By Jim Mettenbrink
In trying to discover what heaven is like, we learn there is little described in the Bible – no marriage, no sadness, no sin, Christians are called the bride of the Lamb, the Lamb is the light, no other light, no darkness. There is one more feature, the most important one. In heaven, Christians will be together, but never alone. Like much good writing, the best is saved til the end. Here’s the back story.
Although after wrestling with a Man (considered a Christophany), Jacob said, “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30). Yet this was not the actual face of God.
When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God said, “‘You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.’ And the Lord said, ‘Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 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. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen’” (Exodus 33:20-23).
During the era of the Judges, the angel of the Lord appeared to the prospective parents of Samson. After the angel ascended in a flame to heaven, Samson’s father, Manoah feared they had seen God and said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”
Nearly 1500 years later, the apostle John wrote, “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18) and he repeated that in his first epistle (1 Jn 4:12). Considering the broad context of the Bible, no one had actually seen God face to face.
One revelation will occur that has never been done and that will only be for those who have been faithful to God – “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it (Tree of Life; Rv 22:2, jm), and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22:3-4). Finally, on the glorious resurrection day (Rev 21-22), humans will see God face to face, but only in heaven and in His presence eternally.