MEETING GOD FACE TO FACE: Have you ever wanted to talk with God face-to-face? The Bible talks of God being in an unapproachable light and it tells us that no one has ever seen God. Does this mean we will never have the privilege of being in God’s presence? 

Sin, Evil, Death, Dying, and What Happens After We Die

This series has addressed the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we have addressed the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

Go back and review this series on Death, Dying and the Future Hope, and other series @ SabbathSchoolDaily.com

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)

Let Us Pray

Father, like Moses there are days when we yearn to be in your direct presence, to talk to you face to face. We look forward to that privilege in your Heavenly Kingdom. In Jesus the Name Amen

The Bible in 1 Timothy 6:16 says that God “dwells in unapproachable light.” John in John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12 tells us “no one has ever seen God.”

This leads to the question: Will the redeem ever have the privilege of seeing God?

As expressed in the Lesson on the Temple of God, Day 4, We pointed out that sin has affected God’s work in the sanctuary or temple in heaven.  Hence a part of God’s work in the temple now relates to his saving grace and his work in our redemption.

You can review this Lesson @ SabbathSchoolDaily.com

So, our ability to see God is related to the entrance of sin.  After humans sinned, they lost the privilege of seeing God face-to-face.

Several scriptures in the Bible, however, do indicate that God’s people, the redeemed will see God face-to-face in heaven.

For example, Matthew 5:8 talks about the pure in heart seeing God.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)

1 John 3:2-3 lets us know that we will be like God and see him as he is.

2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

And in Revelation 22:3-4 we find his name will be on our foreheads meaning in our thoughts and mind, and we will see Him face-to-face. (Split)

3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;

4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4)

Thus, John, who wrote “no one has ever seen God” in John 1:18, and John 4:12 proclaims that “we shall see Him as He is” in 1 John 3:2 and 3. He also wrote in Revelation 22:3 and 4 that we will “see His face.”

Jesus in Matthew 5:8 lets us know that we will see the Father face-to-face when he says:

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)

So besides having the honor of worshipping God in his temple, we will be able to see His face. Now, how Awesome is that!

It says in the book the Great Controversy:

“The people of God are privileged to hold open communion with the Father and the Son. ‘Now we see through a glass, darkly.’ 1 Corinthians 13:12. We behold the image of God reflected, as in a mirror, in the works of nature and in His dealings with men; but then we shall see Him face to face, without a dimming veil between. We shall stand in His presence and behold the glory of His countenance.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 676, 677.

So, the redeemed will worship God in His temple in heaven! This blessing is a wonderful gift that God gives to us. And even more wonderful is that we will see His face. That will be an awesome time of worship!

Notice that there is a connection between having a pure heart and seeing God.  For John, in 1 John 3:3 declares that

3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:3).

What John has written lets us know that God must work to change our hearts now to prepare us for heaven.

Although our right to heaven has been made certain through the death of Jesus, we must go through a purifying process here and now.

This purification process will help prepare us to live eternally in heaven with God. Then, Heaven will become our eternal home. Moreover, central to our being purified and transformed is our obedience to His Word.

Peter in 1 Peter 1:22 confirming the link between obedience and purification says:

22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, (I Peter 1:22)

The Lord purifies the heart very much as we air a room. . . . We open the doors and throw wide the windows and let heaven’s purifying atmosphere flow in. The Lord says, “He that doeth truth cometh to the light.” [John 3:21.] The windows of impulse, of feeling, must be opened up toward heaven, and the dust of selfishness and earthliness must be expelled. The grace of God must sweep through the chambers of the mind, the imagination must have heavenly themes for contemplation, and every element of the nature must be purified and vitalized by the Spirit of God.—Manuscript 8c, July 26, 1891.

Hence, through the power of the Holy Spirit, by faith in Jesus’ saving grace and obedience to his word, we are purified.

Life can be very hard, unfair, and cruel. People dear to us, are snatched away by the cold, bitter touch of death. How will heaven be any different? Find out on Day 5:  No More Death and Tears

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