Introduction
Before answering all the instances the critic has brought forward it has to be stated that No one has ever seen God physically. Why? Because He is not physical, He can’t be seen physically. Nevertheless in many instances we see that the prophets of old saw God in visions, dreams, in prayer they saw God with their mind’s eye. David could say: “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” (Psalm 25:15)
So how many instances the critic may bring forward where God is said to be seen, it has been done in a spiritual, but truly relevant way. And not in the way the critic wants to force his readers.
SAB Contradiction 402
Yes, many have seen him.
Abraham saw God several times.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
Genesis 12:7 NASB
It is not said that it was in a dream, a vision or in prayer. Or was there a heavenly messenger (angel)? Anyway it was not physically seeing as God is not physical.
Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said to him,
Genesis 17:1
Again, it is not said that it was in a dream, a vision or in prayer. Or was there a heavenly messenger (angel)? Anyway it was not physically seeing as God is not physical.
Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
Genesis 18:1
There were three angels who came to Abraham. In Hebrew 1:14 is said about visiting angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” From verse 13 it is clear that one angel spoke the word of God to Abraham: "And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh,…" So Abraham did hear the spoken word of God, but he didn't see Him. The same happened later with Jacob who fought with an angel (Genesis 32:24) and Jacob said: "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” He saw Him with the eyes of his heart, as it is clear from the outset that it was a man (angel) who fought with him.
and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty,
Exodus 6:3
Yes, God has revealed himself in many ways to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but not by a physical image.
And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, …”
Acts 7:2
Yes, God has revealed himself in many ways to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but not by a physical image.
Isaac saw him twice.
The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you…
Genesis 26:2
Yes again, God has revealed himself in many ways to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but not by a physical image. Maybe Isaac heard in a dream the voice of the Lord: " Do not go to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shal tell you." Probably the verses 3-5 form the prophetical continuation (interpretation) of this appearance.
The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,“I am the God of your father Abraham;
Do not fear, for I am with you…
Genesis 26:24
Yes again, God has revealed himself in many ways to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but not by a physical image.
Jacob saw God face to face and beat him in a wrestling match.
So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.
Genesis 32:30
This was also an angel, described as a man. Just as the three men that appeared earlier to Abraham (Genesis 18). Jacob saw the man in the face, but the impression was so of a heavenly grace, which made him say I have seen God face to face. Jacob from that moment understood that God is to be experienced only through grace, which justified him to say I have God seen face to face. He had seen Him in his heart.
Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.
Genesis 35:9
Again, it is not said that it was in a dream, a vision or in prayer. Or was there a heavenly messenger (angel)? Anyway it was not physically seeing as God is not physical.
Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,
Genesis 48:3
Again, it is not said that it was in a dream, a vision or in prayer. Or was there a heavenly messenger (angel)? Anyway it was not physically seeing as God is not physical.
Moses spoke to God face to face and even got a peek at God's backsides!
The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me [Moses]
Exodus 3:16
This is the appearance of the Angel of the Lord (3:2) as a fire flam in the burning bush. So Moses didn’t see the Lord physically but he saw an angel and God spoke in the angel to Moses.
that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you [Moses].
Exodus 4:5
The same as Exodus 3:16.
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.
Exodus 33:11
Yes, it is said here speaking from face to face; not seeing face to face. So Moses had often an experience of revelation in prayer, not always by seeing. It should be included that he experienced God speaking in the tent of meeting (33:8-11 and later in the tabernacle (25:21-22).
Not so, with My servant Moses,
He is faithful in all My household;
8 With him I speak mouth to mouth,
Even openly, and not in dark sayings,
And he beholds the form of the Lord.
Numbers 12:7-8
See previous comment.
Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.
Deuteronomy 34:10
See previous comment.
Then I [God] will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.
Exodus 33:23
Moses got an experience with the Lord. He didn’t see him as is clearly stated in the passage, but after God’s passing Moses was allowed to see something of God’s back side. Again God’s frontal revelation was not seen by Moses and that’s the biblical point.
Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders saw God.
… the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.
Exodus 24:9-11
What is meant here? There was a big cloud on the top of Mount Sinai (24:15-16) and beneath the cloud the elders saw as follows: “and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.” Again we have to do with a circumscription. They had an undeniable remarkable sight which could only have the meaning of God’s presence, but a frontal seeing of God was impermissible.
