What Does God Require of Us?
Questions for Lesson 2
Who Is God?
Lesson 2.3: No human has ever seen God.
It must be very difficult for Jehovah's Witnesses to behold a God who
can be 'seen.' In fact the Jehovah's Witness God cannot be seen because
according the JW doctrine he shares many of the same attributes (ie finite)
as the pagan counterparts. Therefore 'Jehovah' is limited to a body and
confined to fixed space.
First lets review some pertinent scripture passages:
John 1:18 states "No man has seen God at any time; the only
begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."
(NASB)
Exodus 33:20 "And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for
there shall no man see me, and live." (KJV)
Who did the great prophets see? We will define what it means to "see
God,' read on...
There are instances in the Old Testament where the 'Angel of The Lord'
makes VERY serious claims and speaks on His Own Behalf and for Himself
.
If indeed we put our trust in the Holy Sciptures by trying to understand
Christ's nature we might better understand the nature certain appearances
of the 'Angel of the Lord" take on.
Q: Lets pretend and ask the question What IF
Jehovah could manifest himself as an animate or inanimate object before
humankind?
Review and reflect on the following questions...
Q: Does God have the capacity or power to appear as fire, or
water or even a cloud if he willed it to be so? Is it possible for God
to take any form He wishes?
Q: The Angel of the Lord appears to Moses in a burning bush (Exodus
3:2) and is called who??? acccording to Exodus 4:4 (NWT).
Q: If God was in the bush who was controlling the Universe? (Jw's
often ask this question to Christians with regards to Jesus Christ!) Read
Jer 23:24...Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? / Ps
139:7-8 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens you are there;...
Jehovah has also appear in more sophisticated
forms....
Read John 6:41 Isaiah said these things because
he saw his glory, and he spoke about him (NWT) . Isaiah said this
because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him (NIV) The verse
clearly links 'glory' and 'faith" with Jesus Christ. The NWT links
this verse to Isaiah 6:1 "...I saw the Lord seated on a throne,
high and exalted..."
Q: If this
is Jehovah the Father why did Isaiah not die? Who did Isaiah see in Isaiah
6:1?
Q: If this
is indeed the Son then it would explain why we can see God and live right?
Genesis 17:1-3 When Abram was ninety-nine years
old the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty;
walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me
and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." Then Abram fell on his
face; and God said to him,
Q: Who appeared to Abram?
Genesis 22:11-12 But the angel of the LORD called
to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said,
"Here am I." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or
do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not
withheld your son, your only son, from me."
Q: Who called Abraham from heaven?
Q: Why does vs 11-12 equate the fear of God to be the same
as fearing this Angel of God?
Q: Why is it that the Angel of the Lord instructs Abraham that he
should not withhold his Son from him? Is the Angel of the Lord and
Jehovah in this chapter synonomous ( ie same person? (see Genesis
22:15-16 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from
heaven, and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because
you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, )
No One Has Seen The Father...But
Maybe They Saw The Son?
If the gospel of John states " Not that any
man has seen the Father, except he who is from God; this one has
seen the Father " (NWT), then WHO did Moses see? Who did Abraham
talk to?
We must define what Scripture means by "seeing" God.
John is very emphatic that no one has ever seen God, BUT he makes the qualifying
statement that the MONOGENES THEOS (God the One and Only/Only Begotten)ie.the
LOGOS, the Word who shares the very nature of God has "explained"
Him or made Him known. Did people "see" God in theophanies? Most
definitely but in visible human appearances as in the Angel(Messenger)
of the LORD throughout the OT,or in visions like that of Isaiah 6, but
they NEVER saw God in His quintessential essence which to do so
would bring instant death as the Exodus passage makes clear. Notice that
when people claimed to see God in the OT it was always in the context of
visions, or human appearances.
It was never God the Father who appeared to men but Jesus
Christ (Jesus is not the Father but the Son). This is made
clear throughout the NT that the Son is the Revealer of the Father. Genesis
19:24 is absolutely beautiful in the Hebrew because it shows that Yahweh
caused fire and brimstone to fall upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha
from Yahweh out of heaven.
Consider the following passages: Jesus' name( IMMANUEL) "God
With Us" (Mat 1:23) has profound sigificance. Read on....Jesus is
the image of the invisible Father (Col 1:15, 2 Cor 4:4), being in the very
nature God ...found in appearance a man (Phil 2:6,8, 2 Cor 5:19), and the
fullness of God dwells in Jesus ( Col 1:19, 2:9). Indeed the Son is the
radiance of God's glory (Heb 1:3), and the WORD of God (John 1:1) that
became flesh (John 1:14) sharing the nature of humanity ( Heb 2:14-15 ).
In fact, Christ claims the same name and nature as the Father (Jn 8:58).
Moreover, to know Jesus is to know the Father (Jn 8:19, Jn 14:9).
Now reread the above scriptures with 'Jehovah the Son' in mind. Make
note that NO ONE can see the Father and live, yet the Bible describes several
instances of men coming in contact with God. either the scriptures are
in ERROR or they have seen the SON.
The Jehovah of the Watchtower is a finite god, he is not omnipresent
but much like the Mormon god, he has a body (composed of spirit) and is
thus confined to one location at a time. My word! Even the holy spirit
of the Watchtower is greater than Jehovah because "it" can be
everywhere but Jehovah cannot!
Excerpts of this portion contributed by Tony Costa
