Exodus 33:18-23 “And he said, "Please, show me Your glory." (19) Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." (20) But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." (21) And the Lord said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. (22) So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. (23) Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
The context of the above quoted passage of scripture is that Moses had asked God to show him His glory and God’s response to that request. Very clearly in this passage God tells us that no man can see Him and live. And so contrary to popular belief, the saints in heaven are not yet worshiping before the throne of God. We have already seen in an earlier passage of scripture, that the Lord’s martyrs are not yet worshiping before the throne of God, for they are resting under the altar of God. If you study scripture you will see that it is only at the regeneration, when the saints have received their resurrected bodies and when the whole church is present, that the saints will worship before the throne of God for the very first time. So why is that? The answer lies in the perfection of God. Imperfection cannot look upon the perfection of God and survive, for that will result in their instant destruction. The angels of God are perfect beings and that is the reason why they can look upon God, for our Lord Jesus taught us that they always behold the face of our Father in heaven (Matthew 18:10). Our Lord Jesus is the only perfect man at this point in time and therefore He is the only man that can look upon God, which is why the scripture teaches us that as the forerunner for us, He has entered behind the veil into the presence of God (Hebrews 6:19-20). The saints in heaven do yet have their resurrected bodies and the church is not yet complete in number, and so the church in heaven is in an imperfect state thus precluding them from being able to look upon God at this time.
1 Timothy 6:16 “Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honour and everlasting power. Amen.”
In the above quoted scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul, confirms the truth to us that no man has ever seen God and He goes on to say that it is not possible for any man to be able to see God, for God dwells in unapproachable light.
Michael E.B. Maher
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