NORTH CAROLINA CHURCH OF CHRIST
January 26, 2025
Home: Gerald Clemmons, Thomas Davis
Cedar View: Barbara Parker
El Reposo: Eldora Clemmons/104
LCNH: Prue Kelley/1
Mitchell/H’worth/Barbara Smith (Call before you visit-Room
4)
SHUT INS: Freddie Davis, Stacy McCormack, Evelyn
Newton, Betty Scott, Vicki Wright.
Please remember those in the nursing homes and our
Shut-Ins
ISAIAH’S CALL: Please continue to bring Hamburger
Helper Meals or give your donations to Amy, Ann, or
Pat.
Lesson #6 for next weeks Auditorium Class, The Faith
Required of Believers in the 21st Century, is on the table for
your study. Men…The lessons to be taught are also on the
table in the foyer. As always, please pick the lesson you would
like to teach and sign the appropriate space.
Lesson #13 for the Wednesday night class is on the table
in the foyer. That lesson is Zecheriah
Please check the Bulletin Board for cards, etc.
5th Wednesday night Singing is this week. Let’s all meet
in the auditorium.
Please sign the list in the foyer if you would like a copy of
your contribution for 2024.
The Fellowship Building is booked for the following dates
during January: 30th and 31st.
Our Shut-In Meal served 24 folks this week. Thanks to
everyone who helped in any way!
REMEMBER IN PRAYER
Please keep these folks in your thoughts and
prayers.
Michelle Bernstein, Sherry Box, Alma Butler, Billy Bryant, Vicki Burbank, Haley Bugg, Donnie Carroll, Tom Childers, Jane Clark, Gerald Clemmons, Mitch Clemmons, Jim Clemmons, Brandon Cody, Jennifer Davis, Thomas Davis, Caitlyn Dennis, Tammy Dial, Kevin Dillon, Dakota Garner, Bridgett Gattis, Carter Glascock, Kayla Hamner, Lori Hargett, Shirley Harmon, Cypress Hayes, Taylor Hendrix, Charles and Joyce Hester, Lana Hines, Christine Holden, Cindy James, Josh Hones, Brock Killen, Don Lakey, Madalyn Littrell, Brenda McDonald, Porter Mitchell, Peggy Montgomery, Luke Oliver, Tracy Pace, Renee’ Parnell, Ethan Pennington, Kenzie Perkins, Dennis Phillips, Tamika Powell, Mike Prince, Linda Rickard, Ricky Rogers, Lazaro Ruiz, Susan Schmidlkofer, Kim Sharp, Steve Shelton, Kristi Shollenberger, Barbara Smith, Betty Sparkman, Kevin Springer, Jean Symore, Earl Tank, Brad Tank, Patrice Tucker, Rene Voser, Luke White, Donna Wilkerson, Vicki Wright
HAS MAN SEEN GOD OR NOT?
There are some Scriptures that clearly state, “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; cf. 1 Tim. 6:16 1 John 4:20). But there are other verses that indicate Moses and company “saw the God of Israel” (Ex. 24:10), Jacob saw “God face to face” (Gen. 32:30), and Moses spoke with God “face to face” (Num. 12:8). How can some Scriptures say that no one saw God and other Scriptures say that people saw God? Isn’t that a contradiction?
Add to that these verses. God said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (Ex. 33:20), and yet Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen. 32:30). Those seem to contradict each other. Don’t they?
Let’s start with the nature of God. This is the key. Jesus tells us that “God is spirit” (John 4:24). He is “invisible” (Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17). Paul further explains that the Lord dwells “in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). It’s not just that “no man has seen” God—no one, by the very nature of God’s essence, “can see” that which is “invisible.”
So then what did those persons “see” when they “saw” the invisible God who cannot be seen? Jesus said that He was the only one to see God in His true essence, as He alone shares that essence (John 6:46). So, while “No one has ever seen God,” Jesus, “who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18, ESV). By seeing Jesus in the flesh, man was able to see the Father (John 14:9).
When man saw God in the flesh, he was seeing God, but in a human form (not in “His [spirit] form,” John 5:37; cf. Phil. 2:7). Could this, then, be the same thing that Jacob (Gen. 32:30) and Moses (Ex. 33:11) saw? That’s the conclusion that follows the evidence, as the Bible does not contradict itself, especially within the same paragraph—“the Lord spoke to Moses face to face…But He said, ‘You cannot see My face…and live’” (Ex. 33:11, 20).
Let’s allow the Bible to explain speaking to the Lord face to face. In Numbers 12, the Lord spoke to Aaron and Miriam in “vision” and “dream” (12:1-6), but He spoke with Moses “face to face” (12:8). “Face to face” meant that God was speaking “plainly, and not in dark sayings; And [Moses] sees the form of the Lord.” God spoke in an intimate way with certain Bible characters, revealing Himself (even His “glory,” Ex. 33:18, 22) through visible forms and manifestations, as if they were seeing His face. It is a figurative way of emphasizing how close God was with certain ones, but as humans, they were limited to only see God in limited capacities through which God revealed Himself to them. They saw what God wanted His humans to see.
Via: David Sproule
Palm Beach Lakes Church of Christ
Palm Beach Gardens, FL