worship and the sinful attempt to adore what can be seen, heard or touched.

Wanting to “see” is a human characteristic. We want to rely on our senses to prove realities. This shows up in science but also in ordinary life. God is spirit, not visible. Our desire to perceive Him through our senses is strong. We want to see Him, however God says in Acts 17:29:

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

Again, what is this God like? We are made in His image but what does that mean? God revealed truth to His people yet He understood our need to see Him, not a mere representation or a carved idol but Him, the living God.

So He sent Jesus!

Colossians 1:15 declares Him as “the image of the invisible God” and Hebrews 1:1–3 declares: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power . . . .”

In the NT, image is “a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface” whereas an imprint is more descriptive. It says Jesus is “an exact copy or reproduction; understood as the exact expression that is the result of printing or engraving with a stamp.”

It is in Christ that I can see God, know what He is like, understand His love, power and attributes. Yet I am fully aware that not everyone sees God in His Son. The Bible explains why not:

2 Corinthians 4:4. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

In other words, seeing God in Christ requires an enlightenment, a revelation to the heart and mind. Before that happens, Jesus appears to be a good man, a teacher, a prophet, or merely a cuss word, but when God opens our eyes, we know who He is and can see Him in Christ.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Not only that, in Romans 8:28-29 God promises to use the stuff of life to “conform us to the image of his Son” and promises again in 1 Corinthians 15:49 that, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” He does it when His people focus on Him. This means that more I see of the glory of God, the more I am transformed.

2 Corinthians 3:18. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Why? God created me in His image that I might reflect His image back to Him and to the world. This is God’s humbling yet awesome plan to restore people to what He intended in our creation. Gazing into His glory is my part. Cooperation is necessary — so is faith, obedience and humility — because pride and any other self-focus throws more mud on the mirror.