Has anyone ever seen God?
Scripture declares plainly: "No man hath seen God at any time" (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12). And yet Moses saw God's glory, Stephen saw the glory of God, and the Lord Jesus Himself said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." How are these statements reconciled?
God in His Essence Is Invisible
The starting point is that God in His essential being dwells beyond the reach of any creature. Paul writes that He "dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (1 Timothy 6:16).
J.N. Darby addresses this head-on:
J.N. Darby"If you take God abstractedly, that is in His essence, which is the force of this passage, we shall never see Him — 'He dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen or can see.' (1 Tim. 6:16.) Yet we read 'the pure in heart shall see God,' and Stephen saw 'the glory of God;' how I do not pretend to say. The angels, too, saw God manifest in the flesh. It would be a terrible thing to spend eternity in my Father's house, and yet never to see Him."
An article in Our Shepherd's Word on "God's Image" develops this:
"God's Image""God essentially dwells 'in the light which no man can approach to; whom no man has seen, nor can see' (1 Tim. 6:16), and is therefore 'invisible' to men. It is therefore surpassing wonderful that there is One who is called 'the image of the invisible God' (Col. 1:15) ... Not in creation, or the law, or by any angel could the invisible God be made known. What God is in all the love of His heart, in His nature, in the fulness of His grace, and in all His moral attributes, has come to light in the Son of His bosom, the perfect living image of God, presenting in His own Person what God is, for He is God."
Moses Saw — But Only Partially
Moses was privileged beyond any other Old Testament saint. He asked to see God's glory, and was told: "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live" (Exodus 33:20). He was permitted to see God's "back parts" from the cleft of the rock — a veiled, partial revelation. But it still fell short.
An article on "The Only Begotten Son" in Our Shepherd's Word explains:
"The Only Begotten Son""Moses had been privileged to see the glory of God from 'a clift of the rock,' and to see His back parts (Ex. 33:18–23), but it still remained true that 'No man has seen God at any time.' In the Son incarnate God was made known in His nature, and in His disposition of grace towards men. Until the only-begotten Son came God was really unknown to men as He truly is. No angel could make God known, only the Son who is 'the image of the invisible God.'"
The Son Alone Declares God
The great answer to man's inability to see God is the Person of the Son. None but a divine Person can reveal a divine Person.
J.N. Darby writes on John 1:18:
J.N. Darby"In verse 18 we get another thing: 'No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' Here we get the Father revealed; we have all the fulness that is in the Son for us, but besides that the Father revealed to us. A most wonderful thing this, that when He reveals the Father it is as He Himself knows Him. If I were to tell you about my father, I must tell you about him as I have known him myself."
Hamilton Smith emphasises the same point:
Hamilton Smith"In Old Testament days there were partial declarations of God in His attributes — as the Almighty and as the unchanging Jehovah — but there was no revelation of the heart of God until the Son came. No man was great enough to declare God. None but a divine Person could reveal a divine Person. 'No one has seen God at any time.' The Son, as the only-begotten in the bosom of the Father, revealed the Father as He knew Him."
Two Answers to the Same Statement
There is a striking detail that Darby draws out. The same statement — "No man hath seen God at any time" — appears in both John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12, but each passage gives a different answer.
J.N. Darby writes:
J.N. Darby"We get this expression 'No man hath seen God at any time,' also in 1 John 4:12, but we see a change has taken place in our position there, where the same difficulty is in question, and it is met in a different way. Here in the gospel we read, 'The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' ... Then in the epistle, we read, 'If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us' — by the communication of the divine nature and by the dwelling of God in us we inwardly enjoy Him as He has been manifested and declared by the Son."
William Kelly develops this beautifully, showing how the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is now the answer to not seeing God:
William Kelly"He makes God dwelling in us the answer here to not seeing God; as Christ being in the world was then the answer to not seeing God. Having washed us in the blood of the Lamb, He comes and dwells in us. We have a knowledge of God in that way. 'If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.' It is not merely that the nature is there, but God is there."
Kelly adds:
1john4_9"When Christ was in the world, it was the Son casting out devils and doing mighty works. And yet He said, 'The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.' Now, by the Spirit, He says, 'We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.'"
Synthesis
No man has ever seen God in His essential being — He dwells in unapproachable light. Moses received a veiled glimpse from the cleft of the rock; the prophets saw visions; but God in the fulness of His nature remained unseen. The law could expose what man is, but could never reveal what God is.
That changed entirely when the Son came. The only-begotten Son, eternally in the bosom of the Father, declared Him — not partially, but as He Himself knows Him. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." In the incarnate Son, God was fully made known: His nature, His love, His grace, His holiness.
And now there is a further answer for the believer: God by the Holy Spirit dwells in us. What was outwardly revealed in Christ is brought directly into our hearts. We know God inwardly — not by physical sight, but by the indwelling of His own nature and Spirit. As Darby put it, this is "life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God."