Face To Face With God: Seeing Jesus, Following Jesus Series

Face to Face with God: Seeing Jesus, Following Jesus

Introduction: Engaging the Heart

Imagine standing face to face with God. What would you feel? Awe? Fear? Wonder? Perhaps all three.

In our sermon today, we see two seemingly paradoxical statements:

Genesis 32:30 (NLT): "So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, 'I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.'"

John 1:18 (NLT): "No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us."

At first glance, they appear contradictory. Jacob claims to have seen God, yet John asserts that no one has ever seen God. How do we reconcile these two truths, and what does it mean for our walk with Jesus today?

Today, we will explore how God reveals Himself, how Jesus Christ makes God known, and how this revelation calls us to authentic discipleship in the 21st century.

Point 1: God Reveals Himself – The God Who Sees Us First

Genesis 32:24–30 (NLT): "That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After sending them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then he said, 'Let me go, for it is daybreak.' But Jacob replied, 'I will not let you go until you bless me!' So he said to him, 'What is your name?' 'Jacob,' he answered. Then he said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have won.' Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, 'I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.'"

Jacob, alone at night, wrestles with a mysterious man—later understood as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ (a Christophany). The Hebrew word for “wrestled” (’awaq) conveys intense struggle, both physically and spiritually. Jacob’s confrontation illustrates that to see God is to be transformed and challenged. Jacob’s life is spared, showing that God reveals Himself in mercy and grace, not in vengeance.

God seeks us even when we feel alone.

Discipleship begins in wrestling—grappling with God’s will, our sin, and our fears.

When we engage with God honestly, He meets us where we are, blesses us, and changes our identity.

A pastor once told of a man trapped in addiction, feeling abandoned by God. One night, he prayed desperately, “God, if You are real, help me.” That night, he experienced a profound sense of God’s presence—his Peniel moment—and began the journey to freedom and faith.

Max Lucado wrote, “God never leaves His children stranded in their struggle; He meets them in the very mess of life.”

Jacob’s wrestling is a template for discipleship today. Life struggles are not detours—they are divine appointments with God.

Point 2: Jesus Makes the Invisible God Visible

John 1:14–18 (NLT): "So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, 'This is the one I was talking about when I said, "The one who comes after me is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me."' From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us."*

John is contrasting the Old Covenant with the New. Moses delivered the law—God’s commands—but the law could not fully reveal the heart of God. In Christ, God Himself steps into human history. The Greek word monogenes (unique, one-of-a-kind) stresses that Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God, fully divine, fully human. Unlike Jacob’s brief, partial encounter, Jesus offers a full, permanent revelation of God’s glory and love.

God the Father remains unseen in His essence (no one has ever seen God), yet He is fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

The incarnation is God’s ultimate self-disclosure. In Christ, we not only see God—we know Him intimately, as His children.

Application for Modern Believers:

In a world full of competing voices and ideologies, Jesus remains the clearest window into God’s character.

Discipleship is rooted in knowing Jesus, not merely following rules or rituals.

Seeing Jesus in Scripture and in life transforms how we think, speak, and act.