Can We See God?

The triangle represents One God, but three Persons: The Father; The Son; The Spirit. “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father” (John 6:46 NIV) because he dwells in “unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16 NIV). The Son is visible to us through the person of Jesus. In a sense we have seen the Father because Jesus said to Philip: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9 ESV). Throughout Scripture the Spirit has been seen in various forms. For example, at the baptism of Jesus he appeared as a dove, but the most important appearance throughout eternity will be the body of the born again. The Spirit indwells each of us when we are born again and unites us into one body of many people; the body of the Spirit. We are the temple in which he dwells.

The Father chooses (Ephesians 1:4 NKJV), from the world, those who he will cause to be born again (1 Peter 1:3 ESV). These, as his adopted children (Ephesians 1:5 ESV), he gives as a gift to Jesus (John 17:24 ESV). It is these Jesus died on the cross for (John 10:11) *. His death purchased these from the domain of darkness (Colossians 1:13 ESV), to whom he gives the gift of eternal life (John 10:28 ESV).

The Father dwells in unapproachable light and cannot be seen. The Son of God entered the body of flesh through a virgin birth, who we see as Jesus. Those chosen from the domain of darkness and caused to be born again and given eternal life are indwelt by the Spirit and united into one body, the body of the Spirit. What the diagram is trying to suggest along with this description is summarized by a portion of the prayer of Jesus: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us” (John 17:20 – 21 ESV).

The next step is to try to understand this oneness of the body with God and how this relationship really works through eternity. Try to understand every thing inside the broken lines being one; in each other. We can’t imagine dwelling within the holiness of unapproachable light with the eternal God. If we could our lifestyle would be radically different than it is here in the western church.

* Under Reformed Theology Jesus died only for those chosen by the Father.