I would like to add to what Gigi and Richard has shared with the focus on your last question.
"how can one know that God exists if no one has seen him?"
First I would like to draw your attention to Psalms 19:1-4. Carefully read it.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
( EVERY PERSON CAN BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE TO KNOW THAT GOD EXIST AND THAT HE HAS PLACED US HERE).
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
( MAN, WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF THE SCRIPTURE IS ACCOUNTABLE TO KNOW THERE'S GOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE AND FUNCTION.)
AGAIN Verse 19. Because that which may be known of God is MANIFEST IN THEM; for God hath shewed it unto them.
CREATION IS DESIGNED!!
Job 38:8-11.
Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
GOD CONTROLS THE FLOODS AND THE WAVES, HE DRAWS A LINE AND CALLS THEM BACK.
More verses;
Job 12:7-10.
Job 26:7-8.
This evil world we live in denies the glory of God with its evolution theory and says it all came together by accident.
.. until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power, Amen.
Here Paul is telling Timothy that Jesus will make manifest the Father, who lives in unapproachable. No one is able to see Him in all of His glory, except Jesus. But somehow Jesus will manifest the Father when He returns. The fact that the Father dwells in unapproachable life speaks to His holiness and transcendence, being far different that humans, completely magnificent and beyond what we can comprehend or, I believe, endure to look upon.
Even when we are transformed and become immortal and uncorrupted with our resurrected bodies, we will still be humans, and because of our limitations of intellect and understanding and our creatureliness, we will always come to the Father through Jesus His Son. We do not know if the angels also come to the Father through Jesus His Son, also. But we can be satisfied to know that when we look upon Jesus we will see the Father in a way we can understand and tolerate without being consumed. Jesus is forever our Mediator, and we should be thankful and stand in honor and praise of Him as our Savior, Redeemer, High Priest, Lord, King, Friend, and Brother.
The Angel of the Lord was also spoken of as an appearance of God, such as the account of God appearing in the burning bush, or Abraham being visited by God. Many people believe that the Angel of the Lord was a pre-incarnate visit of the Son of God.
Ezekiel had very startling experiences with the Angel of the Lord on many occasions. Daniel and Isaiah had visions that featured the throne of God, with both the Father and the Son being shown.
In Rev. 1:8 spoken by the exalted Jesus, I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." This verse clearly speaks of Jesus as God.
Ex. 33:20, when Moses asked to see God face to face, God replied, "..You cannot see my face; for no man shall see Me and live."
The reason that no man is able to see the Father face to face is that all humans are sinful. Their nature is corrupted by the sin of Adam and their own sin. God is so holy that any man who would see God as He truly is would be totally consumed and destroyed. There must be a Mediator between the Father and humans, even after one is redeemed by the life and sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. He always has been the one who appears to any person from the time of Adam up to now, since His work of salvation and High Priesthood reaches back to the time of Adam and forward to us in our time and will continue forever in eternity. We will always see the Father through the Mediation of Jesus, his Son who became flesh to be our Savior and to impute upon us the righteousness of His perfect life.
Paul speaks to Timothy in 1 Tim. 6:13-16 after instructing to pursue righteousness , godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness and to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life which Timothy had given witness to many, Paul says, 13 "I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Jesus Christ ....that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless
Hi Verleen, I responded to your post earlier today, but the site was having trouble with posts going through. Now that is fixed.
You have posed several good questions and I would like to respond to the last one concerning believing in a God no one has seen.
The first thing that came to my mind was what Jesus said in the gospels. In John 1:18 Jesus said, No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."
In John 14:9-10 in response to Philip's request for Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus said, "have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father?
do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?....
In these verses Jesus is saying that He is God and that any of the people of His time on earth who saw Him also saw the
Father because of the unified Oneness of the Persons of the Godhead. Jesus, being the Son of God in the flesh, showed by His perfect human life and by His divine expressions in miracles and other divine actions and words revealed to those who saw Him the Godhead and what God was like.
Those who saw Jesus after His resurrection, saw Him in His glory, revealing more of who God is to the disciples, from the women and apostles at the tomb, to the rest of the disciples in the Upper Room, and to 500 0ther persons before the disciples saw him ascend to the Father. A human person cannot appear to people after they die. Jesus was God and He said He was returning to His Father, who was God. Acts 7:56 Stephen at the time he was being stoned said, look, I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" He was seeing Jesus with the Father in heaven as equals.
In the Old Testament, many godly men were visited by God-Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel-to name a few. These appearances were usually described as the Angel of the Lord.
Quailifying statement: I meant to say the individual experience of God's presence depends on their spiritual state. Ephesians 1:13-14 shows how we are "sealed with the Spirit" if we know Christ. The verse "we will make our dwelling place with them" ( John 14:23). But for the wicked the wrath of God abides on him ( John 3:36).
