Appendix 5: People in Scripture Who Saw God
Excerpt from Appendix 5 of…
Immanuel: A Practicum by Patricia A. Velotta
People in Scripture Who Saw God
I’ve had so much fun looking up the people who saw God in the
Bible. Maybe you can think of some I missed.
People in the Old Testament Who Saw God
1. Adam and Eve
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam,
and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up
the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God
had taken from man He made into a woman, and He
brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:21–22)
2. Cain and Abel
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain
brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the
LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his fl ock
and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his
offering. (Genesis 4:3-4)
3. Enoch
After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God
three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. And
Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took
him. (Genesis 5:22, 24)
4. Noah, His Wife, His Sons, and Their Wives
This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man,
perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
(Genesis 6:9)
So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went
in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him
in. (Genesis 7:16)
5. Abraham
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your
descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an
altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (Genesis
12:7)
So the LORD went His way as soon as He had fi nished
speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his
place. (Genesis 18:33)
6. Sarah
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I
have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old
also? But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for
she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”
(Genesis 18:12, 15)
And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the
LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. (Genesis 21:1)
7. Hagar
Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her,
You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, Have I also
here seen Him who sees me? (Genesis 16:13)
8. Ishmael
So God was with the lad [son of Hagar]. (Genesis 21:20)
9. Isaac
And the LORD appeared to him [Isaac] the same night
and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father; fear
not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply
your descendants for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
(Genesis 26:24)
10. Rebekah
So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said
to her . . . (Genesis 25:22b-23)
11. Jacob
And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: “I am
the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of
Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and
your descendants . . . Behold, I am with you and will keep
you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land;
for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken
to you. (Genesis 28:13, 15)
Then God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell
there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to
you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.
(Genesis 35:1)
12. Joseph
The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man;
. . . But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy,
and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the
prison. (Genesis 39:2a, 21)
And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into
Egypt. But God was with him . . . (Acts 7:9)
13. Moses
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
(Hebrews 11:27)
14. Aaron
Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the
assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell on
their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them.
(Numbers 20:6)
15. The Whole Hebrew Congregation
“also a bull and a ram as peace offerings, to sacrifi ce before
the LORD, and a grain offering mixed with oil; for
today the LORD will appear to you. . . . Then Moses said,
“Th is is the thing which the LORD commanded you
to do, and the glory of the LORD will appear to you.”
(Leviticus 9:4, 6)
And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud;
and the pillar of cloud stood by the door of the tent.
(Deuteronomy 31:15)
16. Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu,
and Seventy of the Elders of Israel
Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and
seventy of the elders of Israel . . . and they saw the God of
Israel. . . . But on the nobles of the children of Israel He
did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and
drank. (Exodus 24:9–11)
17. Joshua
So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks
to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his
servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart
from the tabernacle. (Exodus 33:11)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach
when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in
the tabernacle of meeting, that I may inaugurate him.” So
Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the
tabernacle of meeting. . . . Then He inaugurated Joshua
the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and of good courage;
for you shall bring the children of Israel into the
land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”
(Deuteronomy 31:14, 23)
18. Balaam
The utterance of him who hears the words of God, who
sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, with eyes
wide open. . . . The utterance of him who hears the words
of God, and has the knowledge of the Most High, who
sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, with eyes
wide open. (Numbers24:4, 16)
19. Gideon
And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to
him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor.”
(Judges 6:12)
20. Manoah and Wife (Samson’s parents)
And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman
[Manoah’s wife, Samson’s mother] and said to her,
“Behold, you are barren and have no children; but you
shall conceive and bear a son. . . . And the woman ran in
haste and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came
to me the other day has appeared to me.” . . . The angel of
the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife.
Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.
(Judges 13:3, 10, 21)
21. Samuel
But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband,
“As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he
may appear in the presence of the LORD, and abide there
forever.” (1 Samuel 1:22)
And the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and
bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel
grew in the presence of the LORD. (1 Samuel 2:21)
And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD
revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the
LORD. (1 Samuel 3:21)
22. David
For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the LORD always
before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I
may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my
tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
(Acts 2:25-28)
I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at
my right hand I shall not be moved. . . . You will show me
the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your
right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalms 16:8, 11)
23. Solomon
And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his
heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel,
who had appeared to him twice. (1 Kings 11:9)
Additional Old Testament people who saw God
addressed more fully in Immanuel A Practicum
Solomon
Job
Isaiah
Micaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Nebuchadnezza
Shadrach, Meshach,Abed-Nego
Belshazzar and company of ,1000 lords at feast
Daniel
Amos
Jonah
Habakkuk
Zechariah
Elijah
Elisha
People In the New Testament Who Saw God
1. Jesus saw God
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly,
I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what
He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also
does in like manner.” (John 5:19)
I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what
you have seen with your father. (John 8:38)
2. All the People Who Saw Jesus in His Earthly
Appearance, Saw God
If you had known Me, you would have known My Father
also; and from now on you know Him and have seen
Him. . . . “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so
long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has
seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us
the Father’?” (John 14:7, 9)
Additional NewTestament people who saw God
addressed more fully in Immanuel: A Practicum
3. People Who Saw Him in the Physical,
and Recognized Him as Messiah
- Mary, Jesus’ Mother
- Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father
- Elizabeth
- Shepherds
- Magi, Wise Men from the East
- Simeon
- Anna
- John the Baptist
- Andrew
- Peter
- Woman at the Well
- Martha
- Mary
- The Thief on the Cross
- The Centurion at the cross
4. All the Disciples Saw God
5. Peter, James, and John Saw God
6. Followers Saw God in Post-Resurrection
Appearances
- Mary Magdalene and Mary
- Eleven Disciples
- Two Traveling to Emmaus
- John
- Five Hundred at His Ascension
7. Post-Ascension Appearances
- Stephen
- Paul
- Ananias
- John
The World, Including Israel, Will See God
at the End of Time