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12/5 Reading Portions: 2 Chronicles 5:1-6:11; 1 John 4; Nahum 3; Luke 19
1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God;
GOD
The beloved apostle says the same thing in the prologue of his gospel account:
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. John 1:18, KJV
Surely, John has seen Jesus, who is very God. In fact, concerning the Lord Jesus, the apostle says,
…we have heard [Him and] have seen [Him] with our eyes… and have touched [Him] with our hands. 1 John 1:1
Is this a contradiction in Scripture? Certainly not. Although Jesus is very God, and though, while upon earth, He was the most glorious individual human eye had ever seen or human ear had ever heard, Jesus laid aside the fullness of His glory for the incarnation. Remember, Jesus prayed the night He was betrayed,
“And now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.” John 17:5
No one has seen the Father, Son, or the Holy Spirit in the fullness of His glory. We are finite. He is infinite. His essence is invisible, while our eyes are temporal and our understanding limited. God is incomprehensible, though He has given us a glimpse of His eternal attributes in the works of creation, His providence, and His written Word. Although we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor 5:17), the corruptions still remaining in our mortal flesh will forbid us from beholding the fullness of God’s glory. Were we to come face to face with the thrice-holy God, we would melt like a wax figure tossed upon the surface of the sun. One day, however, Jesus will return and…
…this perishable body [will] put on the imperishable, and this mortal body [will] put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:53
Earlier in this epistle, John told us this:
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
My eyes are made of earthly stuff,
I cannot see my God;
Right now His Spirit is enough,
But soon He’ll change my bod.
