What does God look like?

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.

"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.

God is never said to be the Truth, but Christ, being the image of the invisible God. Man is not capable of fathoming God; no man hath seen God at any time. Who is competent to know God? No man, nor even angel. The creature does not know God; but God can make Himself known to the creature. How? In Christ by the Holy Ghost.

In the Son of God's love we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins; "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." ... He is the firstborn of every creature, not because He partook of flesh ... but because He was the Creator.

He is effulgence of God's glory, and express image of His substance, as He upholds all things by the word of His power, all which only a divine Person could do. His shining forth makes known the divine glory as no angel could, nor yet the archangel. They are but servants.

Philip, like Thomas, cannot rise above that which is material. Thomas had thought of a material place: Philip thinks of physical sight, and therefore says, "Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us." The Lord in His reply clearly shows that He is speaking of the vision of faith. He asks a searching question, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?" Then the Lord states, "He that has seen Me has seen the Father." To look beyond the outward form and see the Son by faith, is indeed to see the Father; for the Son is the perfect revelation of the Father.

The unbelieving world did not see the Son; all they saw was the reputed son of Joseph — the Carpenter. Only faith could see, in that lowly Man, the Only Begotten Son who came to declare the Father. The One who dwelt in the bosom of the Father could alone declare the heart of the Father. Abraham could tell us that God is Almighty: Moses could tell us that God is the I AM eternal and unchanging. But neither Abraham nor Moses were great enough to declare to us the heart of the Father. None but a divine Person is great enough to reveal a divine Person.

All has been revealed in the Son. The love of the Father's heart, the purpose of the Father's mind, the grace of the Father's hand, all has been set forth in Christ the Son. All too has been revealed as our present portion. We shall have no different revelation of the Father when we get to heaven than we have now. All has been revealed on earth.

He hides His glory, "the form of God" under this "form of a servant." He did not seek honour from men. He honoured the Father that had sent Him, and not Himself. He would not make Himself known. He would not show Himself to the world.

Observe Him again in the vessel on the lake during the storm. He was there as a tired labouring man whose sleep was sweet. Such was His manifested form. But underneath lay "the form of God." He arose, and as the Lord who gathers the wind in His fists and binds the waters in a garment, He rebuked the sea into a calm.

The veil may have been very thick, and so it was. It was no other than that of Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, the carpenter's son. The cloud that covered was heavy indeed; the glory that was under it was infinite. It was the full Jehovah-glory; and no ray of all the divine brightness would refuse to assert and express it.

He is never said to be "like God." And I will tell you why. Because He is God. He is said to be the "image of God." He has given me to see what God is. He has brought the very image of God before my heart, before me in this world. He is the "image of the invisible God." But He is never called His likeness, for this were to deny His glory. He is God's very transcript. He is the true God and Eternal Life.