That should be a good starting point at least on scriptures answering your question.
Psalm 139:8 makes it clear that everywhere; including hell God's presence is there. God; however depending on the state of an individual our soul has a different experience. With David; in old times sheol was the place of comfort as well as torment (see Luke 16:19-31). After captivity was made cptive (i.e. souls of the righteous were brought out after the Resurrection ( Psalm 68:18) then "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord ( 2 Cor. 5:6). Therefore; we saw some of the saints come out of their graves after Christ's Resurrection (sort of the "first of the firstfruits").
God cannot look onto sin ( Matt. 27:45-46). Christ was the "sin bearer" who took on our sins (see Isaiah 53; Numbers 21:8). This explains the Godhead in some sense; as if all of the Godhead died at the crucifixion the whole universe would cease to exist. Jesus; however overcame death as it could not hold Him ( Acts 2:24). When He said "it is finished" and died then the work was done ( John 19:30). The rest of the time He was declaring victory to all (including unregenerate lost souls and demons bound in the underworld) in 1 Peter 3:18-20 then He ascended back to the Father where He ever lives to intercede for us ( Heb. 7:25).
It is clear that every eye shall see Him ( Rev. 1:7); Rev. 5:13; Rev. 20 and Great White Throne Judgment). Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ( Philippians 2:10-11 and also reflected in Isaiah 45:23. During the Tribulation men also will be actively cursing God and Antichrist Himself will blaspheme Him as well as those who dwell in heaven ( Rev. 6:15; Revelation 13). It is clear that everyone will know about God and Christ by the sixth seal but it won't do those any good who have not been regenerated. It is only in those God chooses to reveal Himself through the Son that come to know Him ( Matt. 11:27 and see much of Gospel of John including some of my commentaries on Predestination). Also see Psalm 19; ROmans 1
Name the 2 place god reside? give scriptural reference. where dose god not reside? give scncriptual referes. how can one know that god exists if no one has seen him.
Hi Gizzmoo. When we see the word 'God', in Hebrew it is 'Elohim'. And this is a non-specific word, which applies generally to God ( Genesis 1:1), gods ( Genesis 35:2) & judges ( Exodus 21:6). But when the word 'LORD' is written, then it becomes a specific word, meaning 'Yahweh' (the Self-existent, Eternal God); and this is His Name, as was revealed to Moses ( Exodus 3:13-15).
When we see God's Name expressed differently (as well as several other names of God that reflect God's Person & Work), we can understand that the author of the Book, by the inspiration of God's Spirit, has chosen to name the God of Heaven (Elohim) and/or the God Who is the unchangeable & eternal One (Yahweh). Either way, it leaves us no doubt Who God is that the Bible speaks of & when 'elohim' is used in its other applications, we should understand those meanings as well & not confuse them with the True God.
As far as your second question, do you mean that as it is written, God "breathed into his (Adam's) nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" ( Genesis 2:7) but it is not written the same about animals, therefore where did they get the ability to breathe ( Genesis 1:20-25)? I suppose, the same could be said about the description of man & woman's creation in that chapter ( Genesis 1:26,27), that here also it hasn't been written that they received breath. So, I would say that it is understood that all living creatures did begin to breathe (whether sea, land or air animals), even as a greater description of man's creation is given in chapter 2 of him getting the 'Breath of God'.
My comment/question is everything is identified as God, but later he is called Lord God. What is the difference? Is there a difference? Could it be that God is His name but Lord is His position. Either way, I love him.
God created man out of the dust but made animals out of the ground. How do they breath since they do not have the breath of life.
2 Peter 3:6 mentions the firmament in regard to the flood. Apparently there was a separation of the waters above the earth from those beneath. The theory is that ice crystals were in the atmosphere perhaps like Saturn's rings and it would have collapsed causing some of the water in the flood. Underneath the earth there is a considerable amount of subterranean waters (such as seas under the sea). This would have been brought out perhaps by forces of vulcanism at the time.
When Genesis 1:2 talks about the about the spirit of God hovering upon the face of waters, what is the "waters" referring to in this verse? I know it's not talking about the sea because that was created on the third day. So, what is this "waters" a symbolism for?
After God made man on the sixth day, he did not say that it was good? As he said, when he made the light, and the earth and the heavens, the oceans and the fish , and cattle, and herbs, plants and trees and all the growing things that he had made in the first five days. So why did God not say it was good in the sixth day after he had made man?
