Seeing God - Matthew 5:8 Series

Matthew 5:1-12 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you

Seeing God

Seeing the invisible God

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

There is a problem with this beatitude. Jesus said the pure in heart will see God - the problem is God is invisible.

1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory

The word “invisible” means “not seeable.” God cannot be seen.

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God

So if it is impossible to see Him because He is by nature invisible, then why do so many passages in Scripture talk about seeing God?

Psalm 63:2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

Sometimes the Bible says God cannot be seen and other times it says people saw Him. In fact in Hebrews 11:27 it says both in the same verse.

Hebrews 11:27 By faith Moses ... saw him who is invisible.

Obviously there are two different kinds of seeing.

The kind of seeing that is impossible is seeing with your physical eyes. But there is another kind of seeing. Very often Bible writers use the word “see” as a figure of speech to describe an experience. To “see” something in that way means to experience it. When Psalm 16:10 says God will not let his Holy One “see decay” the point is that he will not experience decay. When John 3:36 says “whoever rejects the Son will not see life” the point is that he will not experience life - he will not live.

But what does it mean to experience a person? We actually use that same figure of speech in English. We might say, “I’m going down to Florida to see my friend.” Does that mean I am going to fly down there, stare at my friend and then fly home? No, it means I am going there to be with him and to enjoy interactions with him. That is what it means to experience a person. I am going to see him in the sense of being near him and enjoying him. So to see God means to be near Him and to enjoy direct experiences of His attributes.

Remember when Moses said to God, “Let me see Your glory”? How did God respond? By letting Moses see some vision with his physical eyes? No, God showed Moses His glory by revealing His attributes.

Exodus 33:18-20 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you ...

Exodus 34:6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness

Moses saw God not with his physical eyes, but by being given a special experience of several of God’s attributes.. (goodness, compassion, mercy, patience, love, and faithfulness).

That is what David meant in Psalm 63:2 when he said he saw God.

Psalm 63:2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

I “saw” You in the sense that I had a direct experience of those two attributes - Your glory and Your power. Prior to going in the Sanctuary David knew about God’s glory and power, he had the information in his head.., but when he went inside he had an experience of God’s glory and power. There is a huge difference between being aware of information about something and being awestruck by an actual experience of that thing. It is like the difference between sitting at your kitchen table doing calculations about the size of the Grand Canyon versus actually standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon. That is the difference between knowing about it and seeing it.