God talked face to face to all the people of Israel, and plans to do so again someday.
for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them;
Numbers 14:14
Another circumscription of God’s presence, a phenomenon the people could see in the desert daily: “… and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.” (Numbers 14:14)
The Lord spoke to you [the people of Israel!] face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, …
Deuteronomy 5:4
This is not an example of seeing God. The people only saw a fire in which God remained.
Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.
Baruch 3:38
Not relevant as this is not a canonical book at all. It does not belong to the Hebrew canon (OT).
and I [God] will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
Ezekiel 20:35
The metaphor “I plead with you face to face,” does not refer to a frontal physical seeing of God, but to a real relevant confrontation man to man and heart to heart.
Manoah and his wife (Samson's parents) saw God. (Manoah thought God would kill them for it.)
So Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.” 24 Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson
Judges 13:22-24
It is clear and not once stated that the Angel of the Lord had appeared to Manoah and his wife. It was an understandable judgment of Manoah “We shall surely die, because we have seen God,” indeed they had seen God at work, however they did not see God physically.
Micaiah saw God sitting on his throne.
Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left…”
1 Kings 22:19
It is clear from the context that Micah is speaking about a vision when he said “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne.” Micah had not been taken up into heaven to inspect the throne of God and the One who was on it, as the critic seems to suppose.
Job saw God after God and Satan tormented him and killed his children.
[Concerning this statement of the critic. It should be noticed that God doesn’t torment nor kill people; only the devil is the “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). It is true sometimes people die as a punishment for their personal sins, and often not because of their personal sins (Abel, Genesis 4:8). Full insight in the spiritual world between God and the devil is not given unto man despite the claims of critics they have. (Deuteronomy 29:29)]
I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
Job 42:5
Here also Job saw God with his mind’s eye. The previous description presents a discussion between God and Job about God’s power on earth in the thing he had created (40:1-41:25).
David saw God in the sanctuary.
Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Psalm 63:2 (Supposedly "A Psalm of David")
David also had the experience of seeing God with his mind’s eye (Psalm 25:15).
Isaiah, a man of unclean lips, saw God sitting on a throne below some six-winged seraphim.
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
5 Then I said,
“Woe is me, for I am ruined! … For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Isaiah 6:1-2, 5
Isaiah saw in a vision an image of God. But that was accepted as it was in a vision and not physically meant. Take note that the seraphim had wings to cover their face in God’s nearest presence.
Ezekiel saw God's loins, which appeared to be on fire.
Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. 28 … Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
Ezekiel 1:27-28
Ezekiel saw God in a vision. That was not blasphemy, the experience was so heavy that he fell on his face.
Amos saw God standing on a wall with a plumb line in his hand.
the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand.
Amos 7:7
Amos saw a vision of God and it was not blasphemy to tell what was seen, as all the prophets did.
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, “Smite the capitals so that the thresholds will shake, …”
Amos 9:1
Idem
Habakkuk saw horns coming out of God's hand.
His [God] radiance is like the sunlight;
He has rays flashing from His hand,
Habakkuk 3:4
Here are two metaphors. God came: a vision of God’s coming in the future. Horns: referring to God’s power coming from his hands. NASB has rightly ‘rais’.
And Jesus said that angels see God's face, and whoever has seen Jesus has seen God.
See that you do not despise one of these little ones [children], for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 18:10
It is not clear what exactly is meant, only that there is direct connection between God and his angels, which does not imply a direct seeing of God by angles (compare also Deuteronomy 5:4). In Isaiah 6:1-2 is said that angels near God’s throne have wings to cover their face, apparently to not see God. Also in heaven seeing of God might be differently from what we suspect. If so also angels live by faith alone.
He who has seen Me [Jesus] has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:9
Right. Jesus as being the image of the Father could say that He presented God’s character in full. He did not say that He was the Father.
No, God is invisible and cannot be seen. (And if you do see him, you'll die.)
But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
Exodus 33:20
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
John 1:18, 4:12
And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.
John 5:37
Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God [the Christ]; He has seen the Father.
John 6:46
He [the Christ] is the image of the invisible God, …
Colossians 1:15
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:17
who [God] alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.
1 Timothy 6:16
No Bible Contradictions