Generation as described biblically: Please read = Genesis 7:1, Ecclesiastes 1:4, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:3, Matthew 1,
In comparison to your example of Noah- Exodus 20:1-5, Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, Deuteronomy 2:14, Judges 2:10, 2Kings 10:30, 2Kings 15:12, Hebrews 3, Luke 1:50, Psalms 102:18, John 17,
Prophetic about Jesus & other generations- Proverbs 30:12,13,14, Isaiah 53:8, Matthew 11,
Genesis 1:26, there is actually one word ( " 'asah " meaning to do or make ) originally translated, into 3 words in English translation. The Strongs Exhaustive Concordance & comparison on this site, also reference the meaning in the " singular " form. You can study it yourself by clicking the Scripture itself then scrolling down page.
Notice Genesis 1:27, goes clearly back to the singular HIS image. & Genesis 1:31,
Before God created Adam and Eve, leaving in the garden of paradise, God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion and scattered over all he created on earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth- So, therefore before Adam & Eve- there are a lot of peoples living on the entire earth. So, what will happen in the time of Noah- all people die in the flood water, except Noah and his Family & selected animals? That's our new generation until now in the present time? Kindly please deeper explanation to send my email address account. Please wait for your reply. Thank you.
Hello again, Anna, just to let you know. the name of Mary's mother is not mentioned in the Scriptures but was in the apocryphal book of the gospel account of James. This early writing names Mary's parent as Anne, (or Anna) and Joachim. However this writing of james was included in the canon of the Bible.
I would go as far as to say when we are truly saved we should "RECOGNIZE" we have become light "THAT HAS BEEN SEPARATED FROM DARKNESS". And we should walk in that light. 1 John 1:5-7.
I would like to add to what Gigi and Richard has shared with the focus on your last question.
"how can one know that God exists if no one has seen him?"
First I would like to draw your attention to Psalms 19:1-4. Carefully read it.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
( EVERY PERSON CAN BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE TO KNOW THAT GOD EXIST AND THAT HE HAS PLACED US HERE).
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
( MAN, WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF THE SCRIPTURE IS ACCOUNTABLE TO KNOW THERE'S GOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE AND FUNCTION.)
AGAIN Verse 19. Because that which may be known of God is MANIFEST IN THEM; for God hath shewed it unto them.
CREATION IS DESIGNED!!
Job 38:8-11.
Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
GOD CONTROLS THE FLOODS AND THE WAVES, HE DRAWS A LINE AND CALLS THEM BACK.
More verses;
Job 12:7-10.
Job 26:7-8.
This evil world we live in denies the glory of God with its evolution theory and says it all came together by accident.
Hopefully others will share.
I hope this helps.
God bless.
Well stated,
.. until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power, Amen.
Here Paul is telling Timothy that Jesus will make manifest the Father, who lives in unapproachable. No one is able to see Him in all of His glory, except Jesus. But somehow Jesus will manifest the Father when He returns. The fact that the Father dwells in unapproachable life speaks to His holiness and transcendence, being far different that humans, completely magnificent and beyond what we can comprehend or, I believe, endure to look upon.
Even when we are transformed and become immortal and uncorrupted with our resurrected bodies, we will still be humans, and because of our limitations of intellect and understanding and our creatureliness, we will always come to the Father through Jesus His Son. We do not know if the angels also come to the Father through Jesus His Son, also. But we can be satisfied to know that when we look upon Jesus we will see the Father in a way we can understand and tolerate without being consumed. Jesus is forever our Mediator, and we should be thankful and stand in honor and praise of Him as our Savior, Redeemer, High Priest, Lord, King, Friend, and Brother.
The Angel of the Lord was also spoken of as an appearance of God, such as the account of God appearing in the burning bush, or Abraham being visited by God. Many people believe that the Angel of the Lord was a pre-incarnate visit of the Son of God.
Ezekiel had very startling experiences with the Angel of the Lord on many occasions. Daniel and Isaiah had visions that featured the throne of God, with both the Father and the Son being shown.
In Rev. 1:8 spoken by the exalted Jesus, I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." This verse clearly speaks of Jesus as God.
Ex. 33:20, when Moses asked to see God face to face, God replied, "..You cannot see my face; for no man shall see Me and live."
The reason that no man is able to see the Father face to face is that all humans are sinful. Their nature is corrupted by the sin of Adam and their own sin. God is so holy that any man who would see God as He truly is would be totally consumed and destroyed. There must be a Mediator between the Father and humans, even after one is redeemed by the life and sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. He always has been the one who appears to any person from the time of Adam up to now, since His work of salvation and High Priesthood reaches back to the time of Adam and forward to us in our time and will continue forever in eternity. We will always see the Father through the Mediation of Jesus, his Son who became flesh to be our Savior and to impute upon us the righteousness of His perfect life.
Paul speaks to Timothy in 1 Tim. 6:13-16 after instructing to pursue righteousness , godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness and to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life which Timothy had given witness to many, Paul says, 13 "I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Jesus Christ ....that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless
You have posed several good questions and I would like to respond to the last one concerning believing in a God no one has seen.
