Dear Jesus, I Still Have Questions (Edition 4)
NO ONE SEES GOD'S FACE AND LIVES ........ right?
(Voiceovers are not currently working this morning. I will return and record this when it is)
Q8- You say in the scriptures that no one sees God’s face and lives. But people have seen it. What gives?
Dear Jesus, once a gentleman posted a comment here saying I had not traveled to Heaven because You say no one can see Your face and live. I chose to not parley because I hadn’t seen Your face anyway.
But then, when I traveled there a second time, I did!
My painting of You is on its way to me in the mail! Woot!
I’ve interviewed several who have seen Your face. Some argue with the concept in that verse, saying that they saw Your face, not the Heavenly Father’s, and many were unable to see Your features, or Your Father’s features, clearly. Certain features remained blurred, veiled, or brightly lit, making them hard to decipher.
I know that when I saw You in a conference room when I was teaching an abuse recovery group several months ago, I viewed Your hands clearly, but not the rest of you.
Here on earth, You shielded me.
To be fair, I had not yet returned to Heaven for a second time. But when I did, I looked fully into your beautiful ocean-deep eyes with glowing/flaming pupils.
And boy was I Holy-stunned, starstruck, Godsmacked and joy-soaked.
What Does The Bible Say?
Scripture teaches that no one can see God’s full, unveiled presence and live. The Father tells Moses plainly, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). This theme also appears elsewhere: “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18), and God “lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16).
But this isn’t about You concealing Himself—it’s about the reality that Your holiness and glory overwhelm fallen humanity. To put it simply, You are more than we humans can bear.
The Bible records people who do see God and live.
Jacob declares, “I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared” (Genesis 32:30).
Moses and the elders of Israel see God and survive (Exodus 24:9–11).
Isaiah sees the Lord in His temple and lives after atonement (Isaiah 6:1–7).
These encounters show that while Your/God’s whole essence is unseeable, You can reveal Yourself in ways that humans can endure—through visions, manifestations of glory, or divine mediation.
And manifestation is ultimately fulfilled with a “reduced” version of You when You came to earth. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14), and Jesus says, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
Since Your unfiltered glory is too much for fallen humanity to endure, then You were glory mercifully veiled. You did not cease to be God. You chose to clothe divine radiance in human flesh, translating holiness into a form we could approach without being undone. Power was restrained by love, majesty softened into touch, story, hours of companion-walking, and shared meals. The infinite did not withdraw but drew near—revealing not less glory, but glory expressed at a human scale, so that we might see, hear, and live. You did not diminish your holiness but clothed it in mercy for us.
And doesn’t it make sense that You also do that now—just as You always have?
Surviving Our Lord’s Face
People survive these encounters not because they are capable, but because You chose to reveal Yourself with grace.
Dean Braxton, at the Heaven Encounters Conference in San Diego last October, who was privy to the Throne Room when he visited Heaven, said it the best. “Yes. I saw Him. But no one, NO ONE, can see the FULL glory of God. We cannot and will not see that until we are interacting with Him forever, face to face.”
When Richard Sigmund visited Heaven (he is now there for good), he not only had an extensive tour of things I’ve never heard of before, but also spent time in the Throne Room.
“There were waves of liquid love coming out of God. The fragrance would choke you here on earth…”
“I noticed that people in Heaven didn’t necessarily get to see God right away. Sometimes, they had to wait for a long time. I think they have to be there a while to be able to withstand being in His presence.
“While I was in the glory cloud, I was not allowed to look very far. When I would try to lift my head, something would push it back down. It was not as if I could see God clearly—I couldn’t—but I could tell there was a Being on the Throne. I never saw God plainly, except for one of His feet. His foot seemed the size of the United States and His toe the size of Tennessee…” 1
This is what the Lord says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.’” -Isaiah 66:1
The Bible does point to a day when this limitation is removed entirely: “They will see his face” (Revelation 22:4).
Until then, Scripture holds both truths together—You are too holy to be seen fully, yet loving enough to make Yourself known. And those of us who have caught a glimpse also have yet to see Your full glory.
Dear Jesus, I can’t wait to see and experience You fully!
“We must be poor in spirit to absorb and contain the Kingdom of God.”~Steve Kang, Author of “8 Hours in Hell” and “Routed to Heaven” endorser.
Love, Julie (Your Heaven Reporter)
P.S.
I’m thrilled to share that Routed to Heaven is almost here! The Companion Study Guide is coming too. I know you’ll love these books.
I’m incredibly grateful to the authors who shared some of their powerful stories.
Thank you Pam Farrel, A Cultural Shift by Lea Peters, Kelly Fritz, B.B. Brighton, Jason Cotter, Jeff Schmidt, Kevin Conner, Kim Robinson, LeaAnn Neilsen Sweeney, Karen G., Jenna Rose, Laura M., Dawn Andresen, Claudia Martin, Rhema Whitlow, Michele Weisman, JennieEss Ersari, Echoes of Memory by Sally Cave, Linda Heath, Scribe, Holly Kingensmith, Lindsay Wessinger and Patti Tasa! And my undying thanks to Randy Kay, for an incredible Foreword/Intro.
📖 Ebooks: Preorder now on Amazon at a special launch price
⬇️ Download date: 2/10
🖨️ Paperbacks Available:
• Routed to Heaven: 2/10
• Study Guide: 2/28
⭐ If you do read it and LOVE IT—please leave a review. They make a huge difference.
📣 Want to help? I’m still welcoming a few people to the launch team. Even sharing one graphic or emailing friends helps more than you know.
A sample of the graphics are below, and more are available in my Google Drive folder (request access if needed).
Thank you so much for being part of this journey. 💛 YOU GUYS ROCK, and I am so grateful for you!!!!!
Other posts in this series:
“My Time in Heaven: A True Story of Dying and Coming Back,” by Richard Sigmund, Whittaker House, 2004, 2010, pages 109-111 (Paperback)
You've explained the seeming dichotomy (contradiction) between the passages that say no one has seen God with examples from Scripture of those who had--more clearly than I've ever heard before. Thank you so much for searching this out. I feel better now!
Fascinatin take on the theological tension between divine transcendence and those direct encounters. The idea that holiness gets mediated through grace so humans can endure it actually parallels how we process any overwhelming experience. I once had a teacher who said the same thing about beauty, that we only ever see filtered versions because the unfiltered form would paralyze us. Seems like there's more compatability between seemingly contradictory accounts than first appears.