2486.-Seeing and Not Seeing God by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 29, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 18.

2486.—Seeing and Not Seeing God.

By Editor

Please harmonize Ex. 33:11, 20 and Ex. 24:9-11.

A close reading of the scriptures is all that is necessary to a true understanding. Ex. 33:11 declares that Jehovah spake unto Moses "face to face." That does not necessarily mean that Moses saw God. There are many blind men who speak face to face with each other. The thought in that is that the Lord did not speak to Moses as He did to other prophets, in visions and dreams, but talked with him as to a friend. Verse 20 declares that Moses could not look upon God's face; that is, he could not look upon Him in His glory, that glory was so great it would consume Moses in his mortal form. So in Ex. 24:9-11 it declares that the elders of Israel saw God, but it does not say that they saw His face.