There is one God, who by his word and wisdom created all things
and set them in order. His Word is our Lord Jesus Christ, who in this last
age became man among men to unite end and beginning, that is, man and God.
The prophets, receiving the gift of prophecy from this same Word, foretold
his coming in the flesh, which brought about the union and communion between
God and man ordained by the Father. From the beginning the word of God
prophesied that God would be seen by men and would live among them on earth;
he would speak with his own creation and be present to it, bringing it
salvation and being visible to it. He would “free us from the hands of
all who hate us,” that is, from the universal spirit of sin, and enable
us to “serve him in holiness and justice all our days.” Man was to receive
the Spirit of God and so attain to the glory of the Father.
The prophets, then, foretold that God would be seen by men. As the Lord
himself says: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”
In his greatness and inexpressible glory “no one can see God and live,”
for the Father is beyond our comprehension. But in his love and generosity
and omnipotence he allows even this to those who love him, that is, even
to see God, as the prophets foretold. “For what is impossible to men is
possible to God”.
By his own powers man cannot see God, yet God will be seen by men because
he wills it. He will be seen by those he chooses, at the time he chooses,
and in the way he chooses, for God can do all things. He was seen of old
through the Spirit in prophecy; he is seen through the Son by our adoption
as his children, and he will be seen in the kingdom of heaven in his own
being as the Father. The Spirit prepares man to receive the Son of God,
the Son leads him to the Father, and the Father, freeing him from change
and decay, bestows the eternal life that comes to everyone from seeing
God.
As those who see light are in the light sharing its brilliance, so those
who see God are in God sharing his glory, and that glory gives them life.
To see God is to share in life.
