But He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for man shall not see me and live.
6 sermons cite this verse
Can you say amen? Remain standing with me for a minute. I want to talk about close proximity. Close proximity. No longer afar off, no longer at a distance, but close proximity. Let's pray while we're standing. Spirit of the living God, fall fresh. Anoint these lips of clay that they may be endowed with what is necessary to declare the word of God so clearly and succinctly that the children understand it as well as the oldest amongst us. from the illiterate to the most profound, educated person in the room. Let the word of God hit everybody and everybody come into an awareness of what you're able to do and speaking to them in your own language and in a way that they can understand it. Make it plain, make it clear, make it relevant, make it life-reforming, make it life-changing, make it thirst-quenching, mind-renewing. Come on in, Holy Spirit, and do what you want to do as we came here to see you. We came here to be with you. …
… Now, today we're looking at this fascinating spot in verse 11 where it says, The Lord would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend. What's friendship with God? Why would God dare call himself our friend? And let's ask the question of the text like this. Why is friendship with God so important? So why is it so important? Then secondly, what it is? And thirdly, what it brings? And lastly, how we get it. Why it's important, what it is, what it brings, how we can get it. Now, number one, why is it important? You have to understand this incident here where Moses goes out to the tent of meeting and gets things from God. You see, for example, it says, whenever Moses would go out, all the people rose and stood at the entrance of the tent. Anyone inquiring of the Lord would ask Moses, and then Moses would go into the tent, what is this all about? It's very simple. …
God is a spirit, and is not to be seen with the bodily eyes. We find it attributed to God, that he is invisible. Heb. xi. 27. “As seeing him, who is invisible.” Col. i. 15. Who is the image of the invisible God.” It is mentioned as a part of God’s glory, 1 Tim. i. 17. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” That it is not any sight with the bodily eyes, is evident, because the unembodied souls of the saints see God, and the angels also, who are spirits and were never united to bodies. Matt. xviii. 10. “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” It is not any form or visible representation, nor shape, nor colour, nor shining light, that is seen, wherein this great happiness of the soul consists. Indeed God was wont to manifest himself of old in outward glorious appearances. There was a shining light that was called the glory of the Lord. Thus the glory of the Lord was said to descend on mount Sinai, and in the tabernacle of the congregation. There was an outward visible token of God’s presence, and the seventy elders, when they saw God in the mount, saw a visible shape. It seems also that when Moses desired to see God s glory, and when God passed by and covered him with his hand in the cleft of the rock, that Moses saw some visible glory. Exod. xxxiii. 18-23. “And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness to pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live.” But it seems that God then condescended to the infant state of the church, and to the childish notions that were entertained in those days of lesser light; and Moses’s request seems to have been answered, by God making his goodness to pass before him, and proclaiming his name, and giving him a strong apprehension of the things contained in that name, rather than by showing him any outward glory. …
2. Next, Christ reveals to us the will of God, as Moses to the Israelites. He is our Prophet, as well as our Redeemer. None was so favoured as Moses in this respect: before Christ came, Moses alone saw God face to face; all prophets after him but heard His voice or saw Him in vision. Samuel was called by name, but he knew not who called him in the dark night till Eli told him. Isaiah saw the vision of the Seraphim, and heard them cry "Holy" before the Lord; but it was not heaven that he saw, but the mere semblance of the earthly temple in which God dwelt among the Jews, and clouds filled it. But Moses in some sense saw God and lived; thus God honoured him. "If there be a prophet among you," said Almighty God, "I the Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold:" and on his death we are told, "there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." When he was in the Mount Sinai it is said of him still more expressly, "The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." In the Mount he received from God the revelation of the Law, and the patterns of the holy services which the Jews were to offer to God; and so, being favoured with the intimate knowledge of God's counsels, when he came down, his face shone with glory. The Divine majesty was reflected from it, and the people dared not look upon him. "The skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. And when Aaron and the children of Israel saw Moses, they were afraid to come nigh him." "And till he had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face." …
II. The second point is, there was A GRACIOUS CONCEALMENT. Read the next verse. "He said, You cannot see My face; for there shall no man see Me, and live." There was a gracious concealment and there was as much Grace in that concealment as there was in the manifestation. Mark you, Beloved, when God does not tell us anything, there is as much Grace in His withholding it as there is in any of His Revelations. Did you ever hear or read the sentiment that there is as much to be learned from what is not in the Bible as from what there is in the Bible? Some people read the Scriptures and they say, "We wish we knew such-and-such." Now you ought not to wish such a thing, for if it were right for you to know it, it would be there—and there is as much Divine Grace in what God has not put in the Bible as in what He has put there. If He had put more in it, it would have been our destruction. There is just enough and no more. Do you know how Robert of Normandy lost his sight? His brother passed a red-hot copper bowl before his face and burned his eyes out of their sockets. And there are some Doctrines that men want to know, which, if they could understand them, would be like passing a red-hot bowl before their eyes! They would scorch their eyes out and their understandings would be completely crushed. We have seen this in some ministers who have studied so much that they have gone out of their minds. They have gone further than they ought to have ventured. There is a point to which we may rightly go, but no further—and happy is the man who goes as near to it as possible without overstepping it. God said to Moses, "You cannot see My face; for there shall no man see Me, and live." There are two senses in which this is true. No man can see God's face as a sinner—and no man can see God's face even as a saint. …
"And he said, I beseech You, show me Your Glory. And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And He said, You cannot see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is aplace by Me, and you shall stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while My Glory passes by, that I will put you in a cliff of the rock, and will cover you with My hand when I pass by: and I will take away My hand, andyou shall see My back parts: but My face shall not be seen." Exodus 33:18-23. IT has frequently happened that good men in times of great trial have asked God either to give them a signal token of His love, or a special Revelation of Himself, that they might be strengthened and encouraged thereby. I suppose of many here present it is true that when called by the Master to great labor or deep affliction, you have been conscious of the same inward desire—your heart has craved after some extraordinary dispensation of Grace to counterbalance the extraordinary visitation of suffering that has overtaken you. Were you indulged with singular nearness to God and unusual glimpses of His Glory, you feel it would then be easy to leave all matters in His hands and acquit yourselves valiantly—strong for service, whatever there is to do—and patient in enduring whatever there may be to bear. That prayer, "I beseech You, show me Your Glory," is a natural yearning, a spontaneous impulse of the soul. Albeit, I know that there is a grievous incredulity, a sinful unbelief which asks to see signs and wonders—and without them men will not believe— yet I think there is a desire which springs up in the breasts of Believers from an earnest childlike feeling of dependence upon the great Father God which is not sinful, and which God accepts—and to which He often sends a gracious reply. …