“No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18a). This statement refers to the spiritual nature of God. God is spirit (John 4:24a), and so we are naturally limited in perceiving Him. Physical eyes cannot behold spiritual beings.
The Lord Jesus Christ is a unique case: “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man” (John 3:13). Since He is both the Son of Man and the Son of God, Jesus knows both the earthly and heavenly realms. He descended from heaven, where “he was with God in the beginning” (John 1:2). Jesus has seen God; in fact, Jesus is the embodiment of all God is: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18; cf. Colossians 2:9).
Because of our physical, moral, and spiritual limitations, God the Father sent His one-and-only Son into the world. Through Jesus Christ, we know God and are redeemed from our sin. If we want to see God, we must look to Jesus. Those who beheld Jesus as He walked this earth were, in a sense, seeing God—not God as a spirit but God clothed in humanity (John 14:9).
When Moses talked with God at the burning bush, “Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:6). Later, God tells Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). In other words, truly seeing God as He is, in the fullness of His glory, is more than any mortal can tolerate (cf. Isaiah 6:5). Moses was allowed a glimpse of God’s glory, but, for his own protection, most of God’s glory was kept hidden from him (Exodus 33:21–23).
What, then, should we do with other passages that describe various people “seeing” God? For example, in Exodus 33, the same chapter in which Moses cannot see God, Moses speaks to God “face to face” (verse 11). In this instance, we must understand the phrase face to face as a figure of speech indicating Moses and God were in close communion. They were speaking to each other as if they were two human beings holding a conversation.
There are other times when people seem to have seen God:
No one has ever seen God, who is “the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15–16, emphasis added). It is only through God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that we can approach God, know God, and see God.