The first thing that came to my mind was what Jesus said in the gospels. In John 1:18 Jesus said, No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."
In John 14:9-10 in response to Philip's request for Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus said, "have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father?
do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?....
In these verses Jesus is saying that He is God and that any of the people of His time on earth who saw Him also saw the
Father because of the unified Oneness of the Persons of the Godhead. Jesus, being the Son of God in the flesh, showed by His perfect human life and by His divine expressions in miracles and other divine actions and words revealed to those who saw Him the Godhead and what God was like.
Those who saw Jesus after His resurrection, saw Him in His glory, revealing more of who God is to the disciples, from the women and apostles at the tomb, to the rest of the disciples in the Upper Room, and to 500 0ther persons before the disciples saw him ascend to the Father. A human person cannot appear to people after they die. Jesus was God and He said He was returning to His Father, who was God. Acts 7:56 Stephen at the time he was being stoned said, look, I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" He was seeing Jesus with the Father in heaven as equals.
In the Old Testament, many godly men were visited by God-Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel-to name a few. These appearances were usually described as the Angel of the Lord.
That should be a good starting point at least on scriptures answering your question.
Agape; Rich P
God cannot look onto sin ( Matt. 27:45-46). Christ was the "sin bearer" who took on our sins (see Isaiah 53; Numbers 21:8). This explains the Godhead in some sense; as if all of the Godhead died at the crucifixion the whole universe would cease to exist. Jesus; however overcame death as it could not hold Him ( Acts 2:24). When He said "it is finished" and died then the work was done ( John 19:30). The rest of the time He was declaring victory to all (including unregenerate lost souls and demons bound in the underworld) in 1 Peter 3:18-20 then He ascended back to the Father where He ever lives to intercede for us ( Heb. 7:25).
It is clear that every eye shall see Him ( Rev. 1:7); Rev. 5:13; Rev. 20 and Great White Throne Judgment). Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ( Philippians 2:10-11 and also reflected in Isaiah 45:23. During the Tribulation men also will be actively cursing God and Antichrist Himself will blaspheme Him as well as those who dwell in heaven ( Rev. 6:15; Revelation 13). It is clear that everyone will know about God and Christ by the sixth seal but it won't do those any good who have not been regenerated. It is only in those God chooses to reveal Himself through the Son that come to know Him ( Matt. 11:27 and see much of Gospel of John including some of my commentaries on Predestination). Also see Psalm 19; ROmans 1
When we see God's Name expressed differently (as well as several other names of God that reflect God's Person & Work), we can understand that the author of the Book, by the inspiration of God's Spirit, has chosen to name the God of Heaven (Elohim) and/or the God Who is the unchangeable & eternal One (Yahweh). Either way, it leaves us no doubt Who God is that the Bible speaks of & when 'elohim' is used in its other applications, we should understand those meanings as well & not confuse them with the True God.
As far as your second question, do you mean that as it is written, God "breathed into his (Adam's) nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" ( Genesis 2:7) but it is not written the same about animals, therefore where did they get the ability to breathe ( Genesis 1:20-25)? I suppose, the same could be said about the description of man & woman's creation in that chapter ( Genesis 1:26,27), that here also it hasn't been written that they received breath. So, I would say that it is understood that all living creatures did begin to breathe (whether sea, land or air animals), even as a greater description of man's creation is given in chapter 2 of him getting the 'Breath of God'.
God created man out of the dust but made animals out of the ground. How do they breath since they do not have the breath of life.
Can you re-phrase your question.
Thanks, and God bless.
In comparison to your example of Noah- Exodus 20:1-5, Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, Deuteronomy 2:14, Judges 2:10, 2Kings 10:30, 2Kings 15:12, Hebrews 3, Luke 1:50, Psalms 102:18, John 17,
Prophetic about Jesus & other generations- Proverbs 30:12,13,14, Isaiah 53:8, Matthew 11,
Psalms 12:6-7, Psalms 14,
Hopefully these are helpful
Genesis 1:26, there is actually one word ( " 'asah " meaning to do or make ) originally translated, into 3 words in English translation. The Strongs Exhaustive Concordance & comparison on this site, also reference the meaning in the " singular " form. You can study it yourself by clicking the Scripture itself then scrolling down page.
Notice Genesis 1:27, goes clearly back to the singular HIS image. & Genesis 1:31,
Hopefully helpful
My understanding is that her name was Anna, like your name.
I would go as far as to say when we are truly saved we should "RECOGNIZE" we have become light "THAT HAS BEEN SEPARATED FROM DARKNESS". And we should walk in that light. 1 John 1:5-7.
